Second chance for failing students

By Emily Richmond

Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007 | 7:10 a.m.

By Emily Richmond

Las Vegas Sun

When two of her classmates at Bridger Middle School told Miriam that her mother was ugly, she answered with her fists.

"It was a tie," Miriam says of the outcome.

Scuffles like this one, along with too many trips to the principal's office and not enough time spent doing her schoolwork, are the reasons Miriam is repeating eighth grade this year.

And she is far from alone. Of more than 23,000 eighth graders, nearly 800 were retained at the end of the 2005-06 academic year.

Most of the held-back students must repeat the entire year's curriculum, even if they lacked credits in only one or two classes.

About 150 of them can be accommodated each semester in programs at a handful of campuses, where students take intensive remedial classes in core subjects such as reading and math and then move directly to high school, rather than repeating the entire year's curriculum.

And a lucky few - including Miriam - are taking part in a new program where they split their day between the classroom and Nevada Partners, a nonprofit employment center, where they receive mentoring, exposure to vocational training and classes in leadership and character.

The pilot program, based at the district's West Preparatory Academy, is the latest effort to get academically wayward eighth graders back on track. It's a challenge facing educators nationwide.

School districts are "on the horns of a dilemma," said Professor Michael Gerber, chairman of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Students who are held back for a grade are more likely to drop out of school in the long run. At the same time, social promotion - in which students are moved ahead with their peers despite poor academic performance, does little for their self-esteem or chances at future academic success.

"If there's a single thing we know, it's that repeating grade levels without a significant change in the program is a meaningless exercise," Gerber said. "When you do that, you're condemning kids to failure."

The 37 repeating eighth graders who are enrolled in the pilot program, known as the Fellows Academy, are among the most at-risk students in Clark County. Most are minorities and many come from low-income households. Nevada Partners estimates that 70 percent have gang affiliations. And several students are on probation.

"A lot of these issues the youth are dealing with are not academic issues, and yet the schools are being asked to address them," said Steven Horsford, chief executive of Nevada Partners and a state senator. "This isn't about blaming the School District for not doing certain things. We need to think more creatively and be sure students have the support they need from the community."

The eighth graders in the Fellows Academy divide their days between West and Nevada Partners, located just a few blocks from the middle school. In addition to the leadership classes, they also get a taste of vocational training through the center's Culinary Training Academy, which operates with the help of the Culinary Union and area businesses.

On a recent morning, students in the Fellows Academy stood politely next to their desks whenever an adult entered the classroom. Sandria, who is just days away from advancing to ninth grade, said the program has taught her how to resolve conflicts and, in job interviews, how to shake hands and make eye contact.

"Now I'm a good listener and a good learner," she said.

In a nearby kitchen, a half-dozen of her classmates prepared tacos. Dressed neatly in white shirts and aprons, students weighed out portions of meat and chopped tomatoes, then slid freshly shredded lettuce onto flour tortillas.

The meals go to the local Boys & Girls Club, which provides free breakfasts and lunches to students in the summer months and during school track breaks.

It's one way the students realize their responsibility to give back to their own community, Horsford said.

The students also have learned the responsibility of getting along with one another - even when they are members of opposing gangs. They are told at the Fellows Academy to adhere to a "code of honor," which includes integrity, self-respect and service.

"Many of the young people think they understand honor, but they understand it only from a gang perspective," said Alonzo Jones, who teaches the leadership and character classes and oversees Nevada Partners' youth programs.

When asked how the Fellows Academy differed from their prior eighth grade experience, students gave similar responses: The teachers are more patient, the school feels safer, the adults are more involved.

"At my old school nobody paid attention, nobody cared," said Alexandra, 15.

When West was restructured last spring after years as one of the district's most struggling middle schools, Mike Barton was brought in as principal and allowed to hire a new staff. Teachers working at West had to reapply for their jobs.

"The principal did an outstanding job of recruiting teachers with the patience and the desire to work with this type of challenging student population," said Edward Goldman, associate superintendent of education services, who oversees West. "It takes certain personalities, traits and qualifications. He's assembled a terrific group."

While still in its infancy, the Fellows Academy has already exceeded its initial goals, Horsford said. The first class had a 95 percent participation rate, well above the 75 benchmark set by the program's organizers. And 82 percent of the first class - more than expected - have met the proficiency requirements and will move on to high school Monday .

Last year, when Denise Westfield's daughter found out she would have to repeat eighth grade, there was anger and tears. But after completing the Fellows Academy, there has been a shift in attitude as well as academic performance, Westfield said.

Her daughter has brought her grades up, and she puts her culinary classes to use in the family kitchen.

"She told me the other night, 'Mom, you're using the wrong knife,' " Westfield said with a laugh. She worried that her daughter would suffer emotionally if held back, but decided it was the only choice.

"I'd rather her stay back and catch up, rather than go forward and always be behind," Westfield said.

Barton said the students benefit from a fresh start at a new school. "It helps to get them away from that campus where they were labeled as academically unsuccessful or a discipline problem or apathetic," Barton said.

The program's long-term success won't be measurable for several years, when the district can see how many of the Fellows Academy participants graduated from high school. But in the short-term, they're not "spinning their wheels at a junior high school, taking classes they don't need," Goldman said. "We're giving them a real chance."

The risk for the retained students "doesn't go away" once they complete their middle school requirements, said UC Santa Barbara's Gerber.

"No matter how good a program is, you can't run kids through it and expect that, after years of deficiency, they're going to be fine," Gerber said. "If you can hold on to those kids, you'll have a much better chance of success. Why would you want to turn around and watch them drop out in the ninth grade because they're in an environment that's not attuned to their needs?"

Everyone - from Goldman to Horsford to Barton to Gerber - agrees the students would probably be better off staying at West, which has a ninth grade class and will add a 10th grade next year, rather than transferring to a large high school with less individualized attention. But many of the students say they want to leave middle school behind, once and for all.

"I want to go to a real high school," says Christian, 15. "I want to be with real high school students."

Barton said initially none of the Fellows Academy participants planned to stay on at West after completing the program. But after he met with parents and made the case for continuity, 13 students have enrolled as ninth graders.

One of them will be Miriam. And the next time someone tries to pick a fight, Miriam plans to keep her cool.

"I'm not going to let other people get in my way of being successful," she said.