Thirteen local high schools will soon implement a Freshman on Track Program for the 2018-2019 academic year as part of the first Freshman Success Network in Memphis. The network will be the first locally to include both public traditional and charter schools, and will be established through a partnership with Stand For Children and Shelby County Schools.

The program, which originated in Chicago Public Schools in 2006 and is modeled after the University of Chicago’s Network for College Success (NCS), is designed to assist schools with the tracking and measuring of the academic progress of ninth-grade students and keep them on track for graduation.

The creation of the Freshman Success Network in Memphis comes after the successful results of the program being implemented at Mitchell High and Martin Luther King Jr. College Preparatory High last year, which resulted in the achievement of academic gains at both schools and a reduction in absences at Mitchell.

The network of schools will work collectively to guide improvement in achievement of ninth-grade students, graduation rates and post-secondary outcomes for students throughout the 2018-2019 academic year, according to a press release.

Cardell Orrin, director of Memphis Stand For Children, said each school participating in the network will come up with their own Freshman on Track program based on specific factors and needs of the school.

“The idea is that by using the primary components of the program – bi-weekly Freshman Success Team meetings at the school that review data, and high-quality and intentional tier 2 supports – that schools can build out programs specific to their school environment and culture that helps it to be more sustainable for the long term,” Orrin said.

Orrin said he hopes Stand For Children is helping schools to not just put a program in place, but to build a culture that’s focused in their own way around ensuring their students are on track.

“One reason that we like the program and the way it's implemented is because it’s based on what’s best for the school,” Orrin said. “Each school may come up with a little bit of a different way to make sure the students are on track to graduate based on their culture, or the resources they have and so that’s where there’s strength to it. “

Stand For Children’s goal for the network is to get more ninth-graders on track for graduation, Orrin said.

“Overall, the work is based on ensuring that by the end of ninth grade, freshmen are going to graduate,” Orrin said. “If we can get a majority of, or a larger number of students that were freshmen, successful in all the high schools by 2021, we might actually be on track to have a 90 percent graduation rate.”

Natalia Powers, chief communication officer of Shelby County Schools, said it was a good opportunity for SCS to partner with Stand For Children for the development of the network because a “really good impact” at the high school level can be made.

“They know addressing the need at our high school level has been an area of focus for the last three years, and have been a partner of our district for a number of years,” Powers said.

Powers said the network is important because it is an effort to ensure SCS supports students better and invest in the professional development around teachers.

“We want to ensure that our high school students really are able to take advantage of all the opportunities they have during that four-year process and to ensure teachers are really looking at our students at a very holistic way so we can address all of their needs,” Powers said.

Powers said the network will also help SCS with any kind of dropout issues.

“We feel if they have a good year as soon as they arrive into high school, that they are avidly much more prone to enjoying their four-year process and then not drop out,” Powers said.

With the results of the Freshman on Track program at Mitchell High and Martin Luther King Jr. College Preparatory High, Dr. Kemmeshela Conner, academic manager of the Office of Shelby County Schools, said she believes other students will be receptive to the program.

“Looking at the one pilot school (Mitchell) from last year, the data has shown us the program was very beneficial,” Conner said. “We know the students will also be receptive to it as well because it deals with a lot of social and emotional needs.”

Conner said as far as resources go for the network, Stand For Children invested in the program with the hiring of a coach to work with the SCS Freshman Success Team as well as the Shelby County School district investing $65,000 to support the participating schools.

“The money will be utilized for the Freshman Success Team, like them traveling to Chicago,” Conner said. “Any resources that they need to implement the program.”

The 13 high schools participating in the Freshman Success Network in Memphis are Douglass High, Freedom Preparatory Academy, Hamilton High, Manassas High, Martin Luther King Jr. College Preparatory High, Melrose High, Memphis Rise Academy, Mitchell High, Raleigh-Egypt High, Sheffield High, Soulsville Charter School, Trezevant High and Westwood High.