Concerns About Ninth-Grade Students' Poor Academic Performance: One School's Action Plan

Content

Barbara M. Fulk collaborated with stakeholders at one midwestern high school to address concerns about the poor academic performance of incoming ninth-graders. First, teachers and students were surveyed about their perceptions of students' academic skills. Second, results of survey data were used to develop interventions to improve students' academic skills.

Context

Ninth grade is a pivotal year in determining secondary school success or failure. Students who fail required classes are more likely to question their ability to meet graduation requirements, lose interest in school, or even drop out. Certainly the drop-out problem is a complex issue related to individual, family, economic, and social factors. Yet when students believe that they lack the skills needed for school success, dropping out becomes more likely. Students at-risk often report that school is too difficult and they cannot complete homework or pass tests. Student perceptions of their weaknesses and their expectations of failure are among the factors that place students at-risk.

Methodology and Results

Two surveys were used to gather teachers' and students' perceptions of ninth-graders' study skills and motivation for school. Teachers' top concerns were students' poor test preparation and test-taking skills; poor organization and time management; and poor rates of homework completion. Students ranked themselves as having poor study habits, although they gave themselves high scores for organization and self-efficacy. Girls ranked themselves high in organization, study habits, and strategy use. Boys ranked themselves high in concentration/self-regulation.

Significance

To prevent failure, schools should increase orientation for incoming freshmen, provide school planners or organizers, organize peer mentors to share coping and study strategies, consider implementing a summer orientation for students at-risk which teaches study skills, and decrease homeroom sizes to allow for increased opportunities for mentoring by faculty and peers.

Source

Fulk, B. M. (2003). Concerns About 9th-Grade Students' Poor Academic Performance: One School's Action Plan. American Secondary Education, 31(2), 8-26.