Seemingly endless tinkering and adjustment of the structure of education in the United States over the past century have led to the adoption of different school forms (grouping particular grades into separate schools) at different times. These different school forms necessitate transitions between schools (e.g., from a middle school to a high…

Several districts have taken a radical approach to middle/high school transitions, removing ninth-graders from the mix to give them the attention needed to succeed in high school. Three ninth-grade-only schools with 720 to 750 students in Virginia, Texas, and Pennsylvania are profiled. Students experience less social pressure from upper-classmen.…

This study examined a Queensland secondary school where students select a track: Academic, Commercial, or General. Six months into their program, Grade 9 students were queried about their school experience, track choice, peer relationships, and future plans. Responses of the three track groups are summarized, with consideration of sex differences.…

Attempted to determine type of school organization that most benefited ninth-grade students. Results from ninth graders in junior high schools (n=771) and in high schools (n=825) indicated that ninth graders in the junior high school setting participated significantly more in extracurricular activities and achieved significantly higher…

This interim report evaluates the implementation of the "House Plan," a plan to create small personalized schools within the 110 large comprehensive high schools in New York (New York) by subdividing all ninth grades into separate units. This evaluation covers only the 37 "dropout prevention" high schools which had been…

This project was conducted to develop a course of study in health occupations in grades 9 and 10 for a county-wide comprehensive health careers high school. The course was to include related skills development in health occupations, support materials for an academic course of study, and broad outlines of curriculum for grades 11 and 12. The High…

The development of the junior high school as a distinct and separate unit of the public-school system is one of the most remarkable and striking chapters in the history of public education in the United States. From humble beginnings in a few scattered cities the movement has gathered momentum until hundreds of school systems have been profoundly…

When the new superintendent of Orangeburg School District Five was appointed in 1992, he found that Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School graduates did not have the skills to enter the workplace and postsecondary institutions that require high-level academic skills. He identified these three things that Orangeburg would need to do to improve academic…

Junior and junior-senior high schools enroll a large proportion of our early adolescent population. The programs they provide, the services they offer, their administrative practices, and the character of their staffs have far-reaching effects. These programs, services, practices, and staff characteristics constitute the scope of the present…