Transforming High School by Redesigning the Ninth Grade Experience

Along with district leaders across the nation, we envision a new, transformed experience for high school students—one that fully engages them with captivating lessons led by well-supported teachers equipped with the structures that prepare students for their post-graduation steps.

And there’s one key entry point for bringing this vision to life: ninth grade.

It’s a critical stage that impacts students’ experiences throughout high school and beyond, yet most ninth grade students and teachers currently lack the resources to truly prioritize this time.

Fortunately, district and school leaders have an opportunity to do things differently. By implementing the right structures—data systems, teaching teams, relationship supports, and more—leaders can forge an altogether new ninth grade experience that can revitalize high school.

Ninth Grade Supports in Action: A Q&A With Tara High School

Leaders at Baton Rouge’s Tara High School know how important ninth grade is to driving better high school student outcomes. That’s why they invested in a series of strategic initiatives focusing on improving grading practices, staff teaming, and student-teacher relationships in this crucial grade.

This interview explores how Tara’s leaders prioritized ninth grade support by partnering with the Center for High School Success (CHSS), an organization dedicated to improving graduation rates by focusing on ninth grade supports. With CHSS’ coaching, data analysis, and resources for ninth grade support, Tara’s leaders were able to rework school schedules, activate change-driving teams, and adjust grading policies—all in service of building a better ninth grade experience.

Examples from the Field

Learn how these schools and districts improved high school graduation rates by transforming student experiences. Educators partnered with CORE’s Breakthrough Success Community (BTSC) to learn to use improvement science and adapt practices to their unique school communities.

• Browning High School adopted a teacher teaming structure that helped reduce ninth graders’ off-track rates by 20% in 2020-21 and 8% in 2021-22.

• Leaders at Fremont High School restructured their grading practices and protocols to drive more equitable outcomes across their ninth grade students.

• Lincoln High School leaders supported ninth graders by repurposing meetings, prioritizing student data, and engaging teacher teams.

• Garden Grove Unified School District developed new structures to support ninth grade students and enable more teacher collaboration opportunities across all seven comprehensive high schools.

This content package was created in partnership with the Gates Foundation, CORE’s Breakthrough Success Community (BTSC), and the Center for High School Success (CHSS).