Study Favors Use of Team Teaching for Oft-Neglected Sixth-Graders

Sixth-grade is a crucial, transitional year in any child’s education, and team teaching appears to be the most effective way to help these oft-neglected students, according to a national study released Sunday in Anaheim.

The study, done for the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals and released at the group’s national convention, involved observation of 132 sixth-graders in 45 states.

Although the structure of sixth-grade teaching varies considerably across the nation--from a single teacher to multiple instructors in various subjects--the study found that sixth-graders benefit most from a team approach where teachers jointly plan courses that stimulate interest and reinforce the subject matter.

That team approach can be of considerable value for energetic, yet emotionally tender 11-year-olds who can be overwhelmed on larger middle school campuses, the study found.

Before the report’s release, Bill Honig, California superintendent of public instruction, already had pinpointed sixth, seventh and eighth grades as the weakest areas of the state’s education system.

John H. Lounsbury, a retired Georgia education dean and principal author of the study, said the whole nation has problems with the middle years of schooling from grades six through eight, but particularly the sixth grade.

“There are, in fact, three (types of) sixth grades, each identifiable and fairly distinct,” Lounsbury said in the report.

“The first is the traditional sixth grade, self-contained and elementary in nature and form. It is a single class group instructed in all or almost all the basic subjects and skills by one teacher. . . . The second is the departmentalized sixth grade. . . . A student group moves from class to class to receive instruction from different specialist teachers. . . .

“The third (type of) sixth grade is the evolving sixth grade, the teamed sixth grade. Here instruction in the basic subjects is provided by a team of two to five teachers each with some subject area expertise but who can and may plan the total instructional program cooperatively.”

Doesn’t Mean More Teachers

Lounsbury and J. Howard Johnston, University of Cincinnati education professor and co-author of the study, said at a news conference that “team teaching” usually doesn’t mean hiring more teachers.

“The class-size ratio remains the same,” said Johnston, adding that the team concept simply means that the teacher of math, for instance, coordinates with the teacher of English for the same sixth-grade group.

A major value in such teaming among teachers, according to the two educators, is that students can feel less “lost” in moving from one subject matter to another during the school day.

“Middle-level schools tend to be fairly large, which may make curriculum options greater, but also produce stress for younger students and lead to the anonymity that plagues contemporary education,” their report said.

Sixth-Graders Rapid Growth

The study repeatedly noted that sixth-graders are undergoing rapid physical and emotional growth and that these most be taken into consideration by their teachers.

Too many sixth-grade classes require students to sit too long, even though children at that age are naturally restless, the study found.

“The growing bodies of 11-year-olds call for more opportunities for physical movement than schools presently provide,” the report said.