Does anyone's HS have 8th graders at it?

[lindberg99]

Our school district is currently set up with 6 elementary schools (K - 6), 1 jr high (7-8) and 1 high school (9-12). The schools have had a lot of budget cuts so they are looking into consolidating and closing one or two elementary schools. They seem to want to do this by having grade "centers", like one school would be preK-2, one would be 3-4, one would be 5-7. There are a couple variations for preK to 7 but all variations seem to have 8th graders moving to the HS.

I know of some schools that have the secondary school being 7th - 12th and then they are sort of internally split so the 7-8 are kind of in one area and have their own classes, teachers, sports, etc. So it's almost like separate jr high and high school but they are in the same building. This makes sense to me but I'm not seeing how an 8 - 12 school works.

I will hear more about this in the coming year if they decide to move this way but I am curious about how it works now. If your district's HS is 8 - 12... Are the 8th graders kind of separated off from the high schoolers? Do 8th graders get to join HS sports? Or do they still be jr high sports that they and the 7th graders would do. Are the 8th graders pretty separated from the rest of the school population or pretty mixed in? 

Thanks!

[whatsnextmom]

In our county, there are a handful of 6th though 12th schools. 2 are specialty charter schools and 1 is a performing arts magnet school. I believe there are a couple private schools like this too. I've never heard anyone have an issue with it. My own DD started at the performing arts magnet last year for 9th grade. There is almost no contact. The middle school kids have their own lunch period and their academic classes are all on the far end of the campus. I know our middle school does the same keeping 6th graders very seperate from the 7th and 8th graders. I bet the high schools won't intergrate the 8th graders too much.

[pianojazzgirl]

Where I grew up elementary school was K-7, and high school was 8-12.  To me that's normal.  Eighth graders participated in all aspects of high school life along with everyone else.  No segregation.  I didn't have any problem with it.  Pretty much all the older kids (grade 11 and 12, and probably even 10) barely registered the younger ones.  The 8th graders hung out with other 8th graders, and maybe grade 9s.  The sports teams were divided by age, so 8th graders would be on a team with other 8th graders, etc.

ETA I'm talking about my experiences a few *cough* years ago, but it's still like that now.  I now live in a different part of the country from where I grew up, and tbh I'm not sure how it works here.  Dd is in a special performing arts school that is pre-K to grade 11 (high school ends at grade 11 here), and while they certainly have the younger kids segregated from the older kids I'm not sure what the status is on grade 8s.

[meemee]

the trend in our school dst is K-8. i know dd's previous school has been getting ready to add the two extra classes. 

[ollyoxenfree]

For 7th and part of 8th, DD was at a 7 to 12 high school. It was standard where we were living at the time. It seemed odd to me, used to the Primary/Middle School/High School version. It was fine, although I still prefer having a separate middle school. The 7's and 8's were somewhat separate from the older students. Their curriculum was more rigid and they had fewer electives. Most of the sports activities had junior teams for them to play on. It was helpful for the advanced bright students who took advantage of senior courses for some grade acceleration, but they still had to do some schedule juggling to make it work. 

DD enjoyed attending high school at that age. She was a little miffed when we moved again and she returned to a middle school, but she got over it. 

If I was considering such a proposal, I'd ask about things like scheduling. Do your 8th graders have a full rotary schedule now? If not, will they move to full rotary like the other high schoolers, or will they continue on a block schedule? Will the high school offer more electives for the 8th graders? How will the high school absorb the population of the extra grade - will they have to adjust the length of school day, time of lunches etc. I have heard of a couple of overpopulated schools that have the senior grades attending from 8 am., and their first lunch period is 10:45 am. They are dismissed at 1:45, I think, so they have most of the afternoon off. 

[lindberg99]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree 

For 7th and part of 8th, DD was at a 7 to 12 high school. It was standard where we were living at the time. It seemed odd to me, used to the Primary/Middle School/High School version. It was fine, although I still prefer having a separate middle school. The 7's and 8's were somewhat separate from the older students. Their curriculum was more rigid and they had fewer electives. Most of the sports activities had junior teams for them to play on. It was helpful for the advanced bright students who took advantage of senior courses for some grade acceleration, but they still had to do some schedule juggling to make it work. 

DD enjoyed attending high school at that age. She was a little miffed when we moved again and she returned to a middle school, but she got over it. 

If I was considering such a proposal, I'd ask about things like scheduling. Do your 8th graders have a full rotary schedule now? If not, will they move to full rotary like the other high schoolers, or will they continue on a block schedule? Will the high school offer more electives for the 8th graders? How will the high school absorb the population of the extra grade - will they have to adjust the length of school day, time of lunches etc. I have heard of a couple of overpopulated schools that have the senior grades attending from 8 am., and their first lunch period is 10:45 am. They are dismissed at 1:45, I think, so they have most of the afternoon off. 

Those are great questions to ask! They are having a meeting about this in a couple weeks, I'm going to print these out and take them along.

[AllisonR]

Originally Posted by pianojazzgirl 

Where I grew up elementary school was K-7, and high school was 8-12.  To me that's normal.  Eighth graders participated in all aspects of high school life along with everyone else.  No segregation.  I didn't have any problem with it.  Pretty much all the older kids (grade 11 and 12, and probably even 10) barely registered the younger ones.  The 8th graders hung out with other 8th graders, and maybe grade 9s.  The sports teams were divided by age, so 8th graders would be on a team with other 8th graders, etc.

ETA I'm talking about my experiences a few *cough* years ago, but it's still like that now. 

pianojazzgirl, you are aging yourself! Exact same here - elementary was K-7 and high school was 8-12. This was 1980 though, when a lot of the people on this board weren't even born! Anyway, I remember my first few days of school thinking OMG these kids are so HUGE (in every way), but they basically ignored us and we did our own thing. I mean 11 and 12 graders are old enough to know that 8th grade is still just kids, and to let them be. But we had the same class schedules, number of electives, same lunch hour, same sports... But I don't think 8th graders would have been picked for a varsity football team, for obvious reasons. Hmm, now that I am thinking about it, there were a few minor differences. You weren't allowed to join the school newspaper or yearbook until 9th grade. 

[mar123]

My children attend Catholic schools, and in our city, all Catholic high schools are 8-12; it is considered normal here. Years ago the boys' schools started it because of sports, but now the boys' and girls' schools begin in 8th. All of the grades follow the same schedule, etc. There are high school credit classes taken in 8th grade, such as World Geography and science classes. Also, honors students begin high school level English and math classes in 8th grade and often take college freshman English and math during their senior year. Many students begin college with enough credits to be a sophomore! There are many benefits, IMO.