Big changes are on the way for high schoolers who are failing out of Hillsborough County public schools.
The graduation rate in Hillsborough County was just below the national average at 73.5 percent last year. School leaders want to boost those numbers by launching an extensive progress monitoring plan.
Deputy Superintendent Van Ayres said the program will focus on students in the ninth grade.
"The ninth grade is such a critical year for students because once they start behind, it is so hard for them to catch up their 10th,11th, and 12th grade year," he said.
Ayres will oversee the district's new plan of progress monitoring.
"Instead of waiting 'til the end of the year, and getting a list of ninth graders who have failed classes, really trying to implement and problem solve and put in some solutions at the midway point where we can hopefully save some students," he said.
Ayres first implemented the plan when he was principal of Jefferson High School.
Here's how it works: every nine weeks, school leaders will examine the grades of ninth graders across the district. An F grade will mean intervention time.
"You bring them in, you talk to them," Ayres said. "And that's when you even bring in the parent, you bring in the teacher and say, 'Okay, this student failed the nine weeks. What are some things we can do? What is the issue?' "
Maleena Tran, who is a junior at Robinson High School, said she hopes the program works. Tran has been concentrating on graduation since middle school. She said she doesn't understand why others don't do the same.
"I want to be the person to move on, and have a successful career and make a lot of money," Tran said.
Meanwhile, the new head of Hillsborough County Public Schools is already sharing the district's new path for success around the community.
The big push next school year will be to get more students to wear the graduation cap and gown. School leaders said they plan to do it, one ninth grader at a time.