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Extending Hillside’s support through a critical transition year.

High School Grade 9

Hillside’s 9th grade is designed for students with language-based learning differences — including dyslexia, ADHD, and dyscalculia — who need a structured, therapeutic day school environment to access a rigorous, credit-bearing high school curriculum. Students receive individualized placement in reading and math, IEP-aligned related services, and a full complement of core academic courses, all within a school day built around their learning needs.

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Designed for a Strong High School Transition

Ninth grade is an important transition year. At Hillside, students continue receiving the structure, guidance, and individualized support they need while beginning a rigorous, credit-bearing high school curriculum. Teachers help students strengthen academic habits, build confidence, and develop strategies they can carry with them into future school settings.

What Students Build

High School Readiness

Students develop the academic habits, responsibility, and confidence needed for success in high school.

Core Academic Skills

Students strengthen reading, writing, vocabulary, math, reasoning, and communication skills through structured instruction.

Executive Functioning & Study Skills

Students practice organization, planning, time management, assignment tracking, self-monitoring, and study strategies.

Self-Advocacy & Independence

Students learn to understand their learning profiles, use strategies, ask for support, and take ownership of their progress.

Curriculum & Instruction

Hillside’s Grade 9 curriculum provides structured, individualized support within a credit-bearing high school program. Students participate in core academic coursework while receiving targeted reading, math, executive functioning, and transition support aligned with their learning needs.

English Language Arts Programming

Block 1 delivers SAVVAS myPerspectives Grade 9 — six thematic units over 30 instructional weeks, each anchored by a major performance task (argumentative essay, literary analysis, multimedia presentation, personal narrative). Wordly Wise 3000 is embedded within this same block, building 300 vocabulary words across 20 lessons without requiring a separate period.

Mathematics — Two Tracks

On-level students (TrueProgress GE ≥ 7.5) receive Algebra 1 instruction via enVision AGA (primary, visual-spatial design ideal for dyslexia-informed teaching) or Saxon Algebra 1 (procedural alternative). Intervention students receive TransMath at the appropriate level: Level 1 (foundational number sense), Level 2 (rational numbers and intro algebra), or Level 3 (expressions, equations, and functions, bridging to Algebra 1). TransMath is the only program beginning Day 1 — math placement is determined by theentry screener alone.

Reading Intervention — REWARDS & SPIRE Next

Three groups run concurrently in Block 5. REWARDS Secondary (Weeks 3–6) provides a focused 20- lesson decoding sequence for students with significant word-reading deficits, with students exiting on October 15 to either SPIRE Next Level E or Enrichment based on Acadience ORF data. SPIRE Next is a year-long comprehension program moving students through Levels D, E, and F — from narrative fiction to informational text to complex literary and argumentative reading. Exit criteria are data-driven, using TrueProgress comprehension domain scores and Acadience Retell benchmarks.

Credits & Graduation Pathways

Students completing the 9th Grade Program earn 5.0 credits toward Pennsylvania’s 21.0-credit diploma requirement:

Middle School Grades 6–8Specialist Experiences