(5 of 5)
Those who champion middle schools, however, say that done right, such schools offer leadership opportunities, a caring environment plus a rich variety of courses, facilities and subject-matter specialists that K-8s can't begin to match. Fritsche, for instance, not only has its elaborate program in the arts but also offers an extensive library, a graphics and electronics lab, three gymnasiums and many extracurriculars. While the best of Milwaukee's K-8 schools have adopted such middle school features as lockers, science labs, changing classes throughout the day, they can't equal a program like Fritsche's. At Humboldt Park, for instance, Spanish is taught by a paraprofessional using computerized lessons; the only gym doubles as the cafeteria.
Milwaukee parent Jeff Wagner decided to send his daughter to Fritsche instead of keeping her at Humboldt Park past fifth grade. "There was no comparison," he says. Fritsche "had activities after school from forensics to track--plus the quality of teaching and the tough curriculum." Middle school fans also question the impulse to shelter young adolescents. "You're not in some sort of cocoon. You need to evolve," insists Fritsche eighth-grader René Espinoza. And what happens when it comes time to go to high school, asks Fritsche band teacher Joyce Gardiner: "To go from a little-bitty K-8 school to a high school that has 2,000 kids? I can't even imagine that."
But educators on both sides of the debate tend to agree that how the grades are packaged ultimately matters less than what's happening inside the school. "The exact configuration is a distraction," says Anthony Jackson, a middle school expert and co-author of the Turning Points report. What counts, he says, is good instruction and caring relationships. "You can make that happen in a stand-alone middle school or a K-8 school," Jackson adds, although he believes that schools with more than 100 kids per grade should be broken up into smaller units. Hiring qualified teachers and giving them time to plan and upgrade skills is also critical. Nationally, only about 1 in 4 middle school teachers has special certification for teaching middle school grades.
Educators watching the flight from middle schools are worried that school districts will see the K-8 building as a solution in itself, without devoting the resources needed to support good education. And there's reason to be worried. Because that's precisely what happened 25 years ago, when administrators rushed to abandon nasty old junior highs for those nifty new middle schools. --Reported by Carolina A. Miranda/New York and Betsy Rubiner/Milwaukee