What is the difference between an I.S. and a J.H.S., and what does IS stand for?

May 15, 2009 9:22 AM

This is a stupid question, but can someone please explain to me the difference between an I.S. school and a J.H.S. school in the New York public school system? It seems both schools cater to grades 6, 7 and 8 so I'm curious about the difference in naming and the history of this system of abbreviation. Also, what does I.S. stand for?

I know this is a silly question, but I've spent a lot of time googling it and I can't find it, and my curiosity is killing me. I'm sure the answer is obvious, but if you can answer the history dimension that might make the question a little more interesting.*

*question arose after reading this article and wondering what a P.S./I.S. was, and failing repeatedly while trying to search for these terms

posted by nonmerci to education (8 comments total)

I.S. stands for Intermediate School. Not sure what the difference is, though.
posted by chiababe at 9:30 AM on May 15

I.S. stands for "Intermediate School" and the List of New York City Middle Schools on Wikipedia makes it look as if there's no rhyme or reason to the naming scheme.

Having studied a wee bit about the history of public education (just enough to be dangerously uninformed!), I would suggest that the naming differences came about due to the endless cycle of centralization and decentralization that school systems have gone through in the past century. New administration, new naming scheme, wash rinse repeat.
posted by bcwinters at 9:32 AM on May 15

Found a couple NYT articles of interest.

"City To Abolish Its Junior Highs," April 23, 1965: "The Board of Education said yesterday that it would abolish its 138 junior high schools by 1973 and take other steps to provide 'excellence of education' for the city's one million public school pupils. /r To replace the junior high schools, a new type of 'intermediate' school will be established to achieve racial and economic integration. The new schools will start with the fifth or sixth grade and run through the eighth, in contrast to the junior high schools, whcih cover the seventh, eighth and ninth grades."

"New York Schools Plan Grade Shift In Economy Move," April 21, 1976: "The Board of Education is considering a major change in the organization of the school system that would return all fifth-grade and sixth-grade classes to the elementary schools, possibly saving the hard-pressed system nearly $8.2 million a year. /r The change would put a halt to 10 years of movement toward the development here of a new type of middle school - now known as the intermediate school - that was intended to cover the fifth through eighth grade of instruction and replace the traditional junior high school."

In conclusion, I think bcwinters has it.
posted by thejoshu at 9:50 AM on May 15

InsideSchools.org ("Your independent guide to NYC public schools") are the folks to ask. There is even an Ask Judy column.
posted by R. Mutt at 9:55 AM on May 15

On a related note, why do a lot of New York City public schools just have a number, and no name?
posted by madcaptenor at 11:05 AM on May 15

madcaptenor - I would imagine in the days before easily accessible databases, a numerical system was a much easier method to keep track of everything. (PS165 represent!). NYC has over 1500 public schools. And many of those schools now have proper names (for example, I grew up in the 70's knowing my school as P.S.165. It's know more commonly known as PS165 Edith K. Bergtraum Elementary School.
posted by zerokey at 11:38 AM on May 15

I thought most (all?) of them had proper names? But the numbers were there for administrative reasons. And some might get more commonly known by the names or the numbers in the community.
posted by Casuistry at 1:30 PM on May 15

Intermediate School
Junior High School

I know in Western Washington, where I grew up, that we go to Junior High from grade 7 to 9 and High School to 10 to 12. Everything I've gathered it varies from state to state.
posted by P.o.B. at 3:32 PM on May 15