Managing the Adjustment from Fifth Grade to Sixth Grade: An Investigation of the Social, Emotional and Academic Shift from Elementary to Middle School

Catherine Lennard • Cahn Fellow 2020

After six years in an elementary school setting, students articulate to middle school. This study explored the perspectives of fifth and sixth-grade students, teachers, and school administrators on the transition from elementary to middle school. Our Cahn Project focused on leveraging the unique opportunity of being the only conjoined school in our district with separate faculty, staff, and administrative teams on a shared campus. Although there are no physical barriers between the schools our district SCIP (School Climate and Perception Survey) and qualitative data surrounding student and teacher perceptions suggests that sixth graders struggle with acclimating to their new learning environment. Our students articulate directly to the middle school that is connected to our school. We looked at data for both schools to determine what student impressions of the transition are and surveyed teachers in both middle and elementary school to determine what they wish students knew from a social, emotional and academic perspective to have greater success in the transition. Additionally, this work provides guidance and recommendations for facilitating a smooth transition for students.