Frank the moderator: Providence Journal education writer Jennifer D. Jordan has spent the last six months following 8th graders, David, Gigi, Adam and Jennifer and their families. Join Jordan for a discussion about the end of middle school on Tuesday at noon at www.projo.com.

Frank the moderator: Jennifer Jordan has put together a few resources for parents face with some difficult issues facing eighth graders.
Her resource page is here
http://www.projo.com/extra/2006/eighth_graders/resources.htm
The whole the grade series can be found here
http://www.projo.com/extra/2006/eighth_graders

astudent: What is the one thing that makes this transition most difficult for students? For parents? And what, if anything, are high schools doing to address the transition?

Jennifer Jordan: I think that different students face different challenges. Some worry about the work load in high school and about making it into honors classes, as Adam Littlefield did in the series. Others worry about attending a new school, like Gigi DeBarros has worried about moving from her public junior high to the private Lincoln School. But I think most students worry, at least a little bit, about the social pressures they associate with high school, about making new friends in a new place and about how they will fit into the new environment as the youngest students, after being king of the hill in middle school. Parents I've interviewed are somewhat concerned about their children keeping pace with the academic pressures, but also about how to find the right balance between protecting their kids and giving them more freedom as they get older. That was a recurring theme in the series and one several parents were struggling with. As for what the high schools are doing to help prepare students for the transition, the students in the series and their classmates were all invited to tour the local high school before the end of the 8th grade, to help make them feel more comfortable when they start school in Sept. Also, representatives from the high schools visited the middle schools several months ago to explain high school requirements and help the students pick out their classes for freshman year.

talk: From a colleague:
Any advice for students making the transition from middle school to high school about handling the bigger workload.
Also what advice would you give to kids moving into middle school from the fifth and sixth grade?

Jennifer Jordan: Two eighth graders in the series, David Dennis of Middletown and Jenn Callaghan of Coventry, were asked to give younger students advice on how to survive middle school and both said the most important thing was to not fall behind in homework and classwork, as it is much harder to catch up in 8th grade. The demands are much greater, so even missing a couple days of school can make a big difference, they say. I remember David and his friends saying that when they fell behind in writing journal entries for English, it was almost impossible to write them all the night before the journal was due. I think similar advice for high school probably applies: try not to fall behind, and don't be afraid to ask for extra help from teachers, especially during the first few months of school.

moderator: How will the eighth graders that you met spend their summer?

Jennifer Jordan: Gigi DeBarros of Pawtucket, along with her five sisters, will participate in various camps and programs thoughout the summer, as she gets ready to attend Lincoln School in Providence. David Dennis of Middletown is planning on painting a neighbor's house and doing odd jobs to make money. He will also begin training for freshman football and get to the go-cart track in Connecticut for racing whenever he can. Jenn Callaghan of Coventry will be busy working with younger children at the Roger Williams Park Zoo, as a counselor-in-training for the Zoo Camp program. And Adam Littlefield of South Kingstown, when not at the beach swiming, surfing or boating, will work as a bus boy at a popular Matunuck restaurant this summer.

jwj: How many students are in the public school system of elementary and high school in RI?

Jennifer Jordan: Off hand I don't know the exact number, but there are 12,000 eighth graders, according to the RI Dept. of Education, so there are well over 100,000 students in K-12 education in Rhode Island.