Norwich High tracks at-risk teens
NORWICH – Behavioral and academically “at-risk” teens don’t become that way overnight. At Norwich High School, these issues are being identified as a continuous concern, officials said.
The issues surrounding the performance and teaching strategy for at-risk high school students are being addressed every semester by school administrators. Assistant Principal Patricia Giltner and Principal Thomas Knapp presented inprovements at Tuesday night’s board meeting.
Knapp said they’ve come up with a more intensive plan to begin tracking students who show difficulties before they enter the high school. He said if they are struggling in one building, it is almost a guarantee they will struggle in the next.
“We owe it to the students, to ourselves and to the community to take a closer look at students needing assistance,” Knapp said. “We have never before taken such an in-depth look at this.”
Knapp said as it stands now, the dropout rate for the high school is relatively high and has been for a long time. They said they hope to see mass improvement by 2011. He said the school is making small steps and the process is not easy.
Giltner also outlined the new process of tracking students to the board. At the start of the ninth grade year, student transcripts are examined and Giltner said the single biggest indicator is if they have failed three or more classes in middle school. If so, they are then identified as “at-risk” students. If a child has to repeat a grade, they are also in that classification. Teachers are given the names of students who may need additional resources and are asked to give feedback on the students’ progress throughout the semester.
Every semester Giltner gets student report cards and tracks various students’ performances. The “at-risk” population data is collected, compared and recorded.
“It is really nice when I can go in up to a student in the hall and say, ‘Great job, I see you are passing everything,’” Giltner said. “ Or on the other hand, I have the access to see if a student needs more guidance in a particular area and can bring them in and talk with them.”
Giltner and Knapp agreed identifying these students helps in a variety of ways; asking teachers to be more accountable, student absences can be watched, performance is watched, behavioral issues are identified and the appropriate measures to help the children can be determined.
“We want to do anything we have to in order to protect our students,” Knapp said.
The issues surrounding the performance and teaching strategy for at-risk high school students are being addressed every semester by school administrators. Assistant Principal Patricia Giltner and Principal Thomas Knapp presented inprovements at Tuesday night’s board meeting.
Knapp said they’ve come up with a more intensive plan to begin tracking students who show difficulties before they enter the high school. He said if they are struggling in one building, it is almost a guarantee they will struggle in the next.
“We owe it to the students, to ourselves and to the community to take a closer look at students needing assistance,” Knapp said. “We have never before taken such an in-depth look at this.”
Knapp said as it stands now, the dropout rate for the high school is relatively high and has been for a long time. They said they hope to see mass improvement by 2011. He said the school is making small steps and the process is not easy.
Giltner also outlined the new process of tracking students to the board. At the start of the ninth grade year, student transcripts are examined and Giltner said the single biggest indicator is if they have failed three or more classes in middle school. If so, they are then identified as “at-risk” students. If a child has to repeat a grade, they are also in that classification. Teachers are given the names of students who may need additional resources and are asked to give feedback on the students’ progress throughout the semester.
Every semester Giltner gets student report cards and tracks various students’ performances. The “at-risk” population data is collected, compared and recorded.
“It is really nice when I can go in up to a student in the hall and say, ‘Great job, I see you are passing everything,’” Giltner said. “ Or on the other hand, I have the access to see if a student needs more guidance in a particular area and can bring them in and talk with them.”
Giltner and Knapp agreed identifying these students helps in a variety of ways; asking teachers to be more accountable, student absences can be watched, performance is watched, behavioral issues are identified and the appropriate measures to help the children can be determined.
“We want to do anything we have to in order to protect our students,” Knapp said.
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