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Typical credit recovery improves credit attainment but rarely learning, leaving students less prepared for rigorous college and career coursework. The document outlines needs for supportive structures, teacher and student supports, wellness guidance, and timely postsecondary connections beginning with ninth grade.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/developing-a-vision-transformative-high-school-experiences-start-with-ninth-grade/583974/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/developing-a-vision-transformative-high-school-experiences-start-with-ninth-grade/583974.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"\tCallum ","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why does ninth grade matter so much for student success?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Ninth grade is a uniquely important transition year. Students encounter advanced content and greater responsibility, and struggles often lead to absenteeism, course failure, and behavioral referrals that can predict dropout risk.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How do credit recovery programs affect students’ learning?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Credit recovery can increase credit attainment, but it seldom impacts learning. Students may progress through high school without mastering foundational skills and become less able to access rigorous college and career coursework.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What challenges during the pandemic worsened high school outcomes?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The pandemic intensified existing problems, doubling down on course failures and lower attendance, especially for vulnerable students. 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But for far too many, our high schools have not been preparing them well for life after graduation. The pandemic simply doubled down on these challenges, resulting in higher course failure and far lower attendance rates, particularly among our most vulnerable high school students. Many struggled to access everything from the internet to healthy meals and stable housing. Mental health needs spiked, and postsecondary matriculation dropped. And some students had or now have other significant obligations outside of school, such as working to support themselves and their families or caring for a younger sibling or child.  \nThese intensified needs require a new high school experience—something different than what was offered in most communities before COVID and something more robust than the limited combination of tutoring and credit recovery options available now. High schools can engage students in empowering, standardsaligned work that is connected to what young people care about and what’s next for them, at times that work for them, and with teachers who have the energy and support they need to build strong relationships with students, affirming their interests and identities along the way. Students should have varied opportunities to earn credits, targeted structures to meet their individual learning needs, deeper support for navigating their own wellness, and connections to relevant and timely postsecondary opportunities. All of this is as true for ninth and 10th graders who entered the high school building for the very first time this fall as it is for 11th and 12th graders working against the clock to complete graduation requirements.”  \nLearn more about our full vision at District Administration magazine.  \nWe know that if students don’t experience the structures needed to create this vision until they reach 11th and 12th grade, it’s often too late. To change the high school experience, school and system leaders must start with ninth grade.  \nNINTH GRADE  \nA Critical—but UnderResourced—Year  \nResearch has shown that ninth grade is uniquely important for student success, yet despite increased investments, leaders aren’t always equipped to meet ninth graders’ distinct needs.  \nThe transition from middle to high school is both critical and complex, as students encounter significant changes during this time, including taking on more advanced content and more responsibility for their own learning. For students who may be struggling, these changes can contribute to increased academic or behavioral concerns. Nationwide, ninth graders tend to have more missed classes, lower grade-point averages, more failing grades, and more misbehavior referrals than students at anyother high school grade level.1 And these indicators matter: In the Everyone Graduates Center’s foundational study of Philadelphia Public Schools, researchers found that “ABCs”(absenteeism, behavior referrals, and course failure) are highly predictive early warning indicators of students dropping out.2  \nStudents who don’t master foundational skills in ninth grade are also less likely to continue to have access to—and be successful in—rigorous college and career experiences in high school  \nthat prepare them for postsecondary success. While typical credit recovery programs have been shown to increase credit attainment,3 they seldom impact learning. In other words, students who fail often continue to progress through high school. Because they need to recover learning they missed in previous courses, these students are then less likely to access advanced college and career coursework—and less likely to be successful when they do. Further, many ","cbCaitovofH6g6ZQ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitovofH6g6ZQ","pdf",2173419,"English","# ERS’ Vision for High School\n## NINTH GRADE\n## A Critical—but UnderResourced—Year\n# TEACHER EXPERIENCES","[{\"question\":\"Why does ninth grade matter so much for student success?\",\"answer\":\"Ninth grade is a uniquely important transition year. Students encounter advanced content and greater responsibility, and struggles often lead to absenteeism, course failure, and behavioral referrals that can predict dropout risk.\"},{\"question\":\"How do credit recovery programs affect students’ learning?\",\"answer\":\"Credit recovery can increase credit attainment, but it seldom impacts learning. Students may progress through high school without mastering foundational skills and become less able to access rigorous college and career coursework.\"},{\"question\":\"What challenges during the pandemic worsened high school outcomes?\",\"answer\":\"The pandemic intensified existing problems, doubling down on course failures and lower attendance, especially for vulnerable students. It also limited access to essential resources like internet, healthy meals, and stable housing, while mental health needs increased.\"}]","DEVELOPING A VISION - Transformative High School Experiences Start With Ninth Grade | PDF",1792049281]