For eighth graders, being the oldest on their campus can mean knowing the routines, teachers and expectations. Then, when September comes, they become freshmen: the youngest students on their campus once again. Whether students come from the school’s middle school (MS), another independent school or a public school, the transition to high school comes with new academic and social challenges. This is true even with the efforts middle schools are making to better prepare students for the transition.
In the MS, the schedule includes “E block,” a 35-40-minute open block for most students (depending on their involvement in other activities/groups). Several years ago, faculty designed the block to create access to teachers in the middle of the day, MS Director Mary Dolbear said.
“Students are introduced to choice within an open block, and students do begin to experience accountability and responsibility through impact of choices. They often share the importance of E Block in learning the skill of time management,” she said. “Students also learn to self-advocate by connecting directly with teachers during that time.”
Kate Radlauer, a middle school teacher at Shady Hill School (SHS), said SHS also takes measures to prepare students for the greater independence they will have in high school.
“We teach an executive function skills class, and we’ve done it for two years now,” she said. “They come in more prepared because we’re actually teaching those cognitive skills in a more explicit way.
Despite these efforts, students from both the MS and other middle schools said they still faced challenges after entering high school.
For Sloane Francis ’29, who attended the MS, one of the biggest changes was managing an increased workload.
“I was unprepared for the amount of tests and quizzes that you have because in middle school, you have about one per week, but in high school, it’s usually two, three,” he said.
To make the transition easier, eighth-grade teachers gradually increased the workload toward the end of eighth grade, Sloane said. Even so, he still had to adjust to balancing multiple assignments and extracurricular activities at once.
“In middle school, if you had a test, your teacher would just focus on that test,” he said. “But in high school, you can have a class where you have a test next week, and you’ll still have a project due at the end of the week.”
Anna Zhang ’29, who also attended the MS, said managing her time was a bigger adjustment than the workload itself.
“I had homework every single night during freshman year, but I felt like it was the same manner as I had in eighth grade,” Anna said. “In high school, you have to choose what you do with your free time. You could either actually do your homework, meet with a teacher or you could just sit on your phone the whole time,” she said.
Jasiri Cash ’28 attended Wellesley Middle School. For her, the biggest adjustment was navigating a new social environment. Cash said joining different clubs and planning community events helped her find her place.
“Every time you kind of step out of your bubble and meet new people or join a new club, you figure out people are so much more similar to you than you think,” she said.
Looking back, Cash said the transition was difficult but rewarding.
“When you’re going into a new space, you have no clue what anybody wants, like how anybody’s going to react to you,” she said. “I feel like that forced me to learn more about myself.”
