The stepchild of secondary education may soon step into the spotlight in Cache School District.
The Utah Board of Education approved "in concept" Thursday a request from Cache School District to create the first stand-alone ninth grade in the state.In its monthly meeting, held at North Sevier High School, the 15-member governing board of Utah public education agreed to let Superintendent Larry Jensen "step out of the traditional patterns of delivery" to form what Jensen calls ninth-grade articulation centers where ninth-graders will be separated from both junior highs and high schools.
The approval came after a board subcommittee unanimously recommended approval of the concept. However, Cache administrators must still work out details with State Office of Education staff and get approval on the different components, said spokeswoman Eileen Rencher.
Under Cache's proposal, the district will create two "failure-free" centers for the district's 1,000 ninth-graders beginning in August 1994.
The centers will be housed in old high school buildings located at North Cache Middle School in Richmond, and South Cache Middle School in Hyrum.
"They will be in buildings by themselves, separate and apart. Although the centers will be located on the campuses where there are middle schools, physically and administratively, they will be separate," the superintendent said.
For years, educators have disagreed about where to place ninth-graders, those 14- and 15-year-olds in the most awkward stage of adolescence. They don't seem to fit well in either high school or junior high school.
Parents object to placing immature ninth graders with older students in high school. "What is scary to parents is that they (students) want to be adults but they lack the maturity to make the decisions that adults are called on to make," he said.
On the other hand, keeping ninth-graders in junior high school - grades 7 to 9 - doesn't work well either. The research shows that "eighth grade is actually impacted negatively when combined with ninth grade," Jensen said.
The Cache plan, which will be made possible by the March 2 passage of a $15 million bond to construct more schools, will rearrange grouping of the grades. Elementary school will include kindergarten through fifth grade, middle school will consist of grades 6 to 8, ninth grade will stand alone and high school will be grades 10 to 12.
Nationwide, only 53 out of 40,000 school districts operate stand-alone ninth grades. Jensen said he visited one in Orlando, Fla., and it convinced him that "we're moving in the right direction."
Ninth grade is a pivotal year for a student's academic success, the superintendent said. If a student fails the ninth grade, he loses seven or eight credits, which are counted toward the 24 credits needed for high school graduation in Utah, and is more likely to drop out of high school.
"It becomes a deep hole that kids fall into and can't climb out of," said Jensen, who took over the Cache superintendency last fall after working as a Salt Lake District middle school principal.
The "failure-free" ninth grade education will include such standards as English, social studies and math in its curriculum, but it will also concentrate on topics such as attitude, self-esteem, social development and success by involving students in enrichment classes and service, he said.