Why Middle Grade Students?

Elev8 envisions communities that value and support the success of youth from birth to young adulthood. We’re starting with middle graders. Here’s why:

The middle grade years are critical for young people.  Students face many physical, emotional and social changes in their teen years. Feelings of alienation from family, friends and others make school and life harder to handle. As schoolwork gets more difficult, many students fall behind and start to drop out.

Elev8 Oakland Students Akeem Hayes and Paris Davis

How students cope with these challenges shapes the rest of their lives. Research shows that children who make the transition to high school smoothly are more likely to graduate and go on to and finish college. This has important implications—on average, college graduates earn almost twice as much as high school graduates, and three times as much as high school dropouts.¹

Students can better navigate the challenging middle grade years when they have a strong support system. Programs that teach and reinforce healthy habits and behaviors create self-confidence and positive attitudes about school. They help keep children in school and on a path to success.

Despite the intense need, high-quality resources for middle grade students are scarce, especially for students in low-income communities. Students from poor families are two times more likely than students from middle-income families to drop out of high school, and more than six times as likely as children from upper-income families. ²

Elev8 works with families and community partners to identify and offer the supports and opportunities that middle grade students need to succeed.

 

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1 U.S. Bureau of the Census, "Income in 2005 by Educational Attainment of the Population 18 Years and Over," Table 8, 2006.

2 Kaufman, P. and C. Chapman. 2004. Dropout Rates in the United States: 2001 (NCES 2004-057), Table A-1. Data from US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), October Supplement, 1972-2001.