Bartlett Ninth Grade Academy

News and Announcements

Overcoming difficulties can lead to deeper, more long-lasting learning.

Teachers often view student failure as something to be avoided. Whether they're attempting to match texts to readers' skill levels (not too hard, not too easy), or front-loading copious amounts of information in advance of a task, teachers use various strategies to try to spare their students too much struggle.

But what if we're wrong? What if struggle is an inherent part of learning, and removing it interferes with mastery?

Mathematics researcher Manu Kapur (2016) has developed the theory of productive struggle—that attempting to perform a task and initially failing can improve learning. Productive struggle, as Kapur envisions it, occurs in two phases. First, students are given a problem or task that they probably can't solve, and they're encouraged to speculate about possible solutions and experiment. Next, after their initial failed attempts, they receive instruction that will assist them in successfully completing the task, and they are encouraged to try again. In Kapur's studies, students scored better in conceptual knowledge if they were taught in a productive struggle condition than if they were taught conventionally. Giving students opportunities to fail forward resulted in deeper learning.

- Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey, Show & Tell: A Video Column / The Importance of Struggle - Educational Leadership, May 2017 | Volume 74 | Number 8
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Our annual 8th grade Preview Night will be on February 21st from 5-7pm.

We would like to invite all current 8th grade students and their families to our upcoming Preview Night. It will be an open house format with the opportunity to tour the school, meet our outstanding staff, and learn about academics, fine arts, and extracurricular activities. Upon arrival, families will receive a map with departments and information locations noted.

Representatives will be available to share information and answer questions about the registration process, course offerings, extra-curricular activities, and leadership opportunities that will be available during the 2019-2020 school year.
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Check PowerSchool Attendance Weekly

Parents, please remember to check your child’s attendance on PowerSchool weekly, or after you have sent in a note. We have a very small window of time for making corrections, and we want your child’s attendance record to be 100% accurate. Sometimes notes don’t make it to the Attendance Office for one reason or another.
Emails (to vmoser@bartlettschools.org, jtaylor2@bartlettschools.org, or jmcdonald@bartlettschools.org) are always a good way to send a note or follow-up on a written note. Weekly checks will hopefully prevent situations at the end of the grading period, the semester, or the year, where we have inaccurate information and lack the ability to make changes.
Students, you can also monitor your attendance on PowerSchool and let us know about errors. This is good practice for second semester when you want to remain eligible for exam exemptions at the end of the year.
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Student Drop-off and Pick-up

Parents and students, all car riders must be picked up and dropped off in the back of the school. The south parking lot near the front of the school by the park is for teacher parking only, not for student drop off and pick-up.
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