Eighth Grade Continuation

One thing I have discovered over my years in education is: change is hard. I think a lot of times change is much harder on us adults than it is on our children. I want to talk to you about a change that we have made, and why we have made it.

At the end of last year, we made a decision as a school system to change the way we handle the 8th grade continuation exercises. We looked at surrounding schools and school systems and what they were doing, weighed the pros and cons, and decided to no longer hold “continuation” exercises (essentially a graduation ceremony) at the 8^th grade level.

Our principals informed parents at the beginning of the school year and again in the middle of the year, and now as we start to enter the final stages of this school year some have expressed concern, which I completely understand. I know many of our parents have looked forward to the day when their child can walk in these continuation exercises, proud that they have made it through the 8th grade. We want our students to feel proud of their accomplishments. We also want to recognize them for outstanding achievement in all areas. I have asked for all schools to create an awards ceremony or dinner to do just that. Now instead of students being recognized just for passing 8^th grade, students will be recognized for achieving high grades, good attendance and behavior, as well as other accomplishments. Also, high-performing students will continue to be recognized as “marshals” or “ambassadors” in seventh grade—and will serve an important role in their schools. We will continue to recognize achievement in the middle grades as we always have. But- we want to stress to the parents and the students that the journey is just beginning, and that much hard work lies ahead in high school. The truth is that graduating from 8th grade is no more or less important than graduating from 5th grade or 10^th grade. I do not want students to look at reaching the end of 8th grade as a goal; this implies that the journey is over. In this day and age, we must keep all students looking forward to graduating from high school with real skills and abilities to take them to the places they want to go: college, technical school, the workforce. A child who drops out before that walk across the stage is at a tremendous disadvantage, and we must do everything in our power from Kindergarten on, to keep our students focused on the goal of graduating from 12^th grade. The proud feeling of watching a child walk in a graduation ceremony should be reserved for graduation from high school, for then it is an accomplishment of a thirteen year journey that has true life-changing significance.