They still need a lot of guidance. Academically, moving from elementary school to middle school is a big jump. Suddenly students have five or six teachers instead of one. They need to take notes. Grades are different.
Educators say it's a key time.
Students' grades typically dip in middle school, if only for a while. That's what happened to Jessica Dennis, an eighth-grader at Raa Middle School. She said she was too busy with phone calls, writing notes and mouthing off in class to stay focused on math. Her grades dropped dangerously low in sixth and seventh grade. But this year, she said, she smartened up.