Ninth grader means: US educational term for a student in the ninth grade, typically 14 to 15 years old and in their first year of high school. The term is standard in North American usage. Outside North America the. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour. As a place or proper-name reference it is purely descriptive. It is an education-system term, so usage is institutional and routine.