Google Script to see if text contains a value

Google Apps Script is javascript, you can use all the string methods...

var grade = itemResponse.getResponse();
if(grade.indexOf("9th")>-1){do something }

You can find doc on many sites, this one for example.

Update 2020:

You can now use Modern ECMAScript syntax thanks to V8 Runtime.

You can use includes():

var grade = itemResponse.getResponse();
if(grade.includes("9th")){do something}