Middle level education

My final thoughts about what middle level education should be was pretty much reinforced through our class. Students should spend the first four to six years (K-5?) learning and strengthening their basic skills (particularly math, but we know my position on that). Then, in middle school, they should start the process of transferring from learning the basic skills to applying them over the span of the first couple years, maybe 6th and 7th grades, before gearing the 8th grade year for almost entirely project-based work unless there is new material that needs to be taught prior to project work. Granted, there is always new material, but by the 8th grade, students should be able to readily implement the new material into applicability, if necessary. After 8th grade, working in groups and applying basic skills to solve problems and create projects should be second nature and give the students a head start moving into the high school years. In high school, they will be doing a lot of projects in all subject areas, and middle school should be the training ground for this.