Whether students are moving from elementary to middle school or middle to high school, the transition process can be daunting, according to a K-!2 Dive article. These changes involve new buildings, new teachers and increased workloads.
Providing multiple orientation opportunities can make the transition easier. One school offers a “6th Grade Sneak Peek” day in the spring, a “Rise Up Rams” program on the last day of school, and multiple check-in days over the summer for families before the 6th-grade orientation on the first day of school.
Students and families tour facilities, meet their future teachers and learn about the school’s academic and athletic programming.
Communication is the critical aspect to ensure the successful transition from middle school to high school, says La Faye Howard, assistant principal at Winston Churchill High School in Maryland.
Winston Churchill High School 9th graders have an advisory period once a month where they receive advice and information tailored to their grade level. The 9th graders learn about how to manage the workload, balance their assignments and prepare for assessments. At the start of the school year, they receive an agenda book and learn how to keep track of their grades, homework, assignments and quizzes.
“Communicating early and consistently is key,” says Howard. “The message just doesn’t happen once; it happens throughout their 9th grade year.”
“Freshmen Success” is an initiative at Brien McMahon High School in Connecticut that uses interventions and proactive strategies to support 9th grade students in completing the year on track — an important indicator of timely graduation, according to research.
Data monitoring is crucial to this initiative, says assistant principal LaShante James. Her team uses student attendance, discipline and GPA data to identify students in need of additional support entering 9th grade. James selects 120 students with at-risk factors and separates them into cohorts of 60 students each.
A team of core subject teachers — English, math, social studies and science — will meet every other day to strategize how to support cohort students needing another level of support.
These students can participate in the school’s summer bridge program. Looking at quarterly data from a student participation feedback survey, James says, students who attended the summer program always outperformed their peers who didn’t.
She also recommends visiting other schools or sending educators and leaders to education conferences to learn from peers. “We’re all doing something well, and we can learn from each other as educators and not necessarily reinvent the wheel,” James says.
K-12 Dive
