Parents of students in the State College Area School District said they do not want sixth graders included in any plans that would place their children with seventh and eighth graders.

At a public hearing Monday night, parents told school board members they agree in part with expansion recommendations and further study of the middle-learner philosophy detailed in a report by the Citizens Advisory Committee on Demographics and Building Utilization.

But they support only recommendations to alleviate overcrowding in the schools and the philosophy for grades seven and eight. Sixth graders, however, should not be moved from the existing elementary grade structure, they argued.

"I applaud what I take to be the middle-learner philosophy . . . I am pleased to see it implemented in junior high," said parent Jim Knauer, referring to the district's pilot testing of teaming in the junior high. Teaming -- when students in different classes share the same teachers -- would be used in the middle school.

Many parents think sixth graders are not mature enough to handle peer pressure from eighth graders in the same school.

Nancy Chiswick, a clinical psychologist and a parent of a Radio Park Elementary School student, said she and an associate, Patricia Piper, also a parent and a psychologist, are against any proposal incorporating sixth graders with seventh and eighth graders.

She said maximum benefits for building a "self-concept" occur immediately before puberty, "where maturation is greatest but ties with authority are still strong." Sixth graders are near the age when they experience this, she said.

Chiswick said academic scores among older students drop as a result of adolescent pressures, which include dating, drugs and alcohol, pressures from older students and an adjustment to a more rigid environment.

"I am horrified at the idea of putting sixth graders in with seventh and eighth graders," Knauer said, adding sixth graders are not mature enough for the change.

Anne Petersen, a committee member and the University's Dean of the College of Health and Human Development, said a drop in test scores is more likely linked to a changing grading system and not the troubles of adolescence.

Elliot Abrams, committee chairman, said members were very attracted to the middle school concept but assured parents they are suggesting the need for further study and not the immediate adoption of a middle school.

Abrams said a study group consisting of education experts, teachers and parents -- both for and against the middle learner philosophy -- should be formed to study whether the adoption of the philosophy is best for the district.

"The real test (for the group) will be to boil everything down to a yes or no answer," he said.

A more immediate concern of the district however is the lessening of overcrowding in the elementary schools.

"The elementary schools need attention immediately," said Seldon V. Whitaker, superintendent of schools.

Whitaker said he hopes to have recommendations for consideration by the school board by the end of the year.

Those options, discussed by administrators, board members and parents include:

-- A recommendation to add building space to some elementary schools and study middle school possibilities in the first five-year plan. In the second five years, a new middle school could be built and further additions could be built onto the elementary schools and the junior high school if needed.

-- A recommendation for the construction of a middle school after studies have been completed in the first five years. In the next fives years, minor additions could be built onto the elementary schools and the existing junior high could be converted into a middle school.