Groundbreaking Ninth Grade Experience

“What we are doing in the Ninth Grade Experience is important.  We are learning to make
connections that will be useful in life…” – NGE Student

After many years of comprehensive planning and development, the Ninth Grade Experience (NGE) was implemented at North Shore High School in September 2009. This groundbreaking program is based on three main principles including: Interdisciplinary exploration of curriculum, heterogeneous and differentiated instruction, and the ideology that students are well-known as people and learners.

Vision
“There is more of a focus on different learning styles…teachers relate what we are learning to the bigger concepts. We start to see the intertwining of content and the big ideas …” – NGE Student   

The NGE was carefully crafted with a shared vision by North Shore’s administration and faculty. It focuses on how students are actively engaged in interdisciplinary learning that combines critical, grade level content, knowledge, skills, and understanding to fulfill core academic requirements. Students are expected to use the knowledge and skills of each discipline in an integrated fashion as they grapple with the common understandings of all disciplines that help them explore and make meaning of the world.

Learning Environment
“Teachers try to bring our interests into classes. They get close to us. They know us…”
 – NGE Student

The learning environment embodies space, structure, and flexibility while embracing respect, personal/communal responsibility, and the belief that all students are capable of meeting rigorous challenges with success. Dedicated faculty and staff work collaboratively to guide and support each of their students in intellectual, social, emotional, and psychological development. Not only is the acquisition of course content, skills and understandings emphasized, but equally important are students’ personal academic progress and the development of 21st Century skills. These skills include critical, creative, and reflective thinking, social and cross-cultural responsibility with a focus on global awareness, initiative and self-direction, and communication and collaboration using current day technology.

Students
“I realize that we are learning at a different pace and in a different ways…The difference is whether you want to conceptualize or memorize… ” – NGE Student

A total of 114 applied/were selected (with parent consent) to participate in the NGE. From that group, 80 students, reflecting the grade level profile, were randomly selected. On a daily basis, they

• Contemplate essential/challenging questions that require examination of issues from a variety of perspectives
• Confront opportunities of choice as a means of fostering motivation, building a capacity for responsible decision-making, and cultivating self-efficacy
• Synthesize information by applying content knowledge and skills in a     performance-based, problem-solving project that necessitates creative analysis and evaluation

Capstone Course in the NGE: Centering Course
“The Centering Course has gotten me to think in different ways about things like perception and reasoning. We learn to make our points by using evidence and debates. It has been the best experience…” – NGE Students

At the core of the NGE is a “Centering Course” which offers students a blend of philosophy, ethics, and the art of questioning. It focuses on the understanding of knowledge and explores concepts/issues that arise within the various disciplines and in our world today. 

Alternative to Traditional Ninth Grade Program                                                                                   The NGE is offered as an alternative to the traditional ninth grade program. Both programs adhere to the NY State curriculum of standards and assessments. Both offer courses including: English (Honors/Regents), Global History (Honors/Regents), Earth Science (Honors/Regents), Geometry (Honors/Regents) LOTE, Health/Phys. Ed, and an elective. The current ninth grade program offers Humanities labs while the NGE replaces those labs with the Centering Course. Whereas in the NGE student learning focuses on interdisciplinary study of common concepts across the curriculum in a  heterogeneous learning environment, in the traditional ninth grade program students learn the content and skills of each discipline discretely in a tracked learning environment that allows students/parents to choose the track that best meets their learning needs. Both programs provide students with the high quality education for which North Shore has come to be known. 

The Ninth Grade Experience has been extremely successful for both North Shore faculty and students. Under the direction of Albert Cousins, High School Principal, and Dr. Carol Smyth, Director of Science, the Ninth Grade Experience will go forward in the fall of 2010 with 80 students. There are no additional costs for this program.

It has been said,“This visionary program is result of quality educators and administrators working together in an effort to build a program that embraces our District’s mission: ‘…to nurture and enrich our students’ natural delight in learning and in the powers of mind and body…through guided engagement with vital ideas and events of the past to realize fresh possibilities and discoveries for the future.”
                                                           
If you have any questions regarding this program, please contact Principal Cousins at 277-7001 or email him at cousinsa@northshoreschools.org. For more information, please visit www.northshoreschools.org.