In Texas, for example, the 6^th Grade does not participate in UIL athletic competition. They also do not, in most cases, anyway, take Elective courses such as Shop and Family and Consumer Sciences (previously known as "Home Ec"). Facilities are therefore being built for which 1/3 of the student body at any given time will never use. Having three grades in this type of Middle School configuration means that School Districts, in order to accommodate growth, need to build even more of them even sooner than they would otherwise if the 6^th Grade were in a more efficient and developmentally appropriate configuration. The presence of the 6^th Grade in that type of configuration also means that it will cost a District more, and sooner than otherwise, to equip and staff such facilities in providing accommodations that, once again 1/3 of the student body doesn’t need. This includes, in particular, the hiring and continued remuneration of competition athletic coaching staffs, as well as the yearly budgets for scheduling venues and transportation for athletic events. None of which is for the 6^th Grade.

In high-growth Districts with very little margin to work with, a Grade 6-8 Middle School configuration makes no sense whatever, which probably explains why most high-growth Districts in the outlying rural-suburban areas have now gone to----or will very shortly go to---another configuration, namely, for Grades 5-6. A campus for Grades 5-6 is most commonly known as an "Intermediate School." A more appropriate description, however, should probably be a "Junior Middle School," given the teaching format that most Districts operate their Grade 5-6 campuses with. When the Middle School concept first came about in the early 1960’s, it originally included Grades 5-8. Although many of the mostly smaller communities in the US have campuses for this Grade span, the more common configuration adopted by Districts within the past 20 years or so has been for Grades 6-8, primarily because many felt that having this kind of age span (Grades 5-8) at the same campus was problematic for both educators on the front line as well as parents, not to mention the students. In seeking a "middle ground" on that issue of better accommodating the so-called "middle grades," many Districts instead went to a Grade 6-8 configuration when instituting the Middle School concept, and decided to leave the 5^th Grade stranded in an Elementary pre-K through 5 setting, at least for the time being.

The 6-8 Grade configuration compromise, nevertheless, is, and probably always will be (and rightfully so), an albatross because of the perceived as well as real need to try to "protect" and isolate the 6^th Grade from the older kids, both for physiological as well as social and educational reasons. This in and of itself has caused problems, because many of the existing facilities that were former Grade 7-8 "Junior Highs" have had to be re-designed so as to provide a special 6^th Grade wing or "house," which has proven to be costly in most cases and downright impractical in others, depending on the facility layout. Furthermore, many educators and administrators, for some reason, don’t seem to think too highly of the 6^th Grade in terms of disciplinary issues. Their insulting "solution," unfortunately, seems to reflect a desire to "control" them by scaring them on the one hand (by putting them on the same spot of land with bigger kids) and by segregating them on the other (by constructing costly 6^th Grade "houses" or "wings" at existing as well as new facilities). This, instead of appealing to the dignity and intelligence of that Grade level by providing truly appropriate programs and settings, as well as teachers, staff and administrators that know how to work with that age group and who like that age group (you can carry on a pretty intelligent discussion about the goings on in the world with kids in that age group).

Some people have criticized the Grade 6-8 configuration for the foregoing reasons, and have instead suggested a return to a K-6 configuration. Once again, however, this engenders too wide of a Grade and age span, which shortens the time in which a neighborhood Elementary campus (which everyone---justifiably---insists on having for the younger kids) can continue to accommodate a given "neighborhood." Also, with the added facilities standards and requirements that have, in recent years, been mandated for the primary Grades (pre-K through 2), the available effective occupancy usage rates for existing Elementary campuses have dropped, thus increasing the frequency for either expansion, renovation or new construction of new Elementary Campuses. Furthermore, with the move toward full-day Kindergarten and in some cases classes for kids even younger than pre-K, 5^th Graders are also now feeling the social, educational, and possibly disciplinary "squeeze" at the Elementary level. Finally, with kids apparently reaching adolescence an average of three months earlier each decade since around the beginning of the 20^th Century, the 5^th Grade is probably no longer in a developmentally appropriate environment at the Elementary level.

As a result of the foregoing, there has been an increasing trend, within the past decade or so, toward completing the development of the Middle School concept by including the 5^th Grade. This is being done primarily through the establishment of Campuses to accommodate the 5^th and 6^th Grades, as part of a "split campus" arrangement, whereby a Grade 5-6 Campus feeds directly into a particular Grade 7-8 Middle School, thus providing an effective "vertical teaming" arrangement between the teaching teams at both campuses in providing a more smooth transition. As such, a Grade 5-6 Campus should probably be more appropriately named a "Junior Middle School," and a Grade 7-8 Campus should probably be more appropriately regarded as a "Senior Middle School."

In addition to providing an improved learning environment, and hence better results, Grade 5-6 Campuses can save a District money because:

• They can be built with about 2/3 the floor space and about ½ the land space for the same enrollment size Grade 7-8 (or 6-8) Campus.
• They do not need the more advanced Electives facilities such as Shop and "Home Ec," nor the hiring of teaching staff for such Electives
• They do not need competition athletic fields or gyms
• They do not require the hiring of competition athletics coaches, nor the scheduling and provision of venues and transportation for games; etc
• Kids in Grades 5-6 are relatively "low-maintenance." Per square foot construction costs for Grade 5-6 campuses are nearly as low as those for Elementary Campuses. Consequently, given that they do not require advanced electives or athletic accommodations of Grade 6-8/7-8 campuses, nor do they require the specialized accommodations of the primary grades (pre-K through 2), this means that more money can actually be spent on what goes on inside the buildings in serving the educational and social needs of the Grade 5-6 kids, thus better preparing them for Grades 7-8 and what follows at the High School level.

As you can see, the MS campus that still had the 6-8 configuration had enrollment increases by 2000-2001, whereas the four (5) MS campuses directly affected by the opening of five (5) Intermediate School campuses had 2000-2001 enrollments that were considerably lower than 1993-94, although total District enrollment increased by about 1300 per year during that time. Some quick, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that, had the 6-8 grade configuration been retained, they probably would have had to open up two (2) MS campuses (much more expensive to build) during that time, whereas, instead, they have not had to open ANY MS campuses, and they probably won't have to for some time to come. Whatever they didn't save in the way of Bond money, they probably saved w/r the hidden costs of having to redo ES/MS Feeder Area Boundaries twice in fairly short order (and then have to go through the whole exercise again shortly thereafter, in a never-ending spiral/abyss of change).

For comparison’s sake, Alief’s proposed Intermediate #6 (for grades 5-6) would probably have a construction cost, at a 6% inflation annual factor, of $11.7M if opened in 2004 instead.