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Author: Nettie Legters Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 114
Book Description
Researchers from MDRC and Johns Hopkins University partnered with Florida's Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) in 2009 to launch an independent evaluation of the district's initiative to implement Ninth Grade Academies (NGAs) in every district high school. An NGA is a self-contained learning community for ninth-graders that operates as a school within a school. With its own administrative leadership, space, faculty, and teacher teams, it is designed to offer ninth-graders a more personalized, engaging, and responsive learning environment. The study found strong district leadership at the outset and widespread uptake of core NGA components across the 18 high schools in the sample. The investigation also uncovered substantial variation in the overall quality and duration of NGA implementation across schools, however, with strong and sustained implementation of multiple components occurring in just three schools, even though many more had access to models of strong NGAs nearby. These implementation experiences in BCPS suggest that many schools will need more specific guidelines, on-site support, training for teachers, secure resources, and tools to guide practice and facilitate scheduling if they are to implement fully fledged, continuously improving, and self-sustaining NGAs. The following are the key findings from the study: (1) District leadership for the initiative was strong at the outset, but not sustained as district priorities changed; (2) While schools received some support through a cross-school professional learning community for NGA administrators, they did not receive any other technical or financial support for pro-gram implementation; (3) The district's definition of NGAs focused on structural components in each school--ninth-grade administrative leadership, dedicated ninth-grade space, dedicated ninth-grade faculty, and interdisciplinary teacher teams. Improving ninth-grade curriculum, instruction, and student supports were not a direct focus of the initiative. In fact, other reforms in these areas aimed at improving student outcomes competed with NGA implementation; (4) It was more feasible for schools to implement and sustain the administrative leadership and space components of NGAs than the dedicated ninth-grade faculty and interdisciplinary teaming components; and (5) Only three high schools achieved strong implementation. Ten achieved a threshold level of implementation, and five fell below threshold. Most schools did not improve from the first to the second or third year. The following are appended: (1) Sample Selection; and (2) Scoring Rubrics for Core NGA Components. [This report was written with Emma Alterman, Joanne Fennessey, and Janell Smith. A list of earlier MDRC publications related to high school reform, smaller learning communities, and the ninth-grade transition is included.].
Author: Nettie Legters Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 114
Book Description
Researchers from MDRC and Johns Hopkins University partnered with Florida's Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) in 2009 to launch an independent evaluation of the district's initiative to implement Ninth Grade Academies (NGAs) in every district high school. An NGA is a self-contained learning community for ninth-graders that operates as a school within a school. With its own administrative leadership, space, faculty, and teacher teams, it is designed to offer ninth-graders a more personalized, engaging, and responsive learning environment. The study found strong district leadership at the outset and widespread uptake of core NGA components across the 18 high schools in the sample. The investigation also uncovered substantial variation in the overall quality and duration of NGA implementation across schools, however, with strong and sustained implementation of multiple components occurring in just three schools, even though many more had access to models of strong NGAs nearby. These implementation experiences in BCPS suggest that many schools will need more specific guidelines, on-site support, training for teachers, secure resources, and tools to guide practice and facilitate scheduling if they are to implement fully fledged, continuously improving, and self-sustaining NGAs. The following are the key findings from the study: (1) District leadership for the initiative was strong at the outset, but not sustained as district priorities changed; (2) While schools received some support through a cross-school professional learning community for NGA administrators, they did not receive any other technical or financial support for pro-gram implementation; (3) The district's definition of NGAs focused on structural components in each school--ninth-grade administrative leadership, dedicated ninth-grade space, dedicated ninth-grade faculty, and interdisciplinary teacher teams. Improving ninth-grade curriculum, instruction, and student supports were not a direct focus of the initiative. In fact, other reforms in these areas aimed at improving student outcomes competed with NGA implementation; (4) It was more feasible for schools to implement and sustain the administrative leadership and space components of NGAs than the dedicated ninth-grade faculty and interdisciplinary teaming components; and (5) Only three high schools achieved strong implementation. Ten achieved a threshold level of implementation, and five fell below threshold. Most schools did not improve from the first to the second or third year. The following are appended: (1) Sample Selection; and (2) Scoring Rubrics for Core NGA Components. [This report was written with Emma Alterman, Joanne Fennessey, and Janell Smith. A list of earlier MDRC publications related to high school reform, smaller learning communities, and the ninth-grade transition is included.].
Author: Nettie Legters Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 12
Book Description
Providing ninth-graders with academic and social support can put more students on the graduation path, but it can be challenging for schools and school systems to implement that support routinely and effectively. This brief describes how Broward County Public Schools adopted a community of practice (CoP) approach to improve school-based teams' ability to create success for students in their first year of high school. Drawing on interviews with district- and school-based staff members, reviews of documents, and observations of participants, the brief recounts how the CoP was developed and operated, and how it provided a professional forum for innovating, sharing, and learning among participating schools.
Author: Scott Habeeb Publisher: iUniverse ISBN: 0595484727 Category : Education Languages : en Pages : 143
Book Description
Across the country, high school freshmen have the highest rates of failure, discipline problems, and truancy. Defined as the "make it or break it" year, ninth grade can be a trying time for teenagers learning to make their own way in the world. The Ninth Grade Opportunity provides educators with a useful framework to build and implement a team-based Freshman Transition program, ultimately allowing teachers to play an integral role in ensuring every student's success. Scott Habeeb, Ray Moore and Alan Seibert have over 60 years of combined experience as teachers and administrators, and together have compiled a guidebook centered around a teaming approach that empowers teachers to better meet freshmen needs. Based on concepts behind their popular Freshman Transition workshops, the authors share ideas about why and how teaming teachers works and how it can benefit schools. Road maps provide guidance for teachers to learn specifically how to create a program built around key elements such as: Standardized expectations Learning skills Classroom leadership Parent/teacher contact Educators everywhere will benefit from the practical advice, expert insight, and helpful tips that transform the ninth grade problem into The Ninth Grade Opportunity, ensuring a successful transition for every high school student.
Author: Marie-Andrě Somers Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 102
Book Description
Ninth Grade Academies (NGAs)--also called Freshman Academies--have attracted national attention as a particularly intensive and promising approach for supporting a successful transition for high school freshmen. An NGA is a self-contained learning community for ninth-graders that operates as a school within a school. NGAs have four core structural components: (1) a designated separate space within the high school, (2) a ninth-grade administrator who oversees the academy, (3) a faculty assigned to teach only ninth-grade students, and (4) teachers organized into interdisciplinary teams that have both students and a planning period in common. The theory of action behind NGAs is that when these components are employed together, they interact to create a more personalized learning environment where ninth-grade students feel less anonymous and more individually supported. This, in turn, should help students succeed in school and stay on track to high school graduation. NGAs have shown promising results when employed as part of a whole-school reform model, but in these cases schools have received external support from a developer to create and sustain them. A growing number of schools and districts have been experimenting with NGAs on their own, but the little research that exists on their effectiveness is limited to anecdotal accounts. This study, which is based on a quasi-experimental research design, examines the effect of NGAs on students' progress toward graduation, their academic achievement, and their behavior in several school districts in Florida. The sample for this study includes 27 high schools that created NGAs between 2001-2002 and 2006-2007, along with 16 comparison high schools that serve ninth-grade students with similar characteristics as students in the NGA schools. As context for understanding the impact findings, this study also looks at the extent to which the key features of the NGA model were implemented in the NGA schools in the study and how this differs from the structures and supports in the comparison schools. The key finding is that the NGAs in this study do not appear to have improved students' academic or behavioral outcomes (credit earning, state test scores, course marks, attendance, suspensions, or expulsions). The findings also suggest that it can be difficult for schools to fully implement the components of the NGA model without expert assistance: Three years after their creation, only half the NGAs in the study had all four structural components of the model in place. Nationally, school districts continue to create NGAs, and recent efforts to implement them have incorporated various enhancements that are intended to strengthen and improve their implementation, but little is known about their effectiveness. Because students' experience in ninth grade is an important predictor of their future success, these efforts to create and improve NGAs should be examined in future studies. Appended are: (1) Technical Information; and (2) Beyond the Sunshine State: Ninth Grade Academies in Other School Districts. ["Helping Students Make the Transition into High School: The Effect of Ninth Grade Academies on Students' Academic and Behavioral Outcomes" was written with Janet Quint.].
Author: Tim R. Sass Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages : 26
Book Description
The core work of the National Center on Scaling Up Effective Schools consists of four stages: identifying practices of highly effective high schools, designing interventions and transfer of practices, evaluating the intervention's implementation and effects, and evaluating implementation at scale. The purpose of this report is to describe the methodology used for selecting two high value-added and two low-value added schools in one of the partner districts for intensive field work in year one of the Center. Florida and Texas were selected for study of scaling up effective practices in high school because they have two of the most comprehensive student-level administrative and achievement data systems among the 50 states. While NCLB only requires states to test once in the high school grades, both Texas and Florida test English/language arts and mathematics in more than one high school grade, improving the ability to identify effective and ineffective schools. As part of the proposal for the Center, initial analyses using statewide data were conducted in both Florida and Texas. The goal was to identify districts that had both highly effective and low-performing high schools for students in traditionally low performing subpopulations to serve as both sites of research in which to identify effective practices and sites of intervention to which to transfer those practices. This report describes how Broward County Public Schools (BCPS) compare in value added to other schools in Florida, as well as how the four case study schools were identified. (Contains 2 figures, 9 tables, and 6 footnotes.).
Author: Robyn Suzanne Killebrew Publisher: ISBN: Category : Ninth grade (Education) Languages : en Pages : 133
Book Description
The purpose of this study was to determine whether administrators, counselors, and teachers believe that implementing freshman academies, schools-within-schools, and ninth grade schools is an effective way to transition ninth graders into high school. This study included an introduction and a review of literature that discussed the following: adolescent years, transition from 8th to 9th grade, drop-out prevention, school reform in secondary education, professional learning communities, the freshman academy, and a conclusion. This study was also comprised with a methodology section, research results, conclusions, recommendations for policy makers and practitioners, and recommendations for future research. The questionnaire for this study was developed by the researcher. The questionnaire focused on the areas of demographics, academics, attendance, discipline, school culture, transitioning, socio-economic status, and instructional staff. Data was collected from seven different schools in Mississippi who currently house freshman academies, school-within-schools, and ninth grade schools. A total of 85 questionnaires were completed with 10 of those being administrators, 12 being counselors, and 63 comprised of teachers. This study specifically examined administrators', counselors', and teachers' opinions regarding the impact freshman academies, schools-within-schools, and ninth grade schools as it relates to effective transitioning. Results illustrated that there was a significant difference in the opinions of administrators, counselors, and teachers in the areas of academic performance, reduced discipline referrals, school culture, transitioning from eighth to ninth grade, and the morale on the staff of the school. However, this study yielded a non-significant relationship among the opinions of administrators, counselors, and teachers concerning the implementation of a freshmen academy on the drop-out rate and improving students from a low socio-economic class. Policymakers and practitioners were encouraged to look at freshman data, collaborate with middle school and high school teachers, and place their best teachers in the ninth grade to ensure a smooth transition for all freshmen. --Page ii.
Author: Yolonda L. Sneed Publisher: ISBN: Category : Career academies Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Background: Too many freshman students struggle during their first year in high school, which can result in their dropping out of school. Ninth grade academies, in which ninth grade students are clustered together for one year, have been one way high schools have sought to support students’ success. Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative mean comparison study was to compare academic achievement at one high school with a ninth-grade academy to a similar school in the same district that does not have a ninth grade academy. Methods: The study used a series of independent samples t test to compare ninth grade students’ average test scores for Algebra I, Biology I, and English I between the two similar campuses over the span of five years. Findings: The schools had similar performance in Algebra for all five years. In Biology, the school with the ninth grade academy outperformed the traditional high school all five years and significantly outperformed the traditional high school in four out of the five years. In English I, the school with the ninth grade academy significantly outperformed the traditional high school all five years since 2013. There was a trend of steady increases over the five-year period, but no increasing in the difference in the scale scores between the two schools for English I. Conclusion: There were significant differences in the mean scores between the two schools over a five year period with the school that implemented the ninth grade academy scoring higher in most years, for most of the subjects. However, the data suggest that the extent to which the ninth grade academy impacted scores on state testing was moderate. The gap in performance between the two schools remained unchanged over a five-year period.
Author: United States. Employment and Training Administration. Office of Policy and Research Publisher: ISBN: Category : Apprenticeship programs Languages : en Pages : 288
Author: Fateama S. Fulmore Publisher: ISBN: Category : High school students Languages : en Pages : 124
Book Description
Ninth Grade Academies have been implemented in urban school districts across the United States to mitigate ongoing challenges with the ninth grade transition to high school. Research has unequivocally portrayed ninth grade as the most significant grade to the successful completion of high school. Historically, educational discourse about high schools has focused on alarming high school dropout rates and retentions in the ninth grade. However, an evolving body of research that suggests a strategic approach to the ninth grade transition, such as ninth grade academies, results in promising academic and behavioral student outcomes. This quantitative causal comparative study examined the correlation between ninth grade academies in the School District of Philadelphia’s comprehensive high schools and first-time ninth-grade student performance (as measured by the on-track rate, 95%+ attendance rate, and zero out-of-school suspension rate). This study further assessed whether students in comprehensive high schools with ninth grade academies showed a statistically significant difference in performance compared to students in high schools without ninth grade academies. The study sample population consisted of N=8; four comprehensive high schools and four special admission high schools across three different student cohorts and a total of 1,763 students from the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years. Quantitative analysis of the descriptive and inferential statistics indicated no statistically significant relationship between ninth grade academies and student performance.
Author: Nettie Legters
Author: Nettie Legters
Author: Nettie Legters
Author: Scott Habeeb
Author: Marie-Andrě Somers
Author: Tim R. Sass
Author: Robyn Suzanne Killebrew
Author: Yolonda L. Sneed
Author: United States. Employment and Training Administration. Office of Policy and Research
Author: 
Author: Fateama S. Fulmore