Program aids Moravia's ninth-grade students

MORAVIA - Moravia High School has found a unique way to provide ninth grade students a successful transition from middle school to high school.

In an effort to combat rising retention rates, high school principal Brian Morgan and a group of teachers banded together two years ago to find a way to increase academic achievement and prevent students from being left behind at the end of the year. They decided to create a Ninth Grade Academy, house ninth graders all in one wing with their core teachers and offer a freshman transition course, Freshman Focus.

This year's Freshman Focus, Morgan told the Moravia Board of Education at its meeting Wednesday evening, is the best they've seen. “What we do in that course is really limitless,” he said. “Our goal in there is to get students to feel that they can be successful in high school.”