Questions with transition to junior high???

As I pondered on the question of narrowing down the topic of my action research project, somehow junior high kept coming back to my mind. It seems that the middle school years are ones that many parents and families become less involved in as compared to elementary years.
This can be attributed to many factors such as working parents, schedules, other children, etc. however, some parents may feel that they have unanswered questions about junior high, and therefore feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. Students as well may feel that leaving elementary school where they have always been surrounded by adults and parents to all of sudden be expected to attend a school with big kids is also uncomfortable for them. It could be that students and parents or families have many questions for this major step that their children are about to take and they are not quite well informed yet. Therefore questions need to be addressed before the student begins junior high to insure maximum success by the student as well as the student's family.
Based on this, my project will focus on fifth and sixth graders in my sons' class as well as their families. I plan on surveying the students and the families in addition to interviewing them. I will ask various questions pertaining to transitioning to junior high for the students and school involvement for the families. After the results are determined, I will come back to this reliable blog and post my findings right here. Additionally, I will share with my district any positive findings that can be implemented to further transition students into junior high more smoothly and efficiently.