Promising Practice: Helping Students Transition to High School
The transition to high school can be a rocky road for incoming freshman with new social, academic and personal challenges. Research shows that the single most predictive indicator for dropping out of high school is a student's academic performance in ninth grade. Therefore, La Pine High School implemented a mandatory High School 101 class covering study skills, support services, and how students’ high school class selection and performance may benefit their college and career path. The result? Increased attendance and higher grade point averages among ninth graders during the first year of its inception.
At Reedsport Community Charter School, 7th graders and their parents are welcomed into high school for an evening designed to ease the transition, with an introduction to GEAR UP and its emphasis on college readiness. Students and parents worked as a team to complete a scavenger hunt: locating lockers and classrooms, getting ID cards and schedules, and meeting staff throughout the school. The dinner concluded with an overview of GEAR UP and the importance of planning for college starting in the 7th grade.
Want to learn other ways to help students and parents transition successfully to high school?
Check out our Transition to High School Toolkit: Strategies to Help Students, Staff and Parents. Learn about research-based strategies that help students and parents tackle the transition from middle to high school and the associated social and academic challenges. Includes best practices from Oregon GEAR UP schools!
