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135 C H A P T E R 6 A Transition for Parents and Teachers Structuring Successful Transition At the end of the 1999–2000 school year, I visited the middle school to see some of the research participants who were now nearly at the end of their seventh grade year. As I walked into the middle school, I saw several research participants, now experienced seventh graders, conducting orientation sessions with small groups of curious sixth graders. My students and I beamed at each other; the transition process had come full circle. For soon-to-be seventh graders, an important part of the transition process is the unofficial and often invisible orientation they seek and receive from older siblings, relatives, and friends. Most of the students in this study identified other students as important sources of information as they prepared themselves for the transition. These slightly older peers and family members answered questions not answered by other sources: Are the teachers nice? What are the dances like? What if you forget your homework (or text book, or gym clothes, or agenda books)? How easy is it to get lost in that building? Will the kids from the other towns like me? Do the kids date? Do drugs? Fight? Not only did I consistently find students using other students to fill in the gaps in the information they were given, I found that the information students received from each other was usually reliable and encouraging. The transition process for sixth graders begins early in the sixth grade year, and continues well into the first semester of the seventh grade year. In this school district, it is a process that directly involves sixth and seventh grade teachers and guidance counselors, elementary and middle school administrators, sixth grade students and their parents or guardians, and seventh grade students. The middle school guidance counselor, Ms. Young, coordinates the well-defined transition process. This chapter will describe this framework and will demonstrate that students are not the only ones with hopes and worries during this process; parents also anticipate this transition with a degree of consternation. When asked if they felt prepared for seventh grade, most students from both communities said they did. They said that as sixth grade students , their teachers frequently interspersed lessons with advice and hints. “Next year at the middle school . . .” the forewarning would begin, and then end with information about homework, being prepared and organized for classes, higher expectations for personal responsibility, opportunities to make new friends, and so on. Sixth grade teachers complete student and class profile sheets, designed by Ms. Young, and send them to the middle school by the end of March to assist with team composition and curriculum development. The class profile summarizes instructional highlights, field trips, assigned novels, topics covered in each of the four core subjects, and special programs . Individual student profiles, completed for all two hundred and fifty plus sixth graders, provide information about academic ability, performance , motivation and preparedness in each subject area, along with information about the student’s interests, talents, behavior, and obstacles to learning. These profiles provide useful social information for team composition that is made in the interests of diversity and student success. At the beginning of March, a packet is sent to each sixth grader’s home. It includes information about the team concept, band, and the world language program. Parents are encouraged to think flexibly about their child’s team placement and the transition to seventh grade is framed as an opportunity for students to “move beyond their narrow elementary school experiences to have the opportunity of finding other students of similar abilities, interests and goals.”1 A Parent Survey Sheet requests that parents give their preferences for team placement, language, and band, and it gives parents an opportunity to share concerns and information about their child. Combined with information sent on each student by teachers, this information can provide a comprehensive and valuable profile for each student. The degree to which parents influence placement decisions is unclear, but anecdotal information suggests that while most parents respect the process recommended by the school, a handful of influential parents do have the last say in their child’s team placement. And while some parents have too much influence, others who cannot or do not read the information and respond to the survey may not be able to learn about the middle school program or provide valuable information about their child. A small booklet is given to all...

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