Clean Slate: 9th Grade Launch Curriculum 2023 - 66

LAUNCH GRADE 9: CLEAN SLATE
best practices for academic check-ins
How can academic check-ins help you help students?
Academic check-ins can highlight previously unrealized strengths.
dialogue about strengths and accomplishments encourages students to reflect on these areas and generate
ideas that will help them on college applications and in job interviews. Educators are encouraged to interpret
student responses to questions explicitly as strengths. See the suggested conversation starters following for
ideas on how to frame your discussions.
Academic check-ins are an excellent tool for identifying and monitoring red flags and
action steps.
If students are doing well, ask them about their habits that are allowing them to be successful. Praise them for
a job well done. If students are struggling, ask questions that will bring out why they are having difficulty. If red
flags are identified, you should work to develop a plan of action steps to help the student remedy the problem.
Then you can follow up on those items later in the year to coach the student back on to the right path. here is a
case study from an actual coaching conversation (names have been changed).
Victoria was chronically late to school. The data on her first period attendance showed that she had been
late 17 times in the first quarter alone. In addition, Victoria had English 1st period, and her grades were in the
70s. Since GPA in English and attendance rates are two leading indicators of college enrollment, this was an
immediate red flag. Ms. Frizzle, Victoria's teacher, explored with her the reason Victoria was not arriving at
school on time. It turned out that she was simply not setting an alarm, and no one at home woke her up. Ms.
Frizzle then asked Victoria to take out her cell phone during the meeting and set her alarm. Ms. Frizzle noted
an action item of setting the alarm and waking up to arrive at school on time.
During the second session in December, Ms. Frizzle was able to see the noted action item from the previous
meeting. She was able to ask Victoria if she had been waking up on time. Then she was able to cross-check
Victoria's response with the updated attendance record. Having notes on previous meetings and relevant data
allowed Ms. Frizzle to see measurable progress on a key barrier for Victoria.
Academic check-ins can serve as a conduit for relationship building with your students.
Beginning the conversation with strengths, interests, and aspirations opens the dialogue positively. Students
should be asked to tell stories of what they have accomplished or done in the intervening time and their list
of skills and ambitions should grow or become more detailed as the year wears on. This approach conveys to
students that their teacher or educator believes in them and is there to support them.
In addition, when conversations start with a student's aspirations, present action can be explicitly linked to
aspirations. For instance, let's say a student indicates that he aspires to be a doctor. A failing grade in biology
seriously threatens that dream. Students must be aware of this reality. The idea is to motivate students to improve
based on their own self-identified goals. If a student does not have explicitly stated aspirations, a conversation
about interests and strengths may help lead students to aspirations. If he/she is good at math, you can offer some
suggestions about a career in economics, banking, or education that might appeal to the student.
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LESSon 8: ACAdEmIC ChECk-In

Clean Slate: 9th Grade Launch Curriculum 2023

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