Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
5-2021
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Andrew Lumpe
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Karan Duwe
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Rick Zomer
Abstract
Transitioning from middle to high school comes with a lot of hiccups and challenges for adolescents as they are having to deal with this huge change during a season of life that is challenging. During adolescence, teenagers experience various mental, psychological, and physiological changes. This dynamic developmental period comes with intense changes, and having a better understanding can help teachers, school staff, parents, and peers work through these challenges with teenagers. This study explored the experiences of students when they transitioned from Grade 8 to Grade 9, examined the available support systems during this transition, and how students utilized the available support services. In the study, the researcher utilized an interpretative phenomenological analysis and a semistructured interview protocol via Zoom to understand the lived experiences of students transitioning from middle school to high school. The sample size included five student participants, five parent participants, and two school counselors. All the five student participants are current 10th-grade students who transitioned from feeder middle schools within the same school district. Interviews took place online using Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study found that some significant socioemotional issues occurred during this transition period. Results from the study indicated that students felt overwhelmed during the first few weeks of transitioning to ninth grade but quickly overcame these challenges as they utilized available support provided by school staff. Findings from the study imply that parents and school administrators played a role in ensuring that the transition was smooth and manageable.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Aromolaran, Simisola K., "Challenges of Middle School to High School Transition: A Phenomenological Study of the Experiences of Students Transitioning From Eighth Grade to Ninth Grade" (2021). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 355.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/355
Included in
Educational Leadership Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Secondary Education Commons