9th Grade Academy
9th grade Academy at Patrick Henry, A Program Description
Brian Maltby
VCU-716, September 2012
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9th Grade Academy
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History and Background
In the summer of 2009 Patrick Henry High school in Ashland, Virginia worked in
conjunction with Liberty Middle School to design a new program titled “Freshmen Academy”.
The purpose of the Freshman Academy was to select a group of rising 9th graders and to assist
their transition into high school. Freshmen Academy students would all share the same small
group of teachers for their core-subjects as the program would use a team-based approach to
teaching. These teachers established a vision statement for the program that read: “To produce
confident, independent, and self-motivated learners that will become positive members of the
community and society”. These teachers also created a mission statement, “To assist students in
making a successful transition to high school, through carefully planned, student centered team
instruction”. The program hoped that a small group of teachers monitoring a targeted small
group of students could help these students become successful in high school and to achieve
academically in areas where they had previously struggled.
The rationale behind the creation of the Freshmen Academy was that many students have
difficulty transitioning from middle school to high school. Students are often confused and
overwhelmed with the new challenges involved in becoming a high-schooler. Some students
have difficulty adjusting to the new setting, meeting new friends or confronting the higher
expectations of high school coursework. The Freshmen Academy teachers hoped to express the
importance of regular attendance, passing exams, keeping a good grade point average and not
having to repeat any courses. The teachers hoped that by working with the selected group of
students, they could help reduce student stress, provide a sense of belonging while helping to
reduce discipline and failure rates.
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Target audience and population served
The program is now in its fourth year. Students are selected to participate in Freshmen
Academy based on several criteria. Those criteria include student performance on SOL tests,
attendance records, grades, doesn’t complete work outside of school, difficulty with
comprehension, etc. Permission was obtained from the parents for student participation in the
program. Until this year, students with considerable discipline issues or that had an IEP were
excluded from consideration. These students were identified by a committee consisting of faculty
from both Patrick Henry and Liberty. The program has changed and evolved in the past four
years. Students reported feeling like they were being singled out and they were being made to
somehow feel different from the other students. The program is no longer called Freshmen
Academy, students no longer take all of their classes in one hallway and for their first time, there
are special education students in one of the classes. The target audience is the same but the
program has expanded to look similar to other classes in the building.
Goals of the program
There were eight identified goals of the Freshmen Academy program. Those listed were
1. “To make students feel safe and secure, 2. to build student’s sense of belonging and unity, 3.
to maintain high standards and expectations for students, 4. to instill the importance of high
school graduation, 5. to improve grades, SOL scores, and attendance, 6. To teach study,
organization, time management and coping skills, 7. to foster parent and student communication
and 8. to promote life long learners”. Freshman Academy teachers established sets of norms and
routines that they all followed. Expectations were set and procedures were standardized among
team members. Teachers in the program all agreed to begin class with a warm up, to keep a
binder for each student in each subject to assist with the student’s organizational skills, and to
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use a homework folder. Patrick Henry and Liberty share a partnership with SIM/CLC. This is a
grant based program that teaches routines and strategies to help students learn and retain
information. All Freshman Academy teachers agreed to use three SIM/CLC Routines, a Course
Organizer, Unit Organizers and Frames.
Stakeholders and their involvement
Stakeholders involved in Freshmen Academy included faculty from both Liberty and
Patrick Henry, the students selected and the parents of the students. The school faculties worked
together to select students that appeared to have the most need. Together, they worked to design
and implement a curriculum that would best assist these students as they transitioned to high
school. The parents of the students had to give permission for their children to participate. They
were then asked to take active roles in communicating with the Freshmen Academy teachers to
monitor their student’s progress. The students were asked to buy-in to a new program that was
designed specifically to help them become successful in high school. The first major goal of the
program was to make sure each of these students successfully completed the 9th grade. At the end
of the first year of the program, all students in the Freshmen Academy were promoted to the 10th
grade.
Political context
Freshmen Academy is funded by Patrick Henry High School. Basic materials were
purchased for teachers and students such as folders, textbooks, etc. The five teachers that
oversaw the program (English, science, history, math, health and physical education) all reported
to an assistant principal. The assistant principal met with the teacher team monthly to discuss
issues, progress and success stories. Results were then reported to Patrick Henry’s principal, who
would then report to the faculty and county superintendent.
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State and Federal Connections
Freshmen Academy is a school-based program and was not connected directly to any
other State or Federal program. Consideration was given to on-time graduation rates and annual
yearly progress when deciding to implement the program. The students identified to participate
in the program were chosen because of poor academic, testing or social skills. These students
were not discipline issues nor were they special education. They were identified as having traits
of students that might continue to struggle academically or were at-risk for dropping out. Patrick
Henry has a low drop out rate but created Freshmen Academy partly to connect with students
early and to prevent future issues.
Cultural context
The first Freshmen Academy class began in the 2009-2010 school year. That class is now
seniors. The first Freshmen Academy consisted of 28 students, 17 boys and 11 girls. The second
class, 2010-2011, was 27 students, 14 boys and 13 girls. The third class, 2011-2012, was 22
students, 10 boys and 12 girls. The class of 2012-2013 is