Potential Dropouts Get Plenty of Praise for Finishing a Year

California High School gave awards last week to about 90 ninth-graders who were not expected to make it. They were potential dropouts who had been placed in a pilot program to keep them in school.

The students earned a certificate of completion from the Whittier Union High School District for completing the ninth grade. Other awards went to students who were the most improved, the best student citizens or the highest achievers. Almost every participant wrote a story, essay or poem for a student magazine.

The award winners included a student who had previously dropped out and run away from home. Other honorees had gotten into trouble for defying school rules or failing courses.

Organizers of the School Within a School Program had to overcome apathetic parents in some cases and resistant students in others. Some teen-agers feared that their placement in the program marked them as stupid or troublesome.

“They were placed here because they had a bad experience in school,” said Lew Jones, a teacher in the program. “But we tried to explain to them that the whole reason you are here is that we want to turn that around.”

The idea was to put participants into smaller classes to give them and their families more attention. The project’s four subject teachers met regularly to confer about each student’s progress. There were frequent parent-teacher conferences, motivational speakers and field trips to the beach and art museums.

The project’s cost totals about $20,000 for the California High School group and a similar one at Pioneer High School, Jones said. District officials hope the investment will pay for itself. The state funds schools based on the number of students in class. Schools lose money when students are absent or drop out.

The same teachers will work with these students next year, after which the district will evaluate the program’s success.

“For these kids to complete a year, that is a very great accomplishment,” Jones said.