NINTH GRADE ACADEMY

     The Ninth Grade Academy at Howard School has the critical role of setting ninth grade students on the path to successful, fulfilling high school and academic experiences.

Research confirms that smaller schools or small learning communities are safer and more productive because students feel less alienated, more nurtured and more connected to caring adults.   Teachers feel that they have the opportunity to get to know and support their students. 

     In the Ninth Grade Academy the goals are to meet or exceed proficient levels of performance on state assessments, increase the attendance rate, minimize discipline problems, decrease the failure rate so as to increase the graduation rate, and, most important, to create an exciting, rigorous, and productive learning climate. 

     Collaboration among the teachers in the academy is essential.  Teachers use common planning time to meet with students and their parents, to plan all team events, to discuss academic progress, look at data, make schedule adjustments or determine awards and incentives for their students.  Every Wednesday after  school, teachers participate in an all-academy meeting.  The academy has a dedicated counselor whose office is on the ninth grade floor and who works very closely with the rest of the ninth grade faculty. 

     Special activities that the academy has participated include a ninth grade retreat for teambuilding, quarterly parent dinners and award ceremonies, workshops with support groups, and special student lunches for targeted students.  Pictures of outstanding students in the academy hang in the main hall of the school.

     To address the needs of low performing students, the academy teachers have instituted a strong recovery program of after school classes.  Additionally, Howard has partnered with GearUp to put a tutor in each of the math and English classes who works one on one with at risk students. 

     This is the first year for the Ninth Grade Academy, but the school has begun to gather data.  Some reflect positive movement toward goals, while others remain a challenge.

Measurement 1st Semester (2003-2004) 1st Semester (2004-2005)
Ninth Grade Attendance 3268 absences 4079 absences
Failure of one class 56 44
Failure of three or more subjects 75 51
Suspensions  102 35