Educators learn new ninth-grade concepts
Warren County High School is continuing to improve and refine its Ninth Grade Academy program in its initial year, according to school system officials.
The academy is designed to help impressionable ninth-graders adjust to life in the hectic atmosphere of an 1,800-student high school and keep them isolated from the sometimes negative influence and intimidation that upperclassmen can present.
As part of this effort, WCHS secured the services of George Washington University certified and nationally known school redesign expert Lynn Anderson, who conducted a full day of staff development at the high school Friday while students were still on Christmas break.
Anderson worked with the entire faculty during a morning session, then held a special afternoon session involving the Ninth Grade Transition Team, as well as all school counselors. Anderson ended the program by meeting with administrators, School Board members, county officials, PTO representatives and interested community members.
After the program, Anderson talked about the concept of freshman transition and how that affects secondary education.
‘Freshman transition is actually a national initiative that affects grades 9-12,’ Anderson said. ‘But we target freshmen when they come in. We try to make sure they have a better plan, that they have a more individualized instruction, that they have a team of teachers who work with them, that sort of keep up with them and oversee what they’re doing.’
According to school system officials, the eventual plan is to have ninth-graders physically isolated as part of the Ninth Grade Academy, and then to follow the initial class through graduation, and even beyond their high school and college years.
‘At the high school, we’re going to have the freshmen in a particular location in the school so they have their own little niche,’ Anderson said. ‘But then after that there will be specific activities that will continue their sophomore, junior and senior years. It will follow them throughout, and one major initiative is going to be a 10-year plan. They start that as freshmen, and then hopefully that will culminate their senior year as a senior project.’
Anderson pointed out it’s almost impossible to get a job earning more than minimum wage without at least a high school diploma, noting the current dropout rate in high school is unacceptable.
‘The dropout rates are higher than they’ve been in 50 years,’ Anderson said. ‘It’s pretty well across the board in our country that we have got to do something to keep our students in school.’
Anderson also talked about some of the challenges facing educators and educational institutions in America today, including changing perceptions of education in general.
‘Attendance is a major challenge we have,’ Anderson said. ‘I think the fact is that young people don’t realize how important K-12 education is to them. To be perfectly honest, nationally it seems like education is not valued like it has been in the past. So here in Warren County, we’re going to try to build up that emphasis and get the community and parents back into encouraging their students to come to school and do the best they can.’
In addition, Anderson says, since society itself is going through a major transition, both educators and the educational system are going to have to change with the times. She pointed out the need to develop interpersonal relationships between teachers and students, in particular because so many come from broken homes or blended families.
‘It seems we have lost the basic structure of the family,’ Anderson said. ‘For whatever reason. It doesn’t mean that it’s bad, maybe both parents work. But we have students today who don’t have that support at home in many cases. They don’t have a strong adult in their lives, and so we’re seeing the need for every student to have a positive adult role model in their corner at school.’
Early statistics for the current Ninth Grade Academy show significant improvements in discipline and attendance, but the transition team says it will take some time before the academic improvements begin to be evident. The WCHS Ninth Grade Transition team plans to schedule Anderson for a possible follow-up training session once some of the suggestions from the professional development program have been implemented.
Funding for Anderson’s services were provided through a $25,000 Perkins Incentive Fund grant written by Career and Technical Education director Tracy Risinger and ninth-grade counselor Stacy Smith.