{"id":11566,"date":"2012-08-14T14:22:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-14T18:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/?p=11566"},"modified":"2012-08-14T14:22:47","modified_gmt":"2012-08-14T18:22:47","slug":"pirate-prep-helps-new-south-florida-middle-schoolers-make-the-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/08\/14\/pirate-prep-helps-new-south-florida-middle-schoolers-make-the-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirate Prep Helps New South Florida Middle Schoolers Make The Transition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_11568\"  class=\"wp-caption module image left\" style=\"max-width: 298px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2012\/08\/14\/pirate-prep-helps-new-south-florida-middle-schoolers-make-the-transition\/pirate-camp\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11568\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11568\" title=\"Pirate Camp\" src=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/files\/2012\/08\/Pirate-Camp.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"202\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">edline.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at Emerald Cove Middle School attend Pirate Prep School before starting sixth grade.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Thousands of Florida students are leaving the comfort of elementary school this month for the intimidating world of middle school.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/2011\/11\/29\/study-finds-florida-middle-schools-bad-for-student-achievement\/\">For many, it will be a tough transition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll go from being the older, wiser leaders on campus to being nervous rookies.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/educationnext.org\/the-middle-school-mess\/\">Studies have suggested<\/a> that middle schools, meant to be a gentle pathway into high school, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edsource.org\/middle-grades-study.html\">do more harm than good<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Student <a href=\"http:\/\/www.edweek.org\/media\/gradeconfiguration-13structure.pdf\">achievement is noticeably impacted in middle schoolers<\/a> versus those who stay in a K-8 school.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why <a href=\"http:\/\/www.palmbeachpost.com\/news\/news\/local-education\/wellington-middle-schools-summer-program-eases-tra\/nQ8fF\/\">a middle school in Palm Beach County<\/a> offers a four-day program each summer to get incoming sixth graders accustomed to their new environment.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edline.net\/pages\/Emerald_Cove_Middle_School\/Counseling_Department\">Emerald Cove Middle School<\/a> Guidance Counselor Janell Leatherman told the Palm Beach Post, \u201cIt\u2019s really about taking away the fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The kids get to have fun while also tackling worrisome topics like bullying and how to navigate class schedules.<\/p>\n<p>Several hundred students, most of the rising 6<sup>th<\/sup> grade class, attended this summer\u2019s session. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.palmbeachpost.com\/news\/news\/local-education\/wellington-middle-schools-summer-program-eases-tra\/nQ8fF\/\">Pirate Prep School<\/a> has been so popular that older students who are new to the school can participate as group leaders.<\/p>\n<p>Students who\u2019ve graduated from Emerald Cove can also come back to volunteer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of Florida students are leaving the comfort of elementary school this month for the intimidating world of middle school. For many, it will be a tough transition. They\u2019ll go from being the older, wiser leaders on campus to being nervous rookies. Studies have suggested that middle schools, meant to be a gentle pathway into [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[175,1113,1093],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11566"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11594,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11566\/revisions\/11594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/florida\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}