Discussions today with 9th grade English teacher.
Classrooms are very production oriented: grade is determined by how much work a student produces. However, this teacher said she can tell, based on production, the skill level of the student; if a student is having difficulty producing, generally they have some kind of deficit. The deficit may not be in ability, but in management, motivation, etc.
Many of this year's group of 9th graders have many school based skills lacking. Much seems to be in the way of maturity: impulse control: blurting out immature comments, laughing if someone makes a mistake, etc.

Another 9th grade English teacher said that she many of the students who just failed in June haven't changed the fundamental cause of their failure: not producing work, paying attention, taking responsibility for their actions.

The referrals I am getting are mostly for 9th grade boys who are having impulse control issues. I will do an intervention group pull to see my referrals and how they stack up skill-wise.