The summer before ninth grade is both an exciting and daunting time for students. Soon they will be entering a new school, taking more advanced coursework, and will be held responsible for keeping up grades for college. It certainly sounds like a time that they should be relaxing before these new responsibilities take hold! However, summer vacation, rather than allowing students to rest and mentally prepare for the next year can contribute to the sudden and unpredicted decline in many students’ academic performance (hitting students from disadvantaged backgrounds the hardest) known as “ninth grade shock.”