For the rest, the decision to bypass junior high altogether and continue for seventh and eighth grades at a school they've known since the early years of their education was, quite literally, elementary.

No shuffling from class to class over seven or eight class periods. No gym shower rooms. No attitude-infested cliques and other social friction. Perhaps best of all, no large school lockers.

"At a junior high you'd get stuck in a locker, because the students are bigger," said Nibley Park seventh-grader Erica Black, 12. "It seems like a better environment here because we've all been friends."

Once the standard of public education in the U.S., and still the standard at parochial schools, the kindergarten through eighth-grade model is seen by an increasing number of educators as a better environment for academic achievement as well.

Given the turbulence of early adolescence, educators cite numerous studies arguing that eliminating the transition into middle and junior high schools eliminates along with it a difficult and unnecessary transition that can result in lower test scores and behavioral problems. A study titled "Mayhem in the Middle" sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based Thomas B. Fordham Institute, goes so far as to state that the middle school format has "failed America." It calls for a return to the not-so-distant time when all students finished eighth grade at their elementary schools before progressing on to high school.

The study reports that when the K-8 model was implemented among schools in Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Baltimore, test scores rose. Office referrals also dropped.

When the Salt Lake City School District floated the idea in 2006, many elementary schools were intrigued. After compiling research and holding community meetings on the format, Nibley stood as the only taker. Now, as Nibley's seventh-graders look forward to next school year, a new $4 million expansion scheduled to open at the end of this month awaits them for eighth grade.

"I wanted to stay here because I knew the school, and it's within walking distance. I also have a little sister who goes here," said seventh-grader Morgan Scott, 12.

Nibley Park's seventh-graders hear about junior high experiences from their peers on the outside. None sound envious. "I wanted to stay on for my friends," said Isaac Rios, 13.

The jury is still out regarding the effect on test scores. Salt Lake City School District grants and development specialist Pam Pedersen said that although the rise in academic achievement may sometimes be slight, the K-8 model offers other benefits besides, such as a drop-off in bullying and a "continuity of experience" many students find comfortable.

When the district first discussed the idea with parents, some felt adding grades seven and eight onto an elementary school was an attempt to coddle their children. "Some were quick to say, 'Hey, that's life!' " Pedersen remembers. "Some felt there was a lot of value in that special kind of hell."

For Nibley Park Principal Doug McLennan, himself the product of a parochial K-8 school, the transition he oversees is less about improving test scores - although that, too, is important - and more about providing choice for parents in the district.

The fact that his seventh-graders don't always act like seventh-graders hasn't escaped his notice, though. Rather than stand in a corner calling each other names, he said, they instead spend more time on the playground.