Maybe you have heard the whispers. The rumor that last year’s freshmen class, class of 2015, had the highest failure rate ever. It turns out that that is not true, though freshmen did fail at a higher rate than any of the other classes.
“Last year’s data was not an anomaly,” social studies teacher Phillip Little said.
Though the failure rate for last year’s freshmen was high, it is not unusual for freshmen to do poorly their first year of high school. The failure data from last year shows that a lot of freshmen failed classes: 23 percent of regular-level World History students failed, 28 percent of Algebra I students failed and 36 percent of regular-level English I students failed.
“Freshmen typically fail more classes than anybody else,” principal Chris Blice said. “That is why we started the FX program.”
The Freshmen Experience program, known as FX, is the brainchild of Little, aided by Skip Thibault. Social studies teacher Mary Cox and health teachers Jason Amy, Jason Novak and Lyn Smith are the other instructors.
“We noticed that freshmen failed at a much higher rate than all other classes,” Little said. “We looked at discipline records and saw that more freshmen got written up than anybody else.”
The creators of the FX program wanted to ease the transition from middle school to high school for incoming freshmen.
“So as we look at the failure data, as we look at the discipline data, as we talked about what we feel it took for students to succeed in high school, [we realized] our freshmen were not getting that,” Little said.
The teachers and staff are anxiously waiting for the data from the first semester to come in.
“We’re tentatively optimistic, but we don’t know anything yet,” Blice said.
Still, the information that they do have looks promising.
“We can say that our first six weeks failure data, for freshmen, is better than it was last year,” Little said.
Some of the freshmen who are members of the first batch of FX students have a different perspective.
“The intentions of trying to keep a closer eye on students and [have them] develop a closer relationship with their teachers is basically a nice thought, but it’s being pursued the wrong way,” freshman Jacqueline Helgans said.
Some of the students in the program think that the differences between the schedule of FX and the schedule of other classes is more of a problem than a solution.
“Most people aren’t doing very well, and I think it’s because they have trouble retaining information because they don’t have it every day,” said Helgans.
Rachel Fields, who is not in the FX program, has similar concerns as Helgans.
“I feel like [switching between Health and World History] would confuse me more because I should dedicate myself to one class, and if I’m switching back and forth, it’s harder,” Fields said.
Administrators name the difference between middle school and high school as a major problem for freshmen.
“When you get to high school, the schedule is different, you have that teacher for 90 minutes, and it’s go, go, go, go, go,” Little said.
Freshmen also sometimes struggle with the higher level of responsibility demanded by high school teachers.
“People are not going to chase you down or hold your hand,” Blice said. “I think it is a real surprise.”
The problem of high freshmen failure rates is a complex one, with unclear solutions.
“How do we define, and try to bottle, what it takes to be successful in high school, and hand it to freshmen immediately?” Little said.
The creators of the FX program are determined to help freshmen students succeed.
“We see a problem, and we just want to throw a bunch of spaghetti against the wall, and we are going to see what sticks,” Little said.
Little says that while the school has a responsibility to help students succeed, it is ultimately a student’s choice whether to succeed or to fail.
“The bottom line is, that when a student walks out the door, it’s their grade,” Little said.
Fields takes responsibility for her failures and has some advice for students in the same position.
“Go to school. Pay attention,” Fields said. “Don’t sleep in class, because there’s a life out of high school.”
— By Frances Beroset