Boston School Superintendent Tommy Chang is considering a reconfiguration of grade levels that would place seventh- and eighth-grade students in high schools.
The Boston Globe reports that district administrators are looking at transforming a school system with more than 20 grade configurations into a system of schools that is predominantly K-6 and 7-12.
The suggested changes would convert K-8 schools to K-6s; elementary schools, which now end in fifth grade, would add sixth grade, and high schools would add seventh and eighth graders.
"Right now many of our middle schools and K-8 do not have the programming our young people need," Chang told WFXT-TV.
After school closures last year, only six traditional middle schools remain in Boston.
According to district data, in 2014 11,300 kids in grades 6 to 8 were enrolled in Boston Public Schools, but this year that number has dropped to 10,680.
In the last 10 years, The Boston Globe says, charter schools have added nearly 2,000 seats in grades 6, 7, and 8, and middle-grade enrollment in the city’s school system has dropped by about the same number.
Video from WFXT-TV:
