Tips From Your School Psychologist
Transitioning
From Elementary to Middle School
Transitioning to a new school can be
an exciting but stressful time for children. Even when the change is positively
anticipated, such as “graduating” to the next school level, facing the unknown
can cause anxiety. The transition from elementary to middle school can be
particularly unsettling. The environment tends to be larger, potentially less
nurturing, more departmentalized, more competitive, and more demanding academically.
Additionally, students are expected to be more independent academically and
their social life often becomes more complex and intense.
Understandably parents can feel
concerned about how their child will adjust to these changes. Luckily, there
are many ways for parents to help smooth the transition and support their
child’s academic and social success in their new school environment.
What are some common concerns of
those transitioning to middle school?
- A New Environment: Finding lockers, lunchrooms and
bathrooms, getting through crowded hallways, getting to class on time,
getting on the right bus to go home, lack of experience in dealing with
extracurricular activities
- A Different Type of Workload: Keeping up with materials,
new grading standards and procedures, more long term assignments, lack of
basic academic skills
- New Social Expectations: Handling increased peer
pressures (e.g., cliques, dealing with older students, and meeting students
from other schools), social immaturity
- A Different Schedule: Remembering which class to go
to next, becoming familiar with more teachers, no recess, limited free
time
- Other: Reduced parent involvement, accepting more
responsibility for their own actions, unrealistic parental expectations,
coping with adolescent physical development
What can parents do to ease the
transition?
- Emphasize positive aspects of middle school. With the move will come more opportunities for individuality and freedom.
Students will have increasing choice in elective courses and
extracurricular activities. There will be more opportunities to find
friends with common interests.
- Teach study skills. Help your child begin to
self-regulate by breaking down large tasks into manageable pieces and
providing (or asking the teacher to provide) guidelines so students can
monitor their own progress. Help familiarize your child with using an
agenda/assignment book to keep track of daily and long-term assignments.
- Schedule tours of new school. During the summer prior to
entering the school, parents should arrange for a tour of the building
with your child. Request your child’s schedule early and “walk their
schedule” to determine best routes between classes.
- Attend orientation with your child. Often schools have older
students available at these sessions to speak about the transition and
provide tips for navigating the school environment.
- Encourage participation. Whether in extracurricular
activities, extra-help homework programs, or school social/sports
activities, encourage your child to seek these out as an opportunity to
meet new people and become an active part of the school community.
- Continue or increase your involvement. Middle schools continue to
have numerous opportunities available for parent involvement. Parents
should maintain communication with the school. Share your concerns
immediately with school staff and read all communications sent home.
- Get to know other parents and students. Help organize or encourage the school to
organize a “getting-to-know-you” event early in the school
year. One example would be to have the students participate in a service
activity such as picking up trash around the school and raising money
through a car wash.
- Seek out assistance. Should your child have special concerns with
transitions, seek out the assistance of school professionals, such as the school
psychologist or counselor, early in the school year.
Family
support and parental supervision are critical in making the transition to
middle school a smooth one. Research has shown that students whose parents
provide a supportive, moderate level of supervision, along with some freedom
and autonomy, achieve higher grades and achievement test scores. With your
help, your child can be assured a successful entrance into the middle school
years.