Artful Tricks of Teaching Trade Stop Dropouts
High School teacher Ginie Mains says she will try almost anything to get her students to learn.
Sometimes that means playing baroque music to help them work at a productive, steady tempo, or having them measure bookshelves and desks to learn fractions.
With a combination of caring, enthusiasm, discipline and lots of imagination, Mains has given more than 700 students in the Bellflower Unified School District a chance at academic success through APL (Adult Performance Level) Corps. The dropout prevention program at Somerset Continuation High School is designed to motivate students who are too far behind in course credits to graduate on time.
Unlike most high school classes that emphasize academics, APL Corps focuses on teaching basic survival skills--like how to use the telephone book, make change or book an airplane reservation--as devices to show students how academics can be useful in everyday life. It is coupled with regular high school courses to form the curriculum for about half of Somerset’s 364 students.
One of 50 Such Programs
The purpose of the program is to graduate teen-agers who otherwise would have given up on completing high school. It was started in 1981 with a $28,000 grant from the state Department of Education and is one of 50 model programs to receive funding from the state, said Robert Rowe, assistant consultant with the state Department of Education’s High Risk Youth Unit.
Much of APL Corps’ success lies in Mains’ approach, which she describes as “knowing how to use a few tricks to teach the kids without really letting them know they are being taught.”
“In most high schools you can study fractions until you’re ready to cry and you still may never understand how fractions can help you in everyday life,” Mains said. “Here you do fractions too, but on the basis of doubling a recipe, or you can study subtraction by solving a problem like: ‘I have a $250 deductible on my insurance and I get in a car crash--how much is the insurance company going to pay and how much am I going to pay?’ Everything the kids learn here can be applied in a practical mode.”
Students Move at Own Pace
The APL curriculum is divided into eight sections: occupational knowledge, community resources, government, a two-part health section, and a three-part consumer economics section. Students move through them at their own pace, taking two periods of APL Corps in addition to taking two academic classes daily. Each section is equal to a one-semester course at a comprehensive high school.
The community resources section teaches students everyday living skills like how to purchase concert tickets, read highway signs or make change.
Larry Cousar, 17, spent a recent class period calling different airlines, train and bus lines to find the cheapest route to Toronto, Canada--all the while learning how to plot a long trip, read a map and coordinate time schedules for connecting flights.
In the health section, a student might be given a problem like: “Your prescription says you must take two pills every four hours. It is 8 a.m. and you have just taken your first dose, what time will you take your medication again?”
Exercises Have Multiple Purposes
An exercise like that, Mains said, not only teaches students how to follow directions and to measure time accurately, but it also gives them a sense of responsibility.
In consumer economics, students learn how to order from a catalogue--a device that teaches them how to figure postage and handling and sales tax--or how to compute the tip at a dinner for four.
Besides the academic sleight of hand, Mains uses direct incentives in some of the sections to motiviate students.
Cindy Deremiah, 17, said the occupational knowledge section helped her get a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant.
“Other classes don’t really teach you much about basic stuff like getting jobs and filling out applications, but APL Corps has really helped me in a lot of ways,” she said. “If you don’t understand something the teachers will go over it with you until you do.”
During APL class, Mains encourages students to take occasional breaks and play with a jigsaw puzzle or read books that she supplies. But play turns into learning.
“The kids are very visual and tactile, so a puzzle is a great way for the kids to learn to work together,” Mains said. “People attack puzzles differently, so the kids learn there is more than one way to do something.”
Study Made of Dropouts
Mains, who is the only APL teacher, said Somerset began APL Corps after she discovered that 72% of the 17-year-olds who dropped out of the district’s three high schools in 1980 had not earned enough credits to be considered sophomores.
It was obvious to Mains that teen-agers who felt they had no chance at graduating were leaving school by the dozens.
“I knew there had to be a way to reach these kids and show them that there is hope for a high school diploma,” Mains said. “I put the word out that I was going to take 10 kids into the program and within one day I had a waiting list.”
The program has been so successful that last year APL Corps received a $3,000 grant to produce a promotional video about the program that will be sent to school districts statewide.
Somerset provides students who are having trouble keeping up with the curriculum at Bellflower and Mayfair high schools with an alternative way to earn a diploma.
Reasons Are Varied
Students are referred to Somerset by teachers, counselors or parents for a variety of reasons.
Some students are slow learners or are discipline problems, but many fall behind because they must work to support themselves or their families, or because they become pregnant or have children to care for, said Joseph Stits, Somerset principal.
Students, who must be 16 to enroll at Somerset, attend class four periods a day during the morning or afternoon shift.
Among these students are many who have fallen so far behind in credits that no matter how well they do at Somerset, they cannot possibly earn the 210 credits needed to graduate on time.
For these students, APL Corps is a speedy way to make up credits and get another chance for a diploma.
Most Are Referrals
Students are not required to sign up for APL Corps but are usually referred by teachers or recruited by former APL Corps graduates.
While students enrolled in regular Somerset classes or at classes at Bellflower and Mayfair earn a maximum of 30 credits per semester, APL Corps students can earn up to 60 of the 210 credits needed to graduate in one semester, depending on how fast they work, Mains said.
The only requirement for APL is that students must be 17 and more than 100 credits away from graduating.
In its five years, the program has drawn students who otherwise would have felt they had no other choice but to drop out or continue their high school education at adult school.
In 1982, one year after the program was adopted, 10% of the 104 graduating seniors at Somerset had been through the APL Corps and by 1986 about 50% of the graduates had chosen to take the APL Corps curriculum, Mains said.
And, according to the district, that has meant more students are graduating.
Graduating Class Grows
While enrollment has stayed at about 350, the size of the graduating class has slowly increased from 80 students in 1980 to 110 last year.
In addition, it has meant more graduates are going on to four-year colleges or are finding jobs, Mains said. She also attributes a decrease in truancy--the main reason some are referred to Somerset--to the program’s success.
Like most Somerset students, Cousar came to the school from Bellflower High last spring because of repeated truancies.
Catching Up in Credits
At that time, Cousar, who should have finished his sophomore year last June, had only 60 credits--the equivalent of a freshman.
“I hated the atmosphere at Bellflower (High) and I didn’t get along with anybody so I cut classes,” Cousar said matter-of-factly.
This semester he already has earned 40 APL credits and 20 credits in his regular Somerset classes--making him a junior with 120 credits.
Cousar credited the camaraderie among Mains and the students for helping him relax and do his best work.
