9th Grade Worksheets. I'm a big fan of word play, word puzzles and brain teasers. They help build higher-level thinking skills. Plus they're a nice change from ordinary worksheets. In grades nine and ten, students plan, draft, and complete written compositions on a regular basis. Ninth grade and tenth grade students practice all forms of writing and are expected to produce error-free essays that demonstrate their awareness of audience and purpose.
Educators are increasingly focusing on the ninth grade as the year that determines whether a young person will move on or drop out of school. According to research published in the journal Education, ninth graders have the lowest grade point average, the most missed classes, the majority of failing grades, and more misbehavior referrals than any other high-school grade level. Ninth grade has increasingly become a “bottleneck” for students: A joint report from Princeton University and the Brookings Institution found “in 1970, there were 3 percent fewer tenth graders than ninth graders; by 2000, that share had risen to 11 percent.”
“More and more of us are realizing that it’s the make or break year for many 14- and 15-year-olds,” says Jon Zaff, director of the Center for Promise at Tufts University. “It’s a time when the cognitive, emotional, and physical are all coming together. The schools are likely new environments, and the students have more autonomy and more homework.”
Not only are youths entering the intimidating institution that is high school, they are experiencing the usual adolescent angst and depending on poor decision-making skills. “Students entering high school—just at the time brains are in flux—still have the propensity to be impulsive and are prone to making mistakes,” says Washington D.C. psychoanalyst Dr. Linda Stern. “They are therefore experimental and trying to separate and might try substances that interfere with the normal developmental process. Put all that together with raging hormones, the normal academic pressures, and meeting a whole new group to be judged by.”
Recommended Reading
Do American Schools Need to Change? Depends What You Compare Them To
How to Teach American History in a Divided Country
Kristina RizgaWorking for Racial Justice as a White Teacher
Kristina Rizga
Recommended Reading
Do American Schools Need to Change? Depends What You Compare Them To
How to Teach American History in a Divided Country
Kristina RizgaWorking for Racial Justice as a White Teacher
Kristina Rizga
When kids fall behind and have to repeat a grade, they can wind up in a vicious cycle of peer judgment and low self-esteem. “We are ending up with something now called the ninth-grade bulge,” explains Zaff, “which means a glut of students who have to repeat the grade. So they are stigmatized socially as well as academically, which can also lead to their finding it easier to just give up.”
While she doesn't deny that the ninth grade is a pivotal moment in a student’s education , Diane Ravitch, author of Reign of Error, has her suspicions about the motivations behind schools’ growing interest in ninth-grade performance. 'Many schools allow students to advance ready or not, and when they reach the ninth the stakes are higher. The high-stakes testing starts in the tenth grade so kids are being held back not for their own sake but to protect their school’s statistics. If the focus were really on the students, people would be thinking creatively about how to help them instead of thinking if them as data points.'
***
Educators are honing in on three indicators—attendance, behavior, and course performance—that are believed to be the most accurate measurements of a student’s likelihood to either quit school or move on. A lengthy, detailed guide from the National High School Center states that “more students fail ninth grade than any other grade in high school, and a disproportionate number of students who are held back in ninth grade subsequently drop out.” The guide describes telltale signs that can be detected as early as the first semester of the first year in high school: The biggest risk factor for failing ninth, for example, is the number of absences during the first 30 days. Missing more than 10 percent is cause for concern. In addition, first-year high-school students are classified as ‘on track’ if they earn at least five full year course credits, and have received no more than one F per semester. So to be ‘off track’? You do the math.
High schools are working to use this information to keep students in school past the ninth grade. The Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Education recommends something called the Freshman Seminar for students in their first year of high school. The program offers learning materials and training specialists to aid students in study and social skills. Some students use it during homeroom or advisory periods, some during special enhancement periods.
“We try to build some relevance into their experience to go along with the regular curriculum,” says Mary Maushard, communications director for the Everyone Graduates Center. “So many of these ninth graders—particularly in high-poverty areas—just don’t see any reason to stay in school.”
There are signs that programs and administrators are getting through to high school freshmen. In Portland, Oregon, Self-Enhancement Inc.–which employs coordinators to oversee 30 high-risk students each, in 12 public schools—takes pride in a 98 percent high-school graduation rate for the students it works with. Goals are set for every student, and the aides are available 24/7 and serve as links between child and school, parent and school, and child and parent.
“A lot of what we do is to prepare the students for the ninth grade,” says Self-Enhancement project manager Lisa Manning. “We make sure they have cultural activities that engage them and that they attend a six week-summer program for the academics before even starting.”
9th Grade English Worksheets Printable
New York City’s Flushing High School, one of the city's so-called “dropout factories,” now hosts a program designed to keep at-risk students in school. Initiated by the Sports and Arts In Schools Foundation, a non-profit that works to improve low-performing schools in the city, and sponsored by AT&T, the program brings in a support staff to encourage students to participate in after-school activities in athletics and the arts and to work closely with low-performing students throughout the school day.
“Just by staying on top of the students who were considered to be in trouble academically, we’ve had tremendous success,” says Amir Sultan, a program manager for the Sports and Arts in Schools Foundation. “Now, some 85 percent have moved on to the tenth grade. That’s not only double-digit improvement over previous numbers, but over the other students not in the program.”
The answers seem to be coming, however gradually, and at least the right questions are being asked. “The main one is what does each of these potential dropouts in the ninth grade need as they make this big transition?” says Zaff. “It’s a time of great upheaval and great opportunity.”
The hallways are noisy and chaotic. The class schedule is grueling. Ninth grade is the year every grade suddenly counts, the year of the permanent record. Despite the challenges, most kids and their parents manage to make the transition from middle to high school with just a few hiccups.
It’s a transition that prepares children well for the leap from high school to college and even from college to work life, says Dawn Burnette, a former high school teacher who authored, along with her sophomore students, High School 101: Freshman Survival Guide. The book is used at high schools around the country to help kids adjust.
Burnette’s students wanted to pass along lessons they learned in 9th grade. The student authors tackled the sensitive issue of dealing with upper classmen, advising 9th graders not to announce their freshman status and to initially keep a low profile. They touched on dating, hanging out with friends, and peer pressure.
A major message: Learn good organizational skills so you can live a balanced life, with time for schoolwork, friends, family, and activities.
“Kids at this age may be starting their first jobs, and they have busy social calendars,” Burnette says. “It’s a lot to manage.”
Choose Courses Wisely
Some students arrive in high school with an unrealistic image portrayed on television. “TV never shows kids learning and studying,” Burnette says.
Students quickly realize that high school brings choices in what courses you take, and your schedule can determine how much homework you have every night and even which colleges you can go to.
Parents, Burnette says, should resist the temptation to push their children into the most difficult courses with the hopes that they’ll get admitted to Harvard. “To be in a course that’s too difficult just leads to frustration,” she says.
On the flip side, some students are tempted to take the easiest courses possible in hopes of getting straight A’s and a high GPA. That robs the student of a feeling of accomplishment and doesn’t fool college admissions officers, who look carefully at course difficulty when evaluating a transcript.
Different Academic Tracks
Most high schools have several paths: a college prep track for students motivated to attend college; an honors track for highly motivated students planning to attend a competitive college; and a career or technical track for students planning an occupation such as auto mechanic, electrician, dental assistant, or computer technician.
The goal in 9th grade is to start down the path most likely to be a good fit. But it’s possible to switch paths in 10th grade. It’s also possible to take some courses in the honors program and others in college prep. Some students in technical programs also take courses in the college prep track.
In 9th grade, parents should focus on helping their child figure out the right path while still leaving time for a social life and family. A counselor will help assemble a schedule that includes the right core courses and electives that match the student’s goals.
To help students sort it all out, many high schools have a “freshman academy,” which offers support services to 9th graders. Even if your child’s school doesn’t have such a program, counselors and teachers should be well-equipped to help your child make good decisions.
Still, high school can be a pressure cooker, and Burnette’s student authors emphasize the importance of personal well-being, including mental and physical health.
Transition for Parents
While students figure out their place in high school, parents have to find their place, as well. Parents tend to visit school less as their kids get older, but parents are needed even more, says Susanne Livingston, a longtime counselor at Eagle’s Landing High School in McDonough, Ga.
9th Grade Reading List
“Be involved,” she says. “Go to every meeting that’s announced, every open house. Stay in contact with the teachers and work with the teachers.”
Free 9th Grade School Work
Parents who ask their 9th grader what’s going on in school will probably get some variation of this response: “I have it covered.” This response, Livingston says, is often a signal that parents need to be involved. They need to know who their child’s friends are, who the friends’ parents are, and where their child is going. They need to know what their child’s grades are and whether homework is getting turned in on time.
When kids talk about their social lives, parents may find themselves dragged into the middle of mini soap operas and must be careful not to get sucked into the drama. “When a child comes home and says such and such happened, check it out,” she says. “You want to nip it in the bud as soon as possible.”
Take the same proactive steps with academics. “Going to a teacher on the last day of the semester is a day late and a dollar short,” Livingston says. “It’s easier to help a child when their struggle is small.”
Some 9th graders can study independently, but others still need to work at the kitchen table with a parent close by. Some kids have an easy time with studying, while others get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. “I just told a parent today to get flash cards,” Livingston says. “They work even in high school.”
9th Grade Reading List
Ninth grade is a time when kids are figuring out what it means to be a teenager. Moms and dads are figuring out what it means to be the parent of a teenager. It may be time to let children make their own choices and experience a little freedom, but 9th grade is also a time for parents to stay close by and be available when they’re needed.