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The author's districtlevel study identifies the barriers before sparking new support measures
"I had to watch my brother every day. He has autism."
"I felt like the teachers put me in the category of the 'bad kid.' They didn't really want to get to know me."
"In middle school, if you had late homework, they [teachers] would take it late and not knock points off as bad as they do in high school."
"Nobody ever pulled me out of class to ask me what was going on. You're the first person who ever asked."
These are the words of students who had succeeded in middle school but began to fail core subjects when they transitioned to high school.
Parents of these 9th graders expressed similar anxieties about the transition from middle school. "I wasn't aware of any programs that could help my child." "I wanted to help but didn't know where to find help." "Looking back, none of the services offered to my child seemed to have a lasting effect. My child is having the exact same problems this year."
A Puzzling Phenomenon
The issue of capable middle schoolers becoming failing freshmen is not unique to the small-city school system where I work in central administration. Educators recognize it's a widespread problem we must resolve if all students are going to be prepared for college and careers.
Because graduation from high school is now a minimal level of preparation for entry into society, our urban school district has longtracked data on graduation rates and dropouts. In our district, 45 percent of the 8,000 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. About 20 percent are Hispanic and 8 percent are African American. The seemingly inexplicable 9th-grade failures have been frequent, and they often foreshadow delayed graduation or students droppingout of school.
To facilitate the transition from middle school to 9th grade at our two high schools, we have instituted programs to support student engagement, build positive relationships and remediate core subjects - all in pursuit of...