One year on, Soldotna Prep has seen success by way of increased numbers of students on track to graduate at the end of 9th grade and decreased formal student discipline interactions.
Principal Curtis Schmidt says freshmen transition programs are gaining popularity nationwide.
Schmidt: “There’s all kinds of research that says 9th grade set the tone for the students’ entire high school career, that 9th graders frequently struggle to connect to high schools and therefore experience failure, often times due to just where their brain is at. When you do brain research there’s lots of things that talk about frontal lobe development in 14 and 15 year olds where they don’t see harm, they don’t see a long term picture down the road.”
Compared to the previous 5 year average of academic performance of Soldotna Area 9th graders, Soldotna Prep saw gains of nearly 12 percent for students being on track to graduate at the end of 9th grade.
Principal Schmidt also cited a study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development which showed 9th grade transition programs reduced risky behaviors of high school freshmen.
Soldotna Prep’s student disciplines were cut in half compared to the prior five year average.
Schmidt: “We promote responsibility. When we do have those discipline interactions it’s not a two or three minute conversation of don’t do that anymore. We have that conversation of why did you do that, what’s the concept behind it, why do you not want to repeat that behavior. It’s very much a learning experience.”
During that first year, 146 out of Soldotna Prep’s 189 students (77%) passed all classes and were on pace for 6 or more credits for the 2014-15 school year.
