Isolating 9th graders: Separate schools ease the academic and social transition for high school-bound students

School Administrator, March, 2002 by Jennifer Newton Reents

Entering ninth grade can be one of the most emotionally difficult, most academically challenging times in children's lives. Along with the self-esteem issues, developmental changes and environmental shakeup faced by the young adolescents, school districts risk watching their 9th graders fall through the cracks without proper transitional programs in place.

In fact, researchers have identified 9th grade as the most critical point to intervene and prevent students from losing motivation, failing and dropping out of school.

Some school districts across the country are finding the best way to address this need is by creating 9th-grade academies or centers and schools within schools. These rather new entities are designed to smooth the transition to high school and give students the attention they need during this critical time.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, 128 9th-grade-only schools were operating during the 1999-2000 school year, the most recent year of published data.

Seeing Results

The 53,000-student Aldine Independent School District in Houston operates four 9th-grade centers. The district decided to open them in 1998 and 1999 to essentially keep freshmen from getting lost in the corridors and classrooms of already massive high schools, currently ranging in size from 1,900 to 2,300 10th through 12th-grade students.

By providing them with their own campus, students become better acquainted with the rigors of a high school curriculum and mature in the process, says Nadine Kujawa, Aldine's superintendent.

"Our research found that we have more 9th graders drop out of school because they get lost in a large high school setting and have less attention paid to them as individuals," she says.

Kujawa considers the 9th-grade centers a success already. "Our dropout rate at the 9th-grade level has decreased dramatically and our attendance rate has increased," she says. "More students are earning credit and are classified as 10th graders when they go to the high school. Our test scores have risen and behavior is improved."

Kujawa also thinks the isolation of this pivotal grade is helping to raise student achievement. From 1996 to 2001, the district earned a "recognized" rating from the Texas Education Agency--the second highest in the state's system of accountability. The ratings are based on student performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, dropout rates and attendance.

About 850 students attend each center in Aldine, which built new sites for each at a cost of $10 million apiece. The district also operates pre-kindergarten/kindergarten, grades 5 and 6 and grades 7 and 8 on their own campuses.

Other districts that operate 9th-grade centers report they too are seeing academic success along with overall declines in their dropout and disciplinary action rates.

Superintendent James Smith of the 44,000-student Alief Independent School District, also in Houston, says the need for his district's two 9th-grade centers grew out of a desire to provide a strong academic foundation to prevent students from dropping out. They opened in 1998, adjacent to a high school with a connecting sidewalk. Each enrolls 900 students

"With a community concept and a smaller enrollment, special attention can be focused on particular groups, Smith says. "Research shows 9th graders have the largest failure rate and are at risk of dropping out when academic success is not experienced. Through individualization and learning teams, the failure and dropout rates are reduced."

Students also develop a bond and a sense of belonging and teachers find it easier to identify those with special needs. More 9th graders are involved in activities than was the case when they were part of comprehensive secondary schools.

Transition programs for 9th graders also have a positive effect on preventing risky behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use, sexual activity and crime, according to a 1990 study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Research Support

Jay Hertzog, dean of education at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, and his research partner Lena Morgan, dean of instruction at Pensacola Junior College in Pensacola, Fla., have been studying student transition from middle school to high school, particularly from 8th to 9th grade, for seven years.

About four years ago, they completed a national study of more than 400 high schools and their sending middle schools. In addition, they conduct workshops for schools on devising transition programs.

"One of our recommendations from the research we have conducted is that schools develop a 9th grade academy to ease the stress of transition," Hertzog says. "Our belief is that this approach will provide 9th grade students with touchstones' to help them acclimate to their new surroundings and a faculty that is rransitional in nature and dedicated to teaching 9th grade students."

In school systems with full-blown transition programs, the researchers found the 9th grade transition programs had a significant impact on the number of student dropouts--an 8 percent dropout rate at schools with such a program versus a 24 percent rate at those without.