The author describes the Link Crew transition program that she implemented in 2012 as assistant principal for curriculum and guidance at Villa Park High School in California. She states that administrative and counseling teams at her school had noticed that ninth-grade students struggled in their transitions to high school, with over half of the…

Across the country, high schools have found that their ninth-grade students have the highest rates of truancy, discipline referrals, failures, and retentions. A school's worst data points are usually found among freshmen. For this reason, proactive schools seek strategies for transitioning freshmen into high school. An effective freshman…

Today's reform landscape transcends instructional leadership and data-based decision-making skills. This is not to say that those behaviors are not essential to a principal's success, but they no longer suffice. Principals do not need to be curriculum experts, but they do need to lead their schools with full knowledge of the Common Core State…

Every secondary school leader in the United States is aware of the importance of a successful transition from middle to high school. Schools and districts have implemented many programs specifically designed to help rising freshmen successfully make the transition to high school, such as ninth-grade academies, mandatory interventions, small…

Many students enter large comprehensive high schools without having the necessary social and academic skills or understanding of what will be expected of them as they move through the high school curriculum. To help a higher number of students experience success, schools must help them develop academic, social, and self-management skills.…

Senior year is the perfect time to offer students challenges that will help prepare them for life after school. The term "senior seminar" has been commonly used to describe a course that is specifically designed to help 12th graders develop knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that will prepare them for their college or work experiences. Senior…

This article describes Oakwood City School District's College Connection Study, which is now in its eighth year. The purpose of the study is to help the educators in the district learn how to effectively prepare students for success in the colleges of their choice. Teachers, administrators, and other staff members travel to colleges to conduct…

Many students who are "eligible" for college are not "ready" for college. Readiness is much more complex and multidimensional than eligibility. Most high schools are organized to make students eligible for college admission, not make them ready to succeed in entry-level college courses. Over the past 15 years, the author has conducted research on…

Helping students make the transition to high school and preparing them for postsecondary learning is built into the day-to-day processes at Statesville (NC) High School. The author and his staff members always strive to do what is best for the students. Because statistics indicate that the freshman class is always the largest and the senior class…

Many educators complain that the blight of senioritis and the absence of rigor and relevance prevent the final year of high school from being the capstone year it should be. Helping seniors focus on the life-changing transition they are about to experience is an effective strategy for engaging seniors and infusing relevance and rigor in a profound…

Many school leaders seek new strategies from their colleagues and education literature on how to develop and sustain a positive school culture where students feel safe and are able to reach their greatest potential in academic achievement. Leadership books focus on strategies of building professional learning communities and developing capacity…

The transition from the security of a middle level school to a high school isn't easy. The new independence, challenging workload, and high expectations are often enough to send freshmen into a whirlwind. To help offset these challenges, Louisburg (KS) High School developed a freshmen transition program that includes a preview of what high school…

Few issues in education are more pressing than the need to prepare students for a productive life after school. The issue is of paramount importance to the nation as well as the individual. Each week seems to bring another dire prediction that the United States and its workers will soon be competing with far better prepared workers from around the…

Many educators consider the final year of high school to be a "vast wasteland," an epidemic of disengagement. Although high schools across the country have struggled with senioritis, their approaches to the problem have largely fallen into one of three types of responses: vertical acceleration; remediation; and structured containment.…

Rising middle level students face many new situations when they enter middle school. Stress is not uncommon for new students in any grade, but it is most acute during middle level years when students are dealing with the rapidly changing physical characteristics and emotions associated with early adolescence. The community of adults at a middle…