9th grade is still where most fall off track
Sub Title:
Giving students personalized attention in large high schools continues to be a challenge.
Author:
by Paul Jablow
Author Bio:
Paul Jablow is a regular freelance contributor to the Notebook.
Sheila Hernandez was 15 when she quit Frankford High School in the 9th grade. There was a lot of fighting in the school, and Hernandez, a slight girl with her hair cut short, was also bullied over her appearance.
When she had problems academically, she said, “I’d ask for help, and they wouldn’t give it to you.”
Damaries Rodriguez got pregnant in 9th grade and dropped out of Franklin Learning Center because she found she had too much work to make up when she returned.
Angel Sostre found 9th grade at Edison High School to be a miserable experience, because “they kept changing my roster. They kept changing teachers, and I had trouble keeping up to the work.” He lasted only a short while in 10th grade before leaving school.
Unlike most dropouts from the Philadelphia schools, all three are now in alternative high schools designed to give students a second chance at earning a diploma – Hernandez at El Centro de Estudiantes in Norris Square, and Rodriguez and : 
Image Caption:
Angel Sostre says he was shuffled around as a 9th grader but has thrived in an alternative school.
Photo Credits:
Harvey Finkle