Editor's note: Acton-Agua Dulce was a K-8 school from its start in the 1860s to 1992. This proposal was presented to the Community Education Committee at its 5-11-05meeting
How Acton Can Close a School without Moving Boundaries or Portables
5-11-05 - by Ron Bird. It seems that good old-fashioned concepts eventually return. In the 1900s K-8’s were the norm. But in the 1950s the norm had become K-6 followed by either a 7-8 or a 7-9 junior high. By the 1990’s the in vogue scenario was K-5 followed by a 6-8 middle school. Now the tried and tested K-8 is coming back into the picture nationally.
In the 1990’s, Dr. Robert Offenberg conducted a study to compare Philadelphia’s K-8 schools with other schools in the district operating on the "normal" elementary/middle school concept. He adjusted his study to account for any socio-economic factors and came to the conclusion that students performed significantly better academically with the K-8 configuration. He compared SAT-9 scores in reading, math and science finding dramatic improvements in math. He also found that as a school’s number of students per grade increase, the K-8 schools' performance becomes more similar to the middle school approach.
Keith Look wrote an excellent short paper called "The Great K-8 Debate". He cites upon implementation of K-8 in Philadelphia principals listed the following additional K-8 advantages:
1. It is easier to fill vacancies in the middle grades of a K-8 school than in a middle school.
2. A K-8 school is safer than a middle school because older children with younger family members attending the same school take on the part of protector, tutor, and role model. In a middle school, the same children must posture for a reputation, which often leads to the disruption associated with larger middle schools.
3. Parental involvement is greater in K-8 schools because parents remain connected to one school longer and are more likely to have more than one family member enrolled in the school at the same time.
4. In a K-8 school, younger and older siblings can travel to and from school together, avoiding the stress of elementary and middle schools beginning or ending at different times.
5. School staff members feel more connected to the community because K-8 schools serve a smaller geographic area than a middle school. Staff members are able to see their influence as the students grow from small children into young adults under their supervision.
One of the strongest cases for K-8 schools is one Catholic school's cite in maintaining most of their elementary schools as K-8 schools: more students are more well known by more adults.
By 2004 K-8 conversion has become much more than a Philadelphia experiment. Baltimore uses this approach extensively: An excellent PowerPoint can be found on the district's web site: Their data reveals that in a quarter 86.8 percent of their students passed the math exam in K-8 schools versus 68.8 percent in K-5, 6-8 configurations. Schools in Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Washington and California have been converting to the K-8 concept. Priscilla Pardini has written about this in the School Administrator,
Locally, as of 2002, Ann Verde in Palmdale is a K-8 as is Arroyo Seco in LA Unified, Lake Los Angeles Elementary, and schools in Long Beach. San Juan Capistrano is in the process of converting many of their schools to K-8. Some valuable information can found at Capistrano’s website:
How does this apply to our local Acton–Agua Dulce District? We are currently in the process of adjusting our elementary boundaries, so that many of our students will not be attending their local elementary school. Granted the revised boundaries are much better than the originally proposed arrangement, but there still are geographic issues with this approach. As part of this plan, all sixth grade students are being moved to the High Desert campus thus converting this junior high school to a true middle school. The student’s prior fifth grade teacher will no longer be readily available to tell the sixth grade teacher that Johnnie knows his times tables, but is still having trouble with 7 times 8 and 9 times 7.
If Agua Dulce were converted back to a K-8 configuration with the current 2003-4 boundaries kept intact, then it would house about 110 additional students and be filled to capacity.
No school in Acton is big enough to house all of Acton’s K-8 students, Meadowlark is not configured for older students and High Desert is not configured for younger students. If Meadowlark houses Acton’s K-4 students and High Desert houses Acton’s grade 5-8 students, then the existing boundaries can be kept intact with the movement of only one portable to High Desert. A side benefit of this approach is that CSR can be restored to Kindergarten without utilizing any additional rooms, if morning and afternoon sessions are held in the same rooms. This approach is consistent with what other districts are doing by gradually phasing in this tried and true K-8 concept.
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