Written by: Sean Andersense
This article was originally published at https://mesa.mapleton.us/
Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts (MESA) is implementing innovative strategies to improve ninth-grade success, partnering with the Center for High School Success to provide data-driven interventions and support. From a freshman seminar and team-building activities to parent engagement and empathy interviews, MESA is committed to ensuring all 100 freshmen graduate on time.
Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts (MESA) teachers and staff are making big changes in how they support incoming freshmen to ensure success in ninth grade and beyond. With the help of a groundbreaking partnership with the Center for High School Success, MESA is implementing some innovative strategies. From hands-on team-building experiences, like a ropes course, to data-driven interventions and parental engagement, the school is committed to ensuring every student thrives. Their goal is for all 100 freshmen from this year’s class to graduate on time in four years.
The fall of a student’s freshman year may seem so far from their high school graduation, especially for the student. However, administrators like Annaleah Bloom, principal of Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts (MESA), have enough experience to foresee academic problems. As early as October, she says she knows if students will have to repeat ninth grade, and risk not graduating at all.
“They should have a whole year in front of them, but there’s a point when some struggle and fall behind in classes, so far that there is no coming back,” she said. “Then they start not showing up to school and the problem gets big enough that they can’t dig themselves out. We have to catch them early to turn that Titanic around.”
It happens far too often at MESA. At one point last year, more than half of the school’s ninth graders were off track to graduate. A few years ago, a third of all the district’s freshmen that were retained came from the school. And this year, of the roughly 100 students of this year’s MESA ninth grade class, 15 percent are repeaters.
Partnering for success
But the Titanic is changing course. Through Colorado Department of Education grant funding, MESA has partnered with the Center for High School Success (CHSS), an education-based nonprofit, to provide research-based guidance for teachers to improve students’ on-track and graduation rates, among other goals. The CHSS team focuses on concepts like gathering timely, actionable student data; training staff to become effective teams for ninth graders; and building a comprehensive system of ninth-grade transition supports.
The work began in earnest in early August 2024, when MESA hosted the CHSS at the school for initial planning. Teachers learned strategies to impart to their students, like “eating the toad first,” or rather finishing the hardest task first before moving on to easier pieces. Another strategy was for teachers to use the same language across classrooms to not confuse students.
“The more consistent we can make classrooms in terms of their structure, the more successful kids will be,” said Bloom. “The students are going to get different content but if every teacher does things completely different, then kids are getting six to seven different experiences every hour on the hour in school.”
Supporting the freshman transition
One of those classes is MESA’s new Freshman Seminar for every ninth grader, meant to aid students’ transition from eighth to ninth grade. The class teaches students high school-level skills like better time management and how to manage multiple classes. Peer mentors from higher grade levels are also there to lend a hand.
The CHSS also suggested a ninth-grade kick-off experience for students to learn communication skills, build trust and relationships that will transition back into the school, and instill confidence in the students. So, in the first days of this school year, MESA took all their freshmen to the Genesee Challenge Course, just west of Denver. The ninth graders engaged in rope-based challenges with varying degrees of risk, like ones that involved having to climb trees and cross a net to get a high platform.
“If kids are going to face a hard math problem or book, they need that same mindset that gets them up one of those poles to face those challenges, said Bloom. “The tenacity to say ‘I can do this. It’s OK. One step at a time. I’m going to tell myself all those things we do to do this and do it in the classroom, too.’”
Mia F., one of those ninth graders, said she struggled early because she is afraid of heights. She was able to conquer her fear, though, when the Course’s staff and her fellow students encouraged her to keep trying.
“I was shaking a lot, but I ended up having a lot of fun and even Facetimed my sister on the way home to brag,” Mia said. “This experience also motivated me to help other people because they were helping me and I thought maybe I could help them with school, too.”
Data-Driven Interventions and Parental Engagement
A large component of the CHSS partnership is helping MESA streamline its data analysis and reporting. Working with the CHSS, the district is building a software program to get teachers “in the moment” data so they can easily access things like students’ grades and attendance. The school assembled a Ninth Grade Success Team of teachers and staff members to meet regularly to share ideas about making the best use of this information. The team’s objective is to share information to catch students who are struggling and find solutions quickly, rather than wait a school quarter.
Those discussions will surely be supported by the school’s new “empathy interviews,” where staff like MESA’s Academic Success Coordinator, Jared Powell, find time to catch up with students. He will ask them questions like how they are doing, where they succeed, and where they might be struggling, to gather input and solve barriers specific to certain students.
“I think it will be really beneficial because it’s a set systemic way of focusing on individual students that need individual interventions,” he said. “There’s a certain number of kids we can focus on with fairly simple interventions if we understand where the gaps are.”
Powell is also planning new Parent Nights in September to show parents and guardians what high school is and how they can support their students. These events will guide parents through district software and what a high school schedule looks like. They will also encourage families to share how their children struggle academically, how the school can help, and what parents would like to see their students learn.
Commitment to Freshman Success
Put together, these efforts are a massive overhaul to help MESA’s freshman succeed in their first year and beyond. Bloom said her staff is dedicated to this cause because they know if a student’s first year isn’t successful, their academic futures are bleak.
“We have data that shows that kids who successfully complete ninth grade the first time are at a far, far greater chance of completing high school,” she said. “Our commitment is 100 freshmen, 100 sophomores, 100 seniors.”