High school was overwhelming at first to 14-year-old Jodi Richman.
The ninth-grader didn't know many students at her new school, Wilde Lake High in Howard County. She feared getting lost in the school's hallways. And she had to learn to handle much more demanding course work -- not to mention the greater independence she had as a high school student.
"It's totally different," said the Ellicott City freshman. "You have much more freedom, but you have much more responsibility."
Easing Jodi's adjustment to all these changes is Howard County's latest educational innovation: Separating ninth-graders from upperclassmen in schools within schools.
The idea comes as school districts around the nation and the Baltimore region are looking at various ways to decrease ninth-graders' relatively high dropout rate and to improve their classroom performance, typically the lowest among high school students, according to school officials.
These new steps range from building separate ninth-grade academies to just providing ninth-graders with extra counseling.
In the Baltimore area, Howard has gone the furthest toward catering to freshmen's needs. It built a ninth-grade wing at its newest high school, developed a corps of ninth-grade teachers and trained them to give freshmen extra coddling, patience and understanding.
The new focus on ninth-graders' needs is a response to some long-standing problems.
"One of the most difficult things for a high school teacher is to accept a 14-year-old the way he or she is, because we are used to a higher level of expectation," said Moreno Carrasco, Wilde Lake's assistant principal. "We expect too much of these kids too soon, and they may not be ready for it. We need to create a place where kids can act like a 14-year-old kid acts."
Among high school students, ninth-graders typically earn the lowest grades and have the highest number of disciplinary problems. They're at an awkward age where they act like youngsters but are expected to be mentally prepared for rigorous academic work.
"Teachers don't care about you as much anymore," said Ryan Pflugrad, 14, a freshmen at Howard's Hammond High. "In middle school, they ask you if you want to turn your assignment in late. They don't ask you anymore."
To make matters worse, ninth-graders often feel like small fish in a newly enlarged pond. "You come in ninth grade, you're at the bottom of the ladder and you know it," said Marshall Peterson, Hammond's principal. "There's an adjustment. The need to belong is still there -- it's as great as ever."
Often freshmen who do badly their first year continue to do badly or drop out altogether, school officials say. Unless the schools and teachers make a conscious effort to nurture ninth-graders, their "values and norms will be established by their relationship primarily with older students," says Daniel Jett, Howard County's director of high schools.
"In some cases, it's very positive," he said. "In other cases, it isn't. In either case, we shouldn't leave it up to chance. The longer we looked at the ninth-grade situation, the more we were concerned about it."
That concern is evident in the physical layout of River Hill High, Howard's newest school, where Wilde Lake High School students began attending class this fall while the county builds them a new school to open in two years.
All ninth-grade classes, including science labs, are along a U-shaped hallway tucked in a corner of the school. Two doors at the hall's ends can be shut to separate the wing from the rest of the school. Howard school officials plan to replicate this arrangement at the new Wilde Lake High and another high school under construction in Columbia.
At River Hill, Jodi spends half her school day taking typical ninth-grade courses in the freshman wing. It's a hit with her, she says. "It's easier to find my way around. It made my adjustment to high school easier."
Nationwide, some other school systems are embracing much the same mothering stance toward ninth-graders.
Detroit school officials have proposed building four "ninth-grade academies" for the city's freshmen -- as a response to the city's ninth-grade drop-out rate, which is four times higher than the rate for other high school students. "We have found that students at that age are at a key point in their academic development," says Steven Wasko, Detroit schools spokesman.
The 10,000-student Alexandria, Va., school system offers a ninth-grade schoolhouse -- the 2-year-old Minnie Howard High, a few blocks away from a senior high. "The feeling of being left out disappeared when they realized they were the focus of attention," said Margaret Walsh, principal.
Apart from those in Howard County, Baltimore-area schools have not moved toward separating ninth-graders from upperclassmen. But most of the region's school systems are paying more attention to ninth-graders' needs.
Many Baltimore County high schools have teams of teachers dedicated to just teaching ninth-graders. Some Anne Arundel County schools let freshmen attend class a day before other students begin. Several Carroll County schools give ninth-graders additional counseling and have a corps of ninth-grade teachers at one school, Westminster High. Harford lacks specific programs for ninth-graders.
In Howard, many high school teachers have warmed to the notion of forming teams to focus on ninth-graders. "We have many people who now say give me all ninth-graders," said Roger Plunkett, principal at Atholton High School, which has teaching teams for ninth-grade students.
These teachers often devote hours to the basics. They teach note-taking techniques and organizational skills. They keep close contact with one another, keeping tabs on students at risk of getting bad grades or dropping out.
The extra attention pays off, says Linda Durey, an English teacher at Ellicott City's Howard High, where all ninth-grade teachers meet weekly to discuss students' needs.
"I have more students do homework," she said. "I see an improvement in the grades, through just some of the strategies. I really think ninth-graders need this extra boost."