CPS presents 2nd annual High School Investigation Day

Special program aims to ease freshman anxiety, keep students on track

The orientation program will give students the opportunity to become acclimated to their teachers.

May 27, 2009

The orientation program will give students the opportunity to become acclimated to their teachers.

For the second year in a row, Chicago Public Schools eighth-graders from across the city will get the opportunity to experience a day in the life of a freshman at the high school they plan to attend this fall through High School Investigation Day.

The orientation program will give students the opportunity to become acclimated to their teachers and the building, meet their new classmates, and get a better sense of the overall high school experience by observing typical freshman classes. Specific orientation program activities will be featured at Kennedy High School, 6325 W. 56^th St., Marshall High School, 3250 W. Adams, and Morgan Park High School, 1744 W. Pryor Ave.

“The first day of high school can be a nerve-wracking and daunting experience for any student, especially for incoming freshmen,” said CPS Chief Executive Officer Ron Huberman. “Freshmen often start the school year with a fair amount of social and emotional anxiety. We want to reduce that anxiety as much as possible and help foster positive, productive experiences to kick off what we hope will be a successful high school experience.”

High School Investigation Day, to be held at every CPS high school on one of three days between May 26 and May 29, is one component of the district’s dropout prevention policy. According to a study released in February, 2007, by the Parthenon Group, students who miss more than 10 days of school in the fall semester of their freshman year, fail two or more core courses in the fall semester of freshman year, and, by the end of freshman year, earn fewer than five credits—which means they’d failed more than two core classes—were strong candidates for eventually dropping out of school.

Students who do not share these predictors, and aren’t over-age as ninth-graders, have a far greater chance—75 percent—of staying in school and graduating.

A second component of the district’s dropout prevention policy being used in tandem with High School Investigation Day, and also launched last year, is “Freshman Connection,” an academic and recreational summer program for eighth-graders to be held at their destination high schools.

The free five-week program gives incoming freshmen the opportunity to get to know their teachers and counselors, set academic goals, and learn study skills and time management. Non-academic activities include field trips, sports, school clubs and a talent show.

Morning sessions for Freshman Connection will be Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to12:30 p.m., and afternoon sessions will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.