I love TCS and remember being asked once what brought me here. My answer was a flip one: “My parents brought me here as a four-year-old for school.” Some of my earliest memories are on this campus and the feelings of home it evokes for me even still are what led me to seek a job here as a rookie teacher over 20 years ago. Life would take me on a journey away for a while, but then back to TCS with my three children. My second child’s TCS graduation this past May has me reflecting on the many positive ways TCS has shaped both him and his sister.
Ten years ago, I was a part of the strategic planning process for TCS because I’m a TCS parent, alum, AND teacher. At the time, TCS ended at 6th grade, and one of the major questions posed during the process was to re-examine at our endpoint.
Schools around us had evolved in the 25 years since I collected my TCS diploma in 1990, and seventh grade was no longer the universal entry point it had been when Lila McDill founded the school in 1970. Could we add seventh and eighth grades while staying true to our name and mission of serving children? I was caught between concerns about whether we would be fundamentally changing TCS and the feelings around how clunky and awkward those middle school years can be, and questions around whether that was the right time to send our graduates out into the world.
Visiting other schools that ended in eighth grade showed me that we could add the two extra grades and still be The Children’s School. Providing students with a nurturing and safe space during those cringe-worthy years felt like such a positive addition that I agreed to shift from teaching third grade to teaching in the new Middle Grades program.
My three years teaching middle grades were transformative for me. I got to know my students on a deeper level. It was a privilege to walk through the Middle Grades with the first class of eighth grade graduates in 2019. I saw them grow into poised young adults who were self-aware global citizens with visions for how to make the world a better place.
I was amazed at the growth and maturity that happened between sixth and eighth grades and became more convinced that expanding to eighth grade was the correct decision. That first class is now in college, and last spring, the last class I taught in Middle Grades graduated from high school. I’ve moved into a new role as a literacy specialist for grades 3 – 5 and have enjoyed watching my own children move through the Middle Grades program.
Heading into 2023, it was time to start the high school placement process with our oldest. After years of watching the process and hearing about the results, the decision to add seventh and eighth grade was about to be much more up close and personal for me.
The summer before eighth grade the process started with a meeting when my child was encouraged to take the lead and look at school websites to figure out where she wanted to look and what was going to be important to her as she contemplated next steps. As we headed out to tour schools I was struck by several light bulb moments. The first was every school we visited was looking for ninth graders. TCS had shifted to align our endpoint successfully with a universal entry point. I knew this on paper and in theory, but it was very reassuring to feel it in real life, going through the process with my child.
The second moment was more personal; our daughter knew who she was and what she needed and was able to articulate both and discern which schools were going to be potential fits. She had grown into one of those eighth graders I had admired and was truly ready for the next steps. Her eighth grade year was full of both firsts and lasts for her and flew faster than I could have imagined. She had been at TCS for 12 years, and it was finally time for her to move on.
She is now in her junior year and starting down the intimidating process of applying to college, but feels grounded in what was a successful high school application process that left her with choices. She ultimately picked a spot at the place where she is thriving (her words, but I agree).
Our middle child is now in 9th grade. He needs different things from high school, as he has benefited from the expansion of learning services at TCS, but he is confident in his abilities and willing to advocate for what he needs to learn best. He thrived during outplacement as well. We went visiting with a fresh set of eyes, but the universal entry point was affirmed again. As we visited, he asked about learning services and articulated what he needs to be successful in high school based on the foundations built at TCS. The process was successful for him by any metric and left him with choices from which he happily selected.
Having now been through eighth grade with two of our three children, I am more convinced than ever that the decision to add seventh and eighth grade was the right decision. Both of my children grew in different but important ways during their time in the TCS Middle Grades.
