transitions papers tilleczek oct 2016 - prince edward island · a summary and discussion of our...

68 E D U C AT I O N C A N A D A I C A N A D I A N E D U C A T I O N A S S O C I A T I O N

• Transition from childhood to adulthood over the life course;• Transitions along pathways to success through schools,

communities, and families;• Transition from elementary to secondary school within

these larger transitions.5

Rather than targeting individual student habits and aca-demic practices as the sources of transition problems, thisconceptual framework opens up discussion to wider issuesof the fit between schools, communities and the lives ofyoung people. It allows us to ask more difficult questionssuch as, why and how are these problematic patterns beingproduced and reproduced in schools and communities? Forwhom are transitions the most difficult?

I have found three useful organizing principles – being,becoming, and belonging – helpful in understanding thechallenges of this transitional period. Young people are inconstant motion and experience ongoing tension betweenbeing and becoming. They are in process of being them-selves in their everyday lives, forging their identitiesthrough daily negotiations at school, home, community,work, and with friends. In doing so, they need to be valuedfor who they are today and to find places to belong. How-ever, they are also in a state of becoming young adults; theyare engaged in the nested transitions noted above. In sup-port of this cause, teachers become human developers,both over the life course and in the everyday lives of youth.Both teachers and students need to belong to their schoolsand communities. Youth development literature is awashwith evidence that a major developmental challenge for

Most young people leave elementary school and move into some form ofsecondary school during early adolescence. At precisely the time that

young people are navigating multiple developmental challenges (social, intellec-tual, academic, physical), we expect them to move between these intuitions ofpublic education. The transition is commonly associated with dips in academicachievement, dips in self-esteem, and increased social anxiety,1 and has longbeen recognized as a stumbling point for students, particularly those at risk.2

Dr. Bruce Ferguson and I, both members of the Community Health SystemsGroup at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto), conducted an internationalreview of literature to inform our current, three-year, Ontario-based researchproject Mapping the Pathways and Processes of Transition from Elementary to Sec-ondary School. This project is engaging a team of expert researchers and educa-tors to examine the ways in which young people, parents, and educators experi-ence and negotiate the transition by following twenty-six “families of schools”across the transition point from elementary to secondary school.

The literature review yielded over 100 articles, reports, and studies, includinglengthy literature reviews from New Zealand, UK, Ontario, and the UnitedStates. A summary and discussion of our findings follow. The full report providesan annotated bibliography of the most significant sources.3

CONCEPTUALIZING TRANSITIONS

Transitions are best seen as temporal processes that cross social, academic, andprocedural lines. The transition from elementary to secondary school entailschanges in school cultures, increased academic demands, the introduction ofrotary systems, and shifts in peer groups that can be difficult to negotiate.

Young people and those closest to them are inseparable from their culturesand contexts, and they confront transitions simultaneously at several levels. Asthey adapt to role and setting changes, “every transition is both a consequenceand an instigator of developmental processes.”4 In other words, the transition fromelementary to secondary school is part of a series of nested transitions including:

KATE T ILLECZEKI

BUILDING BRIDGES:TRANSITIONS FROM ELEMENTARY

TO SECONDARY SCHOOL

You are free to reproduce, distribute and transmit this article, provided you attribute the author(s), Education Canada Vol. 48 (1), and a link to the Canadian Education Association (www.cea-ace.ca) 2010. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work. Publication ISSN 0013-1253.

practices in schools, homes and communities. How are wetreating young people? How are they responding to newsocietal demands? How much continuity do we needbetween elementary and secondary school? What do theseyoung people find relevant? Can we teach this? Should we?How? This is a time when friends are necessary, parents’roles are changing, and teachers are judged on a new level.This whole community of helpers needs to be engaged sothat care and belonging form a foundation for learning.

At the micro level, both students and teachers havemuch to tell us. We should build on young people’s excite-ment about the transition by focussing on the positive. Weshould help them commit to their identities as learners andmake a fresh start in a new place. While we know the socialimplications of friends to young people, we need to learnmore about how friends can also be a source of academicengagement and support. We need to think about youngpeople who live in risk situations and examine how theserisks play out in the classroom. And educators need to besupported and celebrated as long-term developers of humanpotential.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

While there is no shortage of good practices that can beused in transition programming, we need to maintaincoherence with transition initiatives that are already inplace. We need to derive a compendium of practices thatwork, and share our knowledge widely across the country.We also need to recognize students’ increasing social matu-rity by increasing responsibilities that allow for the devel-opment of status, belonging, and confidence. By remainingaware of the nested transitions that young people are mak-ing, we can take a longer conceptual view and ensure thatour practices address the students’ complex transition intoadulthood before, during, and after the transition period.Clearly, we are not simply concerned about Grade 8 to 9transitions, but all that passes in the lives of young people,teachers and schools during the movement toward adult-hood. Since we currently mark social passage through thisimportant transition, it has much to tell us about how weare doing in supporting our young people.

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young people is finding their place, their sense of belong-ing, as they negotiate multiple personal and social changes.

Researchers have found that many young people at thethreshold of secondary school are hopeful about thepotential of their new status, school, friends, and educa-tion. They look forward to this fresh start and are adept atmaking new friends for positive academic and social pur-poses. Some students report coping better than expected,enjoying new freedoms and involvement in extra-curricu-lar activities. However, an emotional paradox occurs at thistransition point, as it does at many life junctures. Many stu-dents also express anxiety about the transition. They areboth excited and anxious, both doubtful and hopeful. Themost pervasive source of anxiety is the loss of status at pre-cisely the time when they are moving toward adulthood.Given the importance of status to adolescents, the socialand academic implications are obvious.

Academic concerns such as homework, pressure to dowell and potential drops in achievement are paramount forboth students and parents. Social concerns such as gettinglost, bullying, and making friends are prevalent, perceivedrisks. Students also experience (or fear) structural prob-lems. They express concern about the size and layout ofsecondary schools, the timetable, complicated schedules,having more homework, and having multiple teachers.6

Poor and immigrant youth, in particular, find the transitionmore difficult than they expected it to be.7

WHAT WORKS IN FACILITATING TRANSITIONS?

Our literature review revealed that attention to being,becoming and belonging can enhance transitional practices.In spite of the tensions and complexities inherent in thelives of young people, researchers have found that studentsmoving into schools that modify school cultures to increasea sense of belonging and care have more positive experi-ences than students moving into schools that do not.8 Astudy of exemplary programs developed to facilitate thetransition for immigrant adolescents found that, whenschools function as communities, building bridges betweenstudents, parents, teachers and communities, studentsmake the transition more smoothly.9 Specific targettedtransition programming, including tours, teacher visits toprimary school, and induction days, as well as promotingdialogue between elementary and secondary teachers oncontent, assessment and pedagogy, are also critical to pos-itive transitions.10

The factors facilitating transition can be organized atthree levels: macro (cultural); meso (classes, friends, fami-ly); and micro (youth and teachers as individuals).

At the macro level, there must be a fit between whatyouth need and how schools treat them, so that a sense ofbelonging develops. This includes paying attention toinequities in social class, racism and gender; recognizingthe continuities and discontinuities in curriculum, peda-gogy, and assessment and helping with adjustment tochange; attending to social, academic and proceduralissues; and developing strategies to connect school andcommunity, such as letters home, hotlines, websites, visits,clear timetables, open house, handbooks, maps, meetingswith teachers, ongoing meetings of personnel, internetchats, and teacher/student cross-visits.

At the meso level, we need to attend to the everyday

EN BREF La transition du primaire au secondaire se caractérise par lebouleversement des cultures scolaires, des exigences accrues, l’instaurationd’horaires par élève individuels et des changements de groupes qui peuventêtre difficiles à négocier. On sait depuis longtemps qu’il s’agit d’une pierred’achoppement, en particulier pour les élèves à risque, qui survient aumoment précis où les jeunes doivent composer avec de multiples défisdéveloppementaux (sociaux, intellectuels, scolaires, physiques). Les facteursfacilitant la transition sont de trois ordres : macro (culturels), méso (classes,amis, famille) et micro (élèves et enseignants individuels). L’analyse docu-mentaire portant sur ces transitions révèle que les élèves arrivant dans uneécole qui modifie les trois volets des cultures sociales de façon à rehausserle sentiment d’appartenance et l’empathie vivent des expériences plus posi-tives que les autres.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT LITERATURE IS AWASH WITH EVIDENCE THAT

A MAJOR DEVELOPMENTAL CHALLENGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IS FINDING

THEIR PLACE, THEIR SENSE OF BELONGING, AS THEY NEGOTIATE

MULTIPLE PERSONAL AND SOCIAL CHANGES.

Student-teacher relationships are a critical part of thislearning experience. The shifts that occur in this relation-ship during the transition can create risks for students. Ingeneral, the principles of care and control are seen as thecore of elementary school culture while academics, studentpolarization, and fragmented individualism have beenfound to pervade secondary school cultures.11

Our study of the research shows both that more needs tobe done to understand and facilitate transitions in this larg-er sense and that educators can make a difference. In par-ticular, the beliefs held by secondary teachers about friend-ships, academic interests and youth as motivated learnersneed to be improved. Teacher expectations and beliefs arean integral part of this relationship, and during the transi-tion teachers often report stereotyped and negative imagesof young people. For example, one study found that ele-mentary school math teachers have a more positive imageof students than secondary school math teachers and thatelementary teachers trusted students more and used lesscontrol in their discipline than did secondary teachers.12

The rotary system contributes to this shift in relationshipssince students and teachers now have many more relation-ships to navigate in less time, resulting in potentially weak-er ties. Students say that this makes it easier to skip classes,for grades to drop, and for homework to be neglected.13

GAPS IN KNOWLEDGE AND

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Seventeen years ago, Hargreaves & Earle conducted a liter-ature review on research about schooling in the transition

years in Ontario.14 They concluded that “the tragedy of the transition years is not that students experience anxietyon transfer to secondary school. The tragedy is that thisanxiety passes so quickly, and that the students adjust sosmoothly to the many uncomfortable realities of second-ary school life. These realties…can restrict achievement,and depress motivation (especially among the less academ-ic) sowing the seeds for dropout in later years.”

Since that time, a good deal of research has been con-ducted on the risk and protective factors surrounding thetransition from elementary to secondary school. Unfortu-nately, this research suggests that the tragedy has not beenfully appreciated. The transition from elementary to sec-ondary school, as a potential tipping point for young peo-ple, requires further attention at administrative, academic,and social levels.

I suggest that the largest gap in knowledge is in under-standing fully the meso level, where intersections betweenculture and individual meet and where we can best beginto appreciate and describe the intersections of daily lives ofyoung people with teachers, friends, peers, and parents. Itis at this level of social organization where the experienceand embodiment of social class, poverty, ethnicity, identityand age are played out. While researchers have addressedsuch issues as important “variables” in quantitative studies,we still need to capture the ways in which they work forstudents, in schools. This calls for research that can ask andanswer more difficult questions, like: How are the prob-lems of transition organized socially? What meanings doyoung people, parents, and educators make of the transi-

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tion and why? How do students experience poverty, racism,and bullying in school? How do these experiences organizetheir learning? What roles do friends and peers play in aca-demic and social support? Is the dip in academic achieve-ment and self-esteem at transition an artefact of assess-ment and curricular shift? What would it look like if weplaced the social, cognitive and physical realities of youngpeople at the centre of transition and classroom practices?

Since transitions are nested, temporal, and process-based, we need to address issues and mechanisms before,during, and after the shift to secondary school. We need tounderstand which barriers and facilitators are shorterterm, which are longer term, and why. Long-term qualita-tive research will be an asset as we begin to more ade-quately map out processes, experiences, narratives, andmeanings of transition over time. Such is the nature of ourthree year project, which has already begun to yield need-ed insights into this important rite of passage for contem-porary Canadian young people.

KATE TILLECZEK, PhD, is a former teacher and an associate professor in

the Department of Sociology at Laurentian University and a Research

Scientist with the Community Health Systems Group at the Hospital for

Sick Children, Toronto.

Notes

1 J. Alspaugh, “The relationship of School-to-School Transitions and

School Size to High School Dropout Rates,” High School Journal 81, no. 3

(1998):154; M. Galton, J.M. Gray and J. Ruddock, Transfer and Transi-

tions in the Middle Years of Schooling (7-14). Continuities and Discontinu-

ities in Learning (Cambridge: Queen’s Printer, 2003).

2 S.E. Lord, J. Eccles, and K.A. McCarthy, “Surviving the Junior High School Transition: Family

Processes and Self-perceptions as Protective and Risk Factors,” Journal of Early Adolescence 14

(1994): 162-199; E. Seidman, A. Larue, J. Aber and J. Feinman, “The Impact of School Transitions in

Early Adolescence on the Self-system and Perceived Social Context of Poor Urban Youth,” Child

Development 65 (1994): 507-522.

3 For the complete report, consult Dr. Kate Tilleczek at [email protected]

4 U. Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cam-

bridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, (1979), 27.

5 K. Tilleczek, Youth Studies in Global Context: Being, Becoming & Belonging (Toronto: Oxford Univer-

sity Press, forthcoming).

6 C. Graham and M. Hill, Negotiating the Transition to Secondary School (2003). Retrieved May 20,

2004 from The SCRE Centre website

http://www.scre.ac.uk/spotlight/spotlight89.html

7 Ibid.

8 J. Eccles, C. Midgley, et al., “The Impact of Stage-environment Fit on Young Adolescents’ Experiences

in Schools and Families,” American Psychologist 48 (1993): 90-101.

9 T. Lucas, Promoting Secondary School Transitions for Immigrant Adolescents (ERIC Educational Clear-

ing House, 1996). www.ericfacility.net/

10 Galton et al.

11 A. Hargreaves and L. Earle, Rights of Passage: A Review of Selected Research about Schooling in the

Transition Years. Report to Ontario Ministry of Education. (Toronto: Queen’s Printer, 1990).

12 C. Midgley, H. Feldlaufer and J. Eccles, “The Transition to Junior High School: Beliefs of Pre- and

Post-transition Teachers.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 17, no. 6 (1988): 543-562

13 J. Pietarinen, “Transfer to and Study at Secondary School in Finish School Culture: Developing

Schools on the Basis of Pupils’ Experiences,” International Journal of Educational Research 33, no. 4

(2000): 383-400.

14 Hargreaves and Earle, 214.

Fresh Starts and False Starts: Young People in Transition from Elementary to Secondary School

Executive Synopsis for Educational Policy and Practice

March 31, 2010 Submitted by:

Kate Tilleczek, PhD Canada Research Chair, Faculty of Education/Sociology University of Prince Edward Island & Health Systems Research Scientist, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

Bruce Ferguson, PhD Director, Community Health Systems Resource Group, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto

Simon Laflamme, PhD Director, PhD in Human Studies & Professor of Sociology, Laurentian University, Sudbury



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Executive Synopsis Introduction The Ontario Ministry of Education has recently developed a broad set of initiatives to facilitate Student Success. The Student Success/Learning to 18 (SS/L18) Strategy was designed to meet five inter-related goals focused on the secondary school system:

1. Increase graduation rates and decrease drop!out rates; 2. Support a good outcome for all students; 3. Provide students with new and relevant learning opportunities; 4. Build on students’ strengths and interests; and 5. Provide students with an effective elementary to secondary school transition.

Fresh Starts and False Starts: Young People in Transition from Elementary to Secondary School is a three-year ethnographic study which addresses the final goal in detail. It has been designed to a) examine the perspectives of students, educators, parents and administrators about the transition process, b) examine risk and protective factors for student preparations in elementary school and adjustments to secondary school, and c) describe social, academic and procedural aspects and experiences of transition over time. Cross-panel school cultures were examined from 37 families of schools in Ontario to determine educational practices and characteristics that acted as barriers and/or enablers to transition in grades 8, 9 and 10. The study was intended to emphasize necessary next steps for educational policy-makers, practitioners, young people, and parents. This summary paper has been written to outline the actions arising from key findings. The full report details the methodology, data, evidence and implications. 1 The study was conducted in three Phases spanning 2007, 2008 and 2009. The complete sample over the three years of study consisted of 795 people participating in 124 Focus Groups and an additional 130 Individual Interviews with young people. The Phase I samples were comprised of 265 youth in 34 Focus Groups and 52 of these youth also participated in Individual Interviews. We also spoke with 33 educators and 23 parents in Phase I. In Phase II, we conducted 44 Focus Groups with 305 participants and carried out 78 additional Individual Interviews. Of these, 35 were follow-up Interviews with young people with whom we also spoke in Phase I. Phase III included 174 participants who took part in 29 Focus Groups. These consisted of 17 Focus Groups with 125 young people, 8 Focus Groups with 25 parents and 4 Focus Groups with 24 educators. Focus groups and interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed to address the objectives of the study.

1 The full report Fresh Starts and False Starts: Young People in Transition from Elementary to Secondary School (Tilleczek, Laflamme, Ferguson, Roth Edney et al, 2010) can be accessed through the Ontario Ministry of Education.



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Review of Literature Our literature review2 included over one-hundred international reports, academic papers, and policy documents. The analysis of the literature demonstrated that we can enact more enduring practices to facilitate the transition from elementary to secondary school. We suggested the first step be a re-conceptualization of grade 8 to 9 transitions as longer term, temporal, and social developmental processes. In addition, we pointed out the presence in adolescent development of nested transitions. Students are in a lifespan transition from childhood to adulthood making social, emotional, cognitive and physical changes within their families and communities. At the same time, they are negotiating school transitions and learner identities when moving from elementary to secondary school.

The simultaneous occurrence of these nested transitions requires recognition that the school transition takes place at a critical juncture in the lives of young people. As students, they face both fresh starts and false starts. All transitions are both growth inducing and/or potential trouble spots. Students look forward to the fresh start of moving into secondary school and are adept at making new friends for positive social and academic experiences. As the initial adjustment phase passes, academic issues such as the demands of homework take precedence over social and procedural issues. Young people are in constant motion and tension between being and becoming.3 They are in process of being themselves in their everyday lives. This includes issues of forging identities through daily negotiations at school, home, community, work, and with friends. As such, they need to be valued for who they are today and to find places to belong. Students are also in the process of becoming young adults with markers such as moving into high school and taking part-time jobs. However, at each stage of these nested transitions, young people need to feel a sense of belonging and being valued for who they are today. Exemplary programs reviewed in the literature were those which assisted schools to support students and build bridges between students, parents, educators and communities. These programs were geared to assessing and providing a good fit between student needs and school cultures. Procedural strategies and practices which promote more interaction between students, parents and teachers are helpful, as are transition programs that address similarities and differences in assessment, pedagogy and curriculum as the transition unfolds. Risk factors during transition exist both within and beyond the school and across individual, classroom, family, and cultural levels. The research literature suggests that the shift from elementary to secondary school is a 2 See Tilleczek, K. (2008). Building bridges for young people: Transitions from elementary to secondary school. Education Canada, 68-71. and/or Tilleczek & Ferguson (2007). Transitions and pathways from elementary to secondary school: A review of selected literature. Report to the Ontario Ministry of Education. 3 See Tilleczek (in press) Approaching youth studies: Being, becoming and belonging. Oxford University Press for a detailed examination of being, becoming and belonging as fundamental social processes for youth.



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journey from a relatively less academically and socially demanding context to a relatively more demanding one. All students find some difficulty in negotiating this journey. However, the students most “at-risk” 4 are those with multiple risk factors working at multiple levels (eg. academic, behavioural, familial). Close attention to students who are “at-risk” for multiple challenges at school is required in all successful programs. The largest gap in knowledge from the literature review remained in understanding the longer-term process of transition and the ways in which schools, friends, and families intersect. The levels of classroom and school practices require further scrutiny. This is where the intersections of culture and individual meet to create barriers or enablers for students. While researchers have addressed important sets of variables in quantitative studies, we needed to capture and describe the experiences and meanings of these interactions and how they play out in the transition for Ontario’s youth. As a long-term ethnographic study, Fresh Starts and False Starts: Young People in Transition from Elementary to Secondary School has provided the opportunity to pose and answer these more difficult temporal and process questions. This project has made contributions to the literature on youth transition both empirically and theoretically. In addition, it has provided numerous practical contributions to the Ontario Ministry of Education for use in policy and program development. Findings The data for this study are rich and varied. Each year we spoke with many students, educators and parents in Focus Groups and had additional conversations with young people in Individual Interviews. We also collected a good deal of socio-demographic and Face Sheet data from all participants. The data were then analysed through multiple means. The research team worked closely in collaborative analysis processes to assure the trustworthiness and authenticity of the findings. Data from both group and individual sources allowed us to view the transition to secondary school as one of a number of simultaneous, demanding transitions that students are making as adolescents. The Focus Group data provides a clear sense of the ways in which young people, parents and educators perceive and experience the transition. It also provides specificity of the main risk and protective situations for each of grades 8, 9 and 10. Participants provided a good deal of information on the social, academic and procedural aspects of school and transition through the demographic and Focus Group data.

4 The use of the term “at-risk” in relation to young people requires historical and cultural consideration. Risk is seen in our work as distributed in the cultural system and daily lives of youth and thought to be more about understanding the fluid situations of risk in which young people live. Enhancing risk situations is grounded in actual practices and assessments. Rethinking “at-risk” as “in-risk” situations allows for a better understanding of the fluidity of risk and resiliency and for the active negotiations on the parts of educators, students and families.



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In developing programs and strategies to support the transition from elementary to secondary school the focus must be on the social ensemble of people who have specific and collective roles to play in supporting young people and educators. Resources and strategies are needed to be placed at the right place and time as defined by the ages, grades and life histories of students, the readiness of the family of schools to facilitate transition, the engagement of parents/families and communities and the region of the province. The transition process extends past grade 9. The needs and perspectives of students change as they progress. Many of the key supports necessary to students’ success will result from increased cross-panel planning and implementation. Successful plans and programs will take into account the social nature of the transition and will create initiatives which bring families, friends and students themselves more actively into the process. Programming to support students perceived of as being “in risk situations” must take into account the transient nature of risk and the fact that any student may, at some time, be in a “risk situation.” The feedback of students, parents and educators regarding the success of some current transition initiatives underlines the potential rewards of extending and improving our programs to support successful student transition into high school. Youth, parents and educators differ as to what they see as important in the process of transition. Parent’s ideas and concerns about transition were more stable over time. And, both youth and parents remained at the core of the process for parents. Educators were dissimilar from youth and parents and quite variable in their concerns around transition but were all eager to highlight their school success stories. Youth were focussed on friends, school and the troubles they encountered (or thought they would encounter) at high school as they first prepared for and made their transition. They then began to squarely place themselves and their friends at the centre of life and school. Self and friends were integral in elementary school and became more so across the years. The ongoing importance of friends for young people remains a critical aspect of transition although the character of these relationships changes over time and must be understood as such. Young people provided real insight into the emotional paradox they experience during transition. They provided a range of emotions in each grade demonstrating that transition is not a process that produces easily defined emotional experiences. For example, they were simultaneously excited and anxious; hopeful and fearful; confident and confused. Therefore, not only do issues of timing, grade, region, gender, culture, and youth development matter in the conversations and programs about transition, perspective also matters since different stakeholders attend to different aspects. These lessons from the data are important to remember in programming and in assembling the community of people to support transition. The study shows that we need to make the stakeholders aware of the concerns and perspectives of each other. Students, parents and teachers need to be engaged around transition in elementary school and then re-engaged in secondary school as the focus and needs of students change. Educators need to detect what is not working for students during transition and fix it with the help of an engaged



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community of helpers. The data shows the need for more attention to be paid to the role of friends, families and community agencies during transition. Transition was seen to be negatively impacted by in-school and out-of-school situations including the following: students not making successful starts in social and/or academic realms; use of “scare tactics” with grade 8 students; large changes or discontinuities in workload, curriculum and pedagogy; not being placed in an appropriate high school program; and out-of-school factors such as family stress, poverty, emotional struggles and peer troubles which are not detected or alleviated. The message from the study is to celebrate and continue transition initiatives and programs that are successful and noted by students, teachers and parents. Young people need to be recognized for their strengths, hard efforts, insights and hopes. Educators and parents need to be celebrated for the ways in which they are successfully preparing and facilitating young people in transition but also for the ways in which they create the school and home learning and living atmospheres that are so appreciated by young people. Transition creates stresses that can be addressed. Time and support are essential ingredients in success. Indeed, transition was seen to be facilitated by in-school and out-of-school situations including the following: supports for fresh starts or changing attitudes towards school, supports for positive social development and making friends, giving time to get acquainted with new schools and new peers, support for meaningful and sustained cross-panel conversations and programming, cross-panel transition teams, assuring ongoing caring adults, positive school cultures and climates with good programs that best fit each young person, and the ongoing engagement of families. The study has provided many kinds of data. The detailed narratives of young people arising from follow-up Individual Interviews show the complexity and intersections of daily life in families, schools and communities and how the process of transition into secondary school is nested in other developmental tasks and transitions. These stories allow us to break through into the daily lives of young people and recognize their fresh starts and false starts and how/when we could better intervene and support them when needed. Recommendations Policy and Implementation The participants in the study consistently demonstrate how the transition is temporal, nested, complex and fundamentally social in character and requires policy and programs to build extended, cross-panel transition teams and plans.



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The transition will be made more successful when the Ministry of Education and Boards of Education:

• Provide leadership and support to educators to understand the transition from elementary to secondary school as occurring at a dynamic time for students. They are in the midst of physical, social, cognitive, emotional and family changes and educators need to understand this complexity and to reflect on its meaning for teaching their students;

• Emphasize the core role of cross-panel transition teams in assessing impacts of the variable nature of families of schools and the successes and failures in supporting the transition of their students. Each family of schools will have established continuities and discontinuities in transition which should be examined, discussed and assessed in cross-panel transitions teams;

• Continue to build supports to extend the transition planning processes to include more elements and people in their transition teams and planning (eg, parents, young people, community agencies, educators across panels, etc);

• Review the various definitions of “at-risk” and the practices relating to transition (eg, at-risk or grade 8 students profiles). Ultimately the definitions and school practices should reflect the importance of the concept of “in-risk” situations and/or potential resiliencies and trajectories of transition. “In-risk situation” portfolios might be developed and discussed with cross-panel teams and on an ongoing basis from grades 8 to 10. All of the academic, social, familial, health/wellness and goals of youth should be considered;

• Review the extent of transition programming across boards and regions. Determine whether differences in context (rural/urban, north/south) require adaptation of transition programs to support optimal transition;

• Build on the successes of existing programs and strategies in each stage of transition. Transition resources need to be directed to the right place at the right time. This will be best accomplished with attention to the needs of individual families of schools within specific regions and across all phases/grades of transition.

Educational Practice

School Administrators

Educators, young people and parents provided perspectives on what is/is not working for transition at the school-based level. They agreed that people such as elementary teachers, high school teachers, guidance counsellors, principals and parents working together at the everyday level make a big difference. They spoke about the necessity of continually



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working together to build on already helpful cross-panel work. Young people were looking to schools for a safer place and for better school spirit. They reported being impacted by negative rumours about high school in general and the reputations of specific schools. Many of these issues can be addressed by improved and/or extended cross-panel relationships and planning. The transition will be made more successful when we:

• Support educators who recognize and value the place of cross-panel work in promoting transition. Cross-panel transition planning, programs and practices are a necessity;

• Inform cross-panel discussions by examining the specific discontinuities and continuities that exist in each family of schools. Continuities/discontinuities can be either positive or negative and both elementary and secondary educators will need to develop coordinated strategies to address these issues;

• Provide support and strong processes/programs for cross-panel transition planning in all its emerging elements (eg, flexible time tables, student “in-risk” situational profiles, caring adults, student success teams across panels, strategies/interventions, training for transition planning);

• Connect with communities and agencies that support students in their complex modern lives and assist in monitoring and supporting students “in risk situations”. Maintain and build on any positive integration that is currently happening in either elementary or secondary school. Ensure that it continues and is augmented;

• Broaden the range of school social activities for young people as they move into high school. The drop in participation in high school is set against the background of young people hoping for more teams and clubs as they enter high school and their appreciation for extra-curricular activities as necessary social events. Even if these are available, however, there is a group of students who are consistently not participating. Given the fundamentally social character of the transition, this is a situation to address.

Educators

In discussing transition, educators focused on the many barriers and enablers relating to school and family. Educators highlighted their own roles in supporting students in transition and shared with us their success stories. They also spoke about the importance of providing caring adults and the need to work closely with their partner schools across panels. Students shared with us both their deep appreciation for excellent teachers as well as a desire for more human connections with educators. The transition will be made more successful when we:



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• Remind educators that transition is a fundamentally temporal, nested and social process of being, becoming and belonging.5 Parents and friends play a critical role for students in this process;

• Continue to provide educators with processes to support parental/familial engagement in transition;

• Provide educators with support for cross-panel transition planning, programs and practices. Ensure opportunities for educators who value cross-panel work to put into practice their focus on promoting transition; providing support and processes for cross-panel transition planning and implementation (eg, flexible time tables, student “in-risk” situational profiles, caring adults, student success teams across panels, and strategies/interventions);

• Examine the specific discontinuities and continuities (such as pedagogy, assessment practices and curriculum) that exist in each family of schools to inform cross-panel discussions. For example, identify the positive or negative discontinuities and continuities for student academic and social success inherent in the transition process from grade 8 to grade 9 (or elementary to secondary school);

• Provide support and professional development to educators for the following: integrating friends into class work especially in Grade 9, making learning fun, demonstrating care to students in transition, supporting students’ different learning needs, providing further information and help with high school decisions, and supporting and understanding the emotional paradoxes of transition;

• Understand that “risk” is not a characteristic of students but an interaction of young people and the situations they find themselves in at any time. We propose the concept of “student in-risk situations” suggest the use of “in risk profiles” as a way of being more sensitive to the broad range of student needs related to risk;

• Encourage and facilitate students’ participation in extracurricular activities as a way of increasing their engagement with school and expanding their network of social supports.

Young People

Young people are at the heart of the transition. Their feelings and emotions about transition remain paradoxical but alter in character over time. They set academic goals for themselves at school and see social goals and processes as the way to become better educated. Transition takes place not just at school but also in a larger social context, as a part of the developmental paths of young people. Transition is nested and occurs with the assistance of friends and peers in schools and communities.

5 The complete report provides further specific suggestions as to ways to address each in educational programming and practice.



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The data indicate that for young people, transition is more a social than only an individual process. The importance of close personal friends is a characteristic of young people and for this reason, friends can make transition easier. Friends are a primary and continuous element of the transition and only start to diminish slightly once the transition is realized. The transition will be made more successful when we:

• Develop mechanisms that encourage students to move from elementary to secondary school with their friends;

• Support young people to make new friends and acquire a sense of belonging;

• Support the development of learner identities and good attitudes about themselves and their friends when making school transitions (“don’t be scared, be yourself, make good choices, do your work, join activities”);

• Support young people and their friends in juggling their school/work/life

complexities;

• Make youth aware that missing classes may be a part of the grade 9 experience that can both paradoxically provide social status and disengagement. Alternatives to ‘skipping school’ as a way to gain social status should be addressed.

Parents

Parents and families are an essential part of transition. The focal point of transition for parents is their sons and daughters. Parents are aware of the importance of peers and classmates in the education of their children. Parents are generally aware of what is going on at school but are under-invited and under-engaged on transition teams/programming at present. There is a range of useful methods for keeping them engaged, but face-to-face communications are the most appreciated. The transition will be made more successful when we:

• Invite parents to help set the foundations for transition in elementary school as many are still left out. They need to be continually re-engaged in the adjustment to high school at a time when their sons and daughters may want them to be differently engaged than they were in elementary school;

• Make parents aware of the importance of friends to the transition.

transitions papers tilleczek oct 2016 - prince edward island · a summary and discussion of our...

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