Abstract
The study was designed to examine the current ninth grade orientation programs in California unified school districts, to identify the most important practices as perceived by high school principals, and to develop a paradigm for ninth grade orientation programs. Descriptive research was used for this study. A questionnaire was mailed to a stratified random sample of eighty-six high school principals in forty-eight unified school districts with a single high school, two or three high schools, or four or more high schools. Seventy-five questionnaires or 87 percent were returned. The prevalence of responses for each choice in the questionnaire items was used to determine the most common practices and those practices perceived to be most important. The four major components of orientation programs derived from the literature review were: (1) program objectives, management and evaluation; (2) content; (3) activities and schedule; and (4) ninth grade organization. All principals provided an orientation for entering ninth graders although few programs were evaluated systematically. Current programs were focused primarily on providing students and parents with the information needed to prepare for entry into high school through meetings and school visits. Significant organizational changes for ninth graders were not widely implemented. With few exceptions, principals reported that their current practices were the most important practices for ninth grade orientation. The framework derived from the literature provided an effective foundation for the examination of ninth grade orientation programs. Current practices were focused generally on the immediate informational needs of students and parents rather than the long term issues of students' social and emotional adjustment, and academic support during the ninth grade year. There was a high degree of congruency between current practices and those practices perceived to be most important by principals. It was recommended that the paradigm for ninth grade orientation programs should be utilized by principals and their transition team to initiate a self-study to broaden the program objectives and expand the concept of orientation programs as an educational intervention process for all students, and particularly those who are high-risk because of special needs.