Moving On, Falling Behind: Urban Students and the Ninth Grade Transition

Ruth Curran Neild

There is a growing understanding among researchers, policymakers, and education practitioners that ninth grade is a critical year for urban students. Across large cities, the data on freshman course failure, non-promotion, and absenteeism are remarkably similar. In Philadelphia, the site of my research, at least 30 percent of the first-time freshmen in the public schools are not promoted, even after getting a second chance in summer school. Students who do not navigate the ninth grade year successfully are at substantially greater risk of dropping out of school; in fact, the modal grade (credit-wise) of dropouts in Philadelphia is ninth grade. Researchers have also begun to take seriously the importance of well-prepared teachers who can deliver quality instruction. Much of this work has looked at inequities between schools or between academic tracks. In contrast, this paper considers inequities between grades by examining who teaches ninth graders at neighborhood high schools in Philadelphia. I was able to match individual-level student and teacher records for the entire high school population in Philadelphia during the 1999-00 school year. I examine what proportion of a student’s teachers were 1) uncertified and 2) new to the school during that year. The data indicate that ninth graders are much more likely than upperclassmen to have core subject area teachers who have less academic preparation for teaching and/or who are brand-new to the school. I also examine the effects of having high proportions of new or uncertified teachers on student outcomes. These data suggest that students making their transition to high school are more likely to be taught by adults who have fewer resources to offer their students. Uncertified teachers usually have little prior experience in any classrooms (let alone urban classrooms) or formal education in curriculum and instruction. Furthermore, teachers who are new to the school – even if they are certified and/or experienced – are less able to appropriate the resources of the school for the use of their students. As newcomers, these teachers lack social capital within the school and its community: they are unfamiliar with the school’s policies, procedures, special programs for students, community resources, and informal knowledge of “how things get done.” They are also less likely to have access to the scarce materials of teaching – books, particularly – as these have often been squirreled away by more senior teachers for use with their own students. Furthermore, turnover in who teaches high school freshmen means that there are few consistent voices within the school community to advocate for ninth graders. The paper argues that, given the adult status systems in high schools and the challenges associated with teaching urban freshmen, it will be difficult to attract and retain experienced and qualified ninth grade teachers without a sense of mission about ninth grade and a greater understanding of curriculum and instruction appropriate for urban ninth graders.

About Ruth Curran Neild

Ruth Curran Neild is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Her work focuses on urban education, particularly urban comprehensive high schools. During graduate school, she co-directed a project that followed a sample of 1500 8th graders in Philadelphia public schools into high school and beyond. After earning her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Social Organization of Schools, working on the Talent Development high school reform project. Her current scholarly interests include high school choice in urban districts, teacher qualifications and turnover at the high school level, and the transition to high school.