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DEL.ICIO.USSurviving Ninth Grade
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I first started covering education in 1997, all the talk was about first and second grade, teaching kids to read. Then, middle school. We all wrote stories about “the muddle in the middle.”
Now, educators are talking about ninth grade. How to make sure more kids make it to tenth and graduate with a diploma. “If you can get a student to tenth grade, they’re probably going to make it,” a school official is quoted as saying in today’s story.
What can be done to help ninth-graders?
Comments
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By chuck
March 10, 2005 08:42 AM | Link to this
As an 8th grade teacher, my number 1 priority is to get my students ready for high school. We take a number of steps to make sure that when our students leave us, they are ready for anything that high school may throw at them. One of the major differences in our district is that they go from a traditional schedule of 7 classes to a block schedule of 4 much longer classes. To try to get them ready, we usually take the last 4-6 weeks of school and do a modified block schedule where, just in academic classes, we see the students every other day for twice as long so that they can get into the flow of a longer class period. I lecture more toward the end of the year and make them take notes. They get a lot more of that in high school than we do here at the middle school level. We don’t check behind them as much those last few weeks as far as asking for missing assignments and make-up work, because few high school teachers will do those things. In short, we treat them like high school students, while still providing them a semblance at least of a safety net. I also have some of my former students come in to talk to them about making the transition from middle school to high school. We do everything we can do and our students seem to benefit from it.
By Terri
March 10, 2005 08:54 AM | Link to this
The biggest thing that can be done for 9th grade students is having teachers that care about them in 8th grade. I am a firm believer that the middle school concept does not work - it hides weak teachers in a team concept. Middle school teachers are extremely reluctant to set up SST’s due to paperwork, litigation possibilities, and their time frame. We need dedicated 8th grade teachers, willing to stay after school to help a child who is struggling, look for the problem, and work with the child and parent to correct it. They may look like high school students by the end of the 8th grade year, but they are still extremely immature. Unfortunately, many 8th grade teachers take the stand that these students choose not to work up to their potential. If a child has a strong 8th grade year, chances are that child will have a strong 9th grade year. Parents have to stay involved, check grades, set ground rules, stay involved with the HS teachers, and be a parent!
By Tom Burnett
March 10, 2005 08:59 AM | Link to this
Require a weekly report to/from the teachers/parents. For problem students, this could be done more often.
Require the teacher to send all graded work to the student’s home to be signed by the parent/guardian and returned. Incorrect answers must be corrected as well as missing work must be done and submitted to the teacher … with no change in grade.
Require all homework to be graded.
Require 1 hour of self-study at home after all homework has been finished and checked by the parent/guardian.
Have a mentor available/assigned for each child. Mentring should take place in a safe place, e. g., a library, classroom, etc. At no time shall the menor be alone with a student.
No extra curricular activities for students having one or more grades below a “C.”
Have tutors available. School must maintain a list of known (approved?)tutors. Tutoring should take place in a safe place, e. g., a library, classroom, etc. At no time shall the tutor be alone with a student.
Don’t wait until the 9th grade to implement the above. The student must know how to read by the end of the 2nd grade.
The student must be at grade level for math at all times. The student must maintain the reading level at all times. Corrective actions are taken to correct the deficiencies within 1 month of discovery. Such actions continue until the child is at grade level.
The school maintains all of the above information on the internet, except that all identifiable information is omitted.
The school day is extended, up to 3 hours for those students not at grade level. This time is to be used for counseling, tutoring, mentoring, or any other activity designed to remedy the shortfalls.
A Saturday/Sunday school is opened, if needed.
All of the above shall be full funded by the state. The U. S. Department of Education is not authorized by the U. S. Constitution and could be dissolved by Congress in a moment’s notice.
By Ernest
March 10, 2005 12:27 PM | Link to this
Tom’s list is a good one however these high expectations may be difficult for a culture that seems satisfied with mediocrity. All on this blog will agree, where there is strong and active parental involvement, success will more than likely be nearby.
I go back and forth on dissolving the US DoE, thinking some national standards are needed. Funding something like this only using state taxes might be cost prohibitive.
By Jeremy Fowler
March 10, 2005 01:52 PM | Link to this
I am a High School teacher in Henry County and have taught 9th Graders. The biggest challenge is that 9th Graders come to High School unprepared. The Middle and High Schools must work together and put away petty differences and think about what the Children need to Succeed.
By john
March 10, 2005 02:16 PM | Link to this
What kind of dream world is Tom living in? Require one hour of self-study after doing home work? Who is going to monitor that? Written reports back and forth between parents/teachers, mentors and mentoring, tutors and tutoring. Those kind of pipe dream programs would cost $50,000 per student and extend school days to 16 hours and only work for less than one out of a thousand students. If by the time a student reaches ninth grade and the parent isn’t involved, the parent isn’t going to become involved. Where would you like to find all these tutors and mentors willing to make all these sacrifices. The quickest way to improve ninth grade performance would be a return to discipline. Expel the trouble makers instead of sending them to in-school-detention, which the children consider to be a joke. Let them know that too many absences or expulsions mean repeating the ninth grade, and that mommy and daddy will be subject to legal penalties if “junior” doesn’t attend school or disrupts school for the other students.
By yesiamworried
March 10, 2005 02:53 PM | Link to this
Acknowledge that college isn’t for every student and isn’t really necessary for all students. Stregnthen vocational programs and understand that college doesn’t have to begin at 18, but can start later. Some of our company’s best technical employees are 18 years old from strong vocational high school programs. Once they have been at the company for a while they can take advantage of tuition reimbursement to advance their education.
By chuck
March 10, 2005 02:59 PM | Link to this
So Tom,
Some questions:1) How are you going to pay for it? 2) Who is going to do it? 3)At what point do you require the student to be responsible for him/herself? As a teacher of 138 students, I can tell you that there is not enough money in the world to keep me in the profession if I had to add that much paperwork to my work day. I’d rather hav a job I could leave long enough each day to see my family, eat a meal, and sleep. None of that would be possible under your requirements. Have you ever been in a school?
By Gene Walker
March 11, 2005 08:45 AM | Link to this
I’m with John. Chuck, Most of these grandoise ideas come from people that haven’t been in a school since they graduated. People that don’t spend all day, every day in a school are clueless to the roadblocks that even the most determined and dedicated teachers run into. They sound like excuses if you aren’t there.
By Eli
March 22, 2005 03:31 PM | Link to this
Tom, Come to school one day…spend a little time in the classroom and then re-write you ten suggestions…today’s classroom is a battleground….there are so many distractions that I’m surprised that any teacher can get anything accomplished. Here’s a short list for you: 1. all classes no larger than 20 students. 2. paper-work that has no relationship to classwork no longer exists. 3. teachers allowed to discipline students…any student that continually disrupts class will be suspended from school. 4. student comes in, sits down, and does his classwork [talk about a pipe-dream]