For Star subscribers: Tucson Unified School District wants to add sixth grade to six elementary schools for the 2023-2024 school year. Other schools might follow if the plan succeeds.
Genesis Lara Tucson Unified School District proposes adding a sixth-grade level to some of its elementaries, converting them into K-6 schools, in time for the 2023-2024 school year.
The six chosen schools are currently “feeders” for Gridley, Valencia, Doolen and Magee middle schools. Parents who don’t prefer the K-6 models would still have the option of enrolling their kids in middle school, said Bryant Nodine, TUSD's operations program manager. Nodine said the potential changes would help prepare students for the departmentalized instruction they will receive in middle and high schools, while they’re still in a familiar elementary school environment. Departmentalized instruction refers to different educators teaching specific subjects to various groups of students, as opposed to one educator teaching all subjects in one class.
Nationally and locally, K-8 schools were long the norm until the widespread trend, which accelerated in the 1970s, of creating more middle schools with grades 6 through 8."Seventy-five percent of sixth-graders nationwide now go to middle school. The tide may be turning again, however, in favor of returning sixth-graders to elementary school," Public School Review reported on Nov. 30.
He said the proposed changes would provide similar education experiences as in the successful competitor schools. Soleng Tom Elementary, in particular, showed the largest preference for the K-6 conversion, with 94% of parents who responded saying they would stay in the district if sixth grade is added to the school, as opposed to 70% who would stay with the district if the change isn’t made.
Nodine said the district would also have to explore ways in which it could offer sports and clubs for sixth-graders in K-6 schools. He said district policy currently doesn’t allow for sixth-graders to participate in K-5 sports, but the district could look into partnerships with local clubs. Adjusting to middle schoolBoard member Adelita Grijalva said she likes the idea of the K-6 conversion for those schools, noting that she’s spoken with other parents who have particularly chosen the smaller middle schools within the district.“I wish I could say that we changed the great reconfiguration for some really strong academic reason, but it was literally because our elementary schools were very full, so we moved sixth into middle schools,” Grijalva said.
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