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Testing the middle ground Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Hedrick Middle School teacher Byron Devore works with seventh-graders Katie Stembridge, left, and Natalie Ostler. Come next year, Devore will be working with sixth-graders at Hedrick, thanks to a pilot program preparing the district for a three-grade middle school system. Two Medford schools may try sixth-to-eighth mix with 232 students this fall By DAMIAN MANN Medford�s two middle schools have laid the groundwork to create a "school within a school" for 232 volunteer sixth-graders this fall. They�ve set aside classrooms and chosen eight teachers to run the pilot program, which will transfer selected sixth-graders from elementary schools throughout the district to McLoughlin and Hedrick middle schools. The pilot program will operate independently within the middle schools with its own curriculum, classrooms and locker areas. "We are getting really strong interest from families," said Hedrick Principal Marjorie Lininger. "It is a constant conversation topic." Parents will be sent an application this week to enroll their children in the program. How the class times would be broken down Sixth-graders who volunteer to attend McLoughlin and Hedrick middle schools next fall tentatively will take the following classes: Class Minutes daily Minutes every other day English 80 Math 50-55 Social studies 70-80 Science 70-80 Music 60-80 PE/Health 60-80 Accelerated classes 80 Reading electives 80 The application is due back on April 10. Hedrick and McLoughlin will each receive 116 students and four teachers, boosting their respective enrollments to about 1,100. Eventually, the Medford School District wants to offer three-grade middle schools once a third middle school is built in 2004. Currently, the schools are limited to seventh and eighth grades. The pilot program is a trial run to allow parents the opportunity to evaluate the concept. About 25 percent of Medford�s 970 sixth-graders will be enrolled in the program. Eventually, the plan will align Medford schools with other middle schools throughout the state and will help ease overcrowding at five of the elementary schools. Other districts, such as Ashland and Phoenix-Talent, already run a six- to eight-grade program. The restructuring will help middle schools better prepare students for the certificate of initial mastery (CIM) tests, which are given in grades three, five, eight and 10, district officials say. Sixth-graders are closer developmentally to seventh- and eighth-graders than they are to younger students, they say. "Primarily, it is best for these young adolescents," said McLoughlin Assistant Principal Amy Tiger. "It is developmentally appropriate given their body growth and maturity." Sixth-graders would be able to take electives not offered at the elementary level, she added. Some possible electives include: horticulture, art, leadership, shop, foreign language, technology, home economics and drama. It will be up to the teachers to decide which of the classes to offer the prospective students, she said. Hedrick seventh-grade teacher Bryon Devore, chosen for the pilot program, said he and his colleagues will work as a team. To help students perform better in mathematics, the 116 students will be divided up into four classes depending on their academic ability. The team approach will help tailor the curriculum to each child�s rate of development, he said. Devore said he asked for the assignment because he enjoys working with sixth-graders, who often are more enthusiastic than their older peers. "As kids get older, they get more skeptical and jaded," he said. Both McLoughlin and Hedrick plan to stagger the sixth-graders� hours to alleviate some concerns about mixing with seventh- and eight-graders. Other teachers chosen for the program at Hedrick are: Bonnie Havens, Julie Hill and Lori Ross. At McLoughlin they are: Meegan Benbow, Bob Wolcott, Andra Hollenbeck and Heidi Gantz. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.