Sixth graders do better in elementary school than middle school, according to a study by researchers at Duke University and the University of California at Berkeley.

The study, released Monday, focused on nearly 45,000 North Carolina sixth graders in 243 schools in 99 districts. Most sixth graders in the state attend middle schools.

The researchers found that sixth graders in middle school had more discipline problems and lower test scores than their sixth-grade peers in elementary schools.

"These findings cast serious doubt on the wisdom of the historic nationwide shift to the grades 6-8 middle school," said Philip Cook, Duke professor of public policy and economics and an author of the study.

Nationwide, 75 percent of sixth graders attend middle school. In North Carolina, 90 percent are in middle schools. That's in contrast to the 1970s, when the reverse was true: about 75 percent of sixth graders nationally attended elementary school. Growth pressures were a factor in the shift, but educators also argued that the practice was developmentally appropriate.

"As it turns out," Cook said, "moving sixth grade out of elementary school appears to have had substantial costs."

For the full report, go to http://www.pubpol.duke.edu/news/ news.php#sixth_grade