The first junior high school in the U.S. was established in Ohio in 1909. One of the reasons to change the high school curriculum was to make secondary education more appealing to children who were dropping out of school at age 14 or 15. One of the ways to do it was to create a new educational institution that would entice youth to stay in school at least to the ninth grade (see Reference 5, Page 239). When the Columbus Board of Education authorized the formation of Indianola Junior High School in Columbus, Ohio, it introduced more flexibility in the curriculum and teaching styles (see Reference 4). This concept rapidly spread, and in 1960 more than 70,000 middle schools based on this model existed all over America.
Changes in education took place in the 1960s. The new organizational structure was comprised of five years of elementary, three years of middle school and four years of high school. Middle schools paid more attention to the intellectual, social and physical needs of adolescents and focused less on just preparing these students for high school. New health and physical education classes were included in the program, together with exploratory lessons and different way of planning and teaching (see Reference 1, "Secondary School Structures").
While middle schools in America usually include sixth, seventh and eighth grades, in Asia they consist of grades seven through nine. For example, Korean schools are called "chung hakkyo" and the Japanese "chu gakko"; both include grades seven through nine. The Taiwanese middle schools, called "guozhong," also are three years long. In New Zealand, middle schools include seventh and eighth grades but some elementary schools also have these years. The situation in somewhat different in Europe, especially in the United Kingdom where more than 2,000 officials have closed their middle school programs (see Reference 2).
Although middle schools are often called junior high schools, there are certain distinctions between these two. While middle schools are student-centered and focus on collaboration and interactive work of students, junior highs are subject-centered and foster the competition of students. In addition, middle school emphasizes both affective and cognitive growth, unlike junior high school where cognitive development has the priority. These are just some of the differences, but some schools combine elements of both so it is difficult to make a clear distinction (see Reference 3, Page 2).