With forecasting happening, we reached out to our 9th Grade On Track coordinators from Tualatin High School on why forecasting matters for 9th grade students.
Why is forecasting important for 9th graders?
Forecasting is extremely important for 9th graders because it provides students with an opportunity to have a choice in their educational experience. There are so many classes and experiences that are offered at the high school level. We want 9th graders to understand that they have a choice in their educational decisions. We hope this autonomy increases students' engagement and makes them feel like their choices are valued.
What is your team looking for as forecasting is happening?
There are so many moving pieces when it comes to forecasting. However, our 9th grade success team makes keeping students on-track to graduate our biggest priority. It is important to help students understand how high school credits and graduation works. The amount of credits that students have gives us the opportunity to identify which classes will benefit them most moving forward.
We also want to figure out what goals the students have for the future. For example, if a student wants to attend a four-year university immediately after graduation, they need a certain amount of credits in a variety of subjects. These are all factors that play into how we guide students through the forecasting process.
What does your team currently have planned to support incoming 9th grade students?
We want to keep every student on-track to graduate their freshman year. We also understand that the transition to high school can be difficult for many of our 9th graders. This is why we try to set up a system of support to prevent 9th graders from immediately falling behind. Each 9th grader is put into what we call a house. This is a group of students who share the same English, social studies and science teachers. These houses meet once every two weeks to discuss some of the students who may need additional support. We continue to meet as a house, and discuss how we can support this group of students, throughout the school year.
Additionally, we have 9th grade leadership meetings once a month. These are meetings where we discuss some of the system changes that can take place in order to help all of our 9th graders succeed. Counselors are another major support system for our 9th graders. They meet with the middle school counselors before the school year in an effort to get important information for each individual student. We have a group of staff members who truly care about students and want to support them throughout their high school experience.
