The Mythos of the Eighth to Ninth Grade Transition

1
The Mythos of the Eighth to Ninth Grade Transition

• Greg MarshallBradford High SchoolFirst Year
  Presenter

2
Limitations

• This inquiry focuses on only those middle and
  high school students in Bradford County, Florida

3
The Middle Schools

• Bradford County has two middle school centers
• Bradford Middle School, in Starke
• Lawtey Community School (grades k-8) in Lawtey.

4
The High School

• Bradford County has two public schools serving
  grades 9-12
• Bradford High School, in Starke
• The Bradford-Union Vocational Center, also in
  Starke.

5
The Population

• The socioeconomic distribution of the school
  populations and the minority percentages were not
  considered in this inquiry in an attempt to limit
  the variables.

6
The Focus Discipline

• As this transition is perceived to manifest
  itself in many aspects, this inquiry is focused
  on only the area of discipline.

7
The Perception

• At Bradford High School, 9th grade students earn
  more discipline referrals and have a greater
  truancy/tardy rate than the 10th-12th grades
  combined.
• This 9th grade behavior is most often explained
  by teachers, counselors and administrators as the
  result of the 8th to 9th grade transition

8
The Question

• Is it true that these students are using this
  time to adjust to the higher level of thinking,
  more homework, more freedom and more
  responsibility normally associated with high
  school?
• Or is the behavior they exhibit in high school
  merely a continuation of their middle school
  behaviors?

9
The Data

• The following slide compares the total number of
  referrals for
• the 2005-06 8th graders in Bradford County
• the 2006-07 9th graders in Bradford County (to
  date)
• and extrapolated 9th grade data.

10
Total Referral Comparison
11
???!

• The county school board records seem to indicate
  improved behavior during the 9th grade year!
• What if the referrals for this population were
  broken down into more specific categories?

12
Refined Data

• The eighty-two discipline codes for referrals in
  Bradford County Schools were combined into eleven
  categories
• These are violence, skipping/attendance,
  disrespect, disruptive, drugs alcohol and
  tobacco, property violation, sex infraction,
  theft, tardies, other major offenses, and other
  minor offenses.

13
The Data

• The following slide compares the total number of
  referrals in these categories for
• the 2005-06 8th graders
• the 2006-07 9th graders (to date)
• and extrapolated 9th grade data.

14
2005-06 8th Grade Referrals vs. 2006-07 9th Grade
Referrals
1200
Referral types
1000
V Violence
800
S/A Skipping/Attendance
D Disrepect
Tot 8th Gd
DRU Disruptive
9th Gd T/D
600
D/A/T Drugs, Alcohol/Tobacco
Extrap 9th
P Property Violation
400
S Sex Infraction
Number of Referrals
T Theft
TAR Tardies
200
O/MJ Other Major Offenses
O/MN Other Minor Offenses
0
V
S/A
D
DRU
D/A/T
P
S
T
TAR
O/MJ
O/MN
Totals
54
66
111
399
3
8
5
1
290
4
39
980
Tot 8th Gd
22
93
112
191
5
4
4
1
46
2
11
491
9th Gd T/D
29
124
149
255
7
5
5
1
61
3
15
655
Extrap 9th
Referral Type
15
Some Insights

• It is interesting to note that 9th grade behavior
  was significantly worse in only one of the 11
  categories listed skipping referrals.
• The Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco referral category
  also shows an increase for 9th grade, but at an
  increase of only two incidences (or 4 incidences,
  extrapolated for the year).

16
Some Insights

• Statistically speaking, the Disrespect referral
  category may also show a slight increase for 9th
  graders by the end of the year.
• In every other category, 9th grade behavior is
  actually improved over 8th grade behavior!

17
The Survey

• In March 2007, 9th graders enrolled in Bradford
  High School science classes were given a survey
  to ascertain their impressions of the 8th to 9th
  grade transition.
• (Students enrolled at the Vo-Tech in Agriculture
  were not polled due to logistics problems).

18
The Survey

• A total of 151 surveys were returned,
  representing
• 122 students from Bradford Middle School
• 8 students from Lawtey Community School
• 2 students from the Alternative School
• 3 students from private schools or home- schools
• 16 students from other counties or states

19
The Survey

• Responses about adjusting that included
• (A)very easy(B)easy(C)fairly
  difficult(D)difficult(E)very difficult
• were grouped as either positive (A/B) or
  negative (C/D/E) to facilitate the display of the
  results.

20
Survey Results
140
120
Q2a/b
100
Q2c/d/e
80
Q3a/b
60
Q3c/d/e
()
()
()
40
Q4a/b
20
(-)
(-)
Q4c/d/e
(-)
0
Question 3
Question 4
Question 2
2. Overall feelings about the 8th to 9th grade
transition3. Getting used to Bradford High
School Rules4. Being a part of the youngest
group of high school students
21
Survey Results
Their Teachers
()
()
()
()
(-)
(-)
(-)
(-)
Quest. 5
Quest. 6
Quest. 7
Quest. 8
5. Getting used to high school teachers work
expectations6. Getting used to the amount of
homework assigned7. Getting used to the
difficulty of homework assigned8. Getting used
to attitudes of the teachers towards students
22
Survey Results
Attitudes Towards Students
8. Getting used to the attitudes of teachers
towards students9. Getting used to the attitudes
of administrators towards students10. Getting
used to attitudes of students towards teachers
and each other
23
Survey Results
School Size
()
()
()
(-)
(-)
(-)
11. Getting used to all the clubs, sports,
organizations12. Getting used to the size of the
high school campus13. Getting used to the size
of the high school classes
24
Rule Enforcement

• How well were rules enforced at the two school
  levels, according to the students?
• Perhaps students behave differently at the two
  grade levels because of different expectations
  regarding school rules?
• The following graph illustrates the students
  view on this matter

25
Rules Enforcement MS vs. HS
Rules Enforcement
80
75

1. Rules always enforced
2. Rules usually enforced depending on teacher or
   administrator
3. Rules sometimes enforced
4. Rules only enforced with certain teachers or
   administrators
5. Rules hardly ever enforced

73
70
60
50
30
32
31
40
27
30
14
12
20
5
3
10
0
A B C D E A B C D E
(Middle School) (High School)
26

• Statistically speaking, the students view of
  rule enforcement is virtually identical at the
  two grade levels!
• Rules enforcement does not seem to be a factor in
  referral rates between 8th and 9th graders.

27
Conclusion

• The perception that the misbehavior of 9th
  graders at Bradford High School is the result of
  the transition to the high school environment
  appears to be flawed.
• Overall, discipline at this school appears to
  LESS of a problem for 9th graders, with the
  exception of skipping class, (and to a small
  extent, classroom disruption).

28
Conclusion

• This first study would appear to indicate that,
  at BHS, 9th grade behavior is better than 8th
  grade behavior, and (perhaps?) worse than 10th
  grade behavior.
• These behaviors appear to be more related to the
  maturity and emotional development of the child,
  and less related to any trauma due to the 8th to
  9th grade transition.