ABSTRACT
One important educational implication of the work on pubertal changes and their effects concerns the issue of timing for the transition from elementary to secondary school. Many researchers and educational policy analysts urged that middle school should begin earlier, so that students make the school transition before they enter puberty. The concern is that dealing both with puberty and school changes make both transitions more complex (Wigfield & Eccles, 2002a; Wigfield et aI., 1996). Many school districts have followed this advice. Middle school now often encompasses sixth through eighth grade, rather than seventh through ninth grade. Others have argued that a K-8 organizational structure may be most beneficial to early adolescents. The issue of timing this transition is complicated by the fact that boys and girls go through puberty at different tinles, making it very difficult to time the school transition to avoid the pubertal transition for one gender group or the other.
