A new proposal being floated by Boston Public Schools Superintendent Tommy Chang would eliminate middle school and shift the middle grades either into the elementary or high schools.
Paul Reville, professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, explained that research suggests students can benefit from fewer disruptive transitions.
“Kids typically transition into middle school and then have to transition into high school. What Superintendent Tommy Chang is proposing — and there’s certainly an ample body of research to suggest it’s appropriate — is that there only be one transition,” Reville said.
The shift could be beneficial not only to students but for the school system’s bottom line, as well. An audit of the school system released in 2015reported that only 54,000 seats of the 90,000 available are filled, which has prompted some officials to call for school closures to streamline the budget.
“Part of the goal of this is not just an educational goal, but it’s also a goal with respect to closing some schools, which — as we’ve discussed — I think has to be a priority and concern for the city of Boston and Boston Public Schools,” he explained.
“They’ve been delaying or procrastinating, if you will, making the consolidations that would save money and transportation costs,” Reville added.
But while Reville supported the science behind the change, he questioned the wisdom of rolling out a major policy proposal only a few weeks after a proposal to change school start times was met with so much criticism from parents that the administration ultimately decided to abandon it.
“It came very shortly after this big brouhaha over starting times ... Then, within a matter of a couple of weeks — after I would think the school board mayor and so far are feeling a little bruised by that experience — the superintendent is back with another change that undoubtedly will rub a lot of people the wrong way,” Reville said.
“I’m just not sure it’s the right time to introduce it,” Reville continued. “On substance, I think it’s a decent proposal.”
Click the audio player above to hear more from Paul Reville.
