The Transition To High School For Academically Promising, Urban, Low-Income African American Youth - Statistical Data Included

Adolescence, Spring, 2000 by Barbara M. Newman, Mary C. Myers, Philip R. Newman, Brenda J. Lohman, Victoria L. Smith

Transition to Ninth Grade: Teachers

In describing the transition to ninth grade, the students had a lot to say about the central role of teachers. While the most common responses identified negative aspects of teachers, the next most common set of comments identified positive aspects. LPs seemed to have a somewhat more positive view of teachers than did HPs.

Supportive teachers tended to be most needed by LPs. Teachers, in turn, need to realize the important function they serve as a source of academic and personal support in their students' lives. HPs may need less attention from teachers than do LPs because their parents provide the monitoring and encouragement necessary to excel academically.

Seidman et al. (1996) found a correlation between decline in academic performance and the inability of high schools to engage students. It is troublesome that some of the high performers in the present study mentioned boredom, not liking classes, lack of motivation, and difficulty staying awake as reasons why they did not do well in class. High performers must therefore be continually challenged in the classroom and guided toward resources that will further their knowledge and interest in specific academic areas.

Many students mentioned that they missed certain teachers from elementary school or junior high school, with whom they had established close relationships. These teachers may have provided them with the experience of enjoying school, which helped them to do well (see Gregory, 1995). About a third of the students viewed teachers as supportive of their academic efforts (a slightly greater percentage among the LPs than the HPs). Perhaps the LPs who view at least one of their teachers as supportive will be able to improve their grades in tenth grade.

The students described some teachers as unapproachable, too busy, and belittling. They mentioned that some teachers give homework without explaining how to do the assignment. Negative remarks were made by all of the low performers. The most frequent comments were that high school teachers were not supportive and were harder than eighth-grade teachers. Teachers may feel that setting higher standards and demanding more of ninth graders is necessary and appropriate. However, from the students' perspective, harder may be seen as indifferent, unavailable, and therefore unsupportive.

Transition to Ninth Grade: School

The next major set of responses about the transition to ninth grade (after remarks about teachers) was that high school was harder. Sixty-two percent of HPs and 44% of LPs made this observation. The LPs were the only ones to say that ninth grade was easier (44%). It may be concluded that some LPs assessed ninth grade unrealistically. They may have interpreted the fact that teachers do not check homework daily or monitor progress with frequent tests as a sign that high school was easier. In comparison, HPs seemed to set higher standards for their academic performance than did LPs.

The students also commented on the process of adjusting to a new school. The size of the school, the organization of classes, the length of class periods, and interaction with new people were all challenging aspects of the transition to ninth grade. HPs and LPs had similar comments in this regard, although LPs had more to say than did HPs. This suggests that the LPs were struggling with more facets of the school transition, which may help explain, in part, why they were not doing as well.