Impact of an experiential learning middle school on the transition to high school

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20382038

The middle school concept, including its preferred teaching practices, has been unravelling due to a focus on standardized test scores (STS). Students are finishing their middle school experience unprepared to make the transition to high school. This narrative study investigated through storytelling the experiences of students who attended an experiential learning middle school (ELMS) and then transitioned to a public high school. The testimonies of the participants revealed that certain skills, attitudes, and personal characteristics were developed in middle school that they believe helped them to succeed in high school. Those essential skills included: academic strengths, relationships with peers, and relationship with teachers. An academic weakness of attending the ELMS was the lack of preparation for formative, summative, and standardized test taking. The two critical attitudes toward learning and school included: a love of learning and the perception that a school should be a community. Personal characteristics necessary for making the transition included: self-reliance, self-advocacy, and grit--Author's abstract