Student MentoringTaos High School

Mary Spears2010 New Mexico GEAR UP

Spring WorkshopApril 30 – May 1, 2010

-P.S. & G. Khalsa

High School Demographics

• 724 students• Multicultural school• 8% Native American• 72% Hispanic• 18% Anglo/others• Free lunch program• Title 1 school

Identify Problem / Need

• Failing school by AYP standards – R1-holding

• Must meet diverse needs of students

• Incoming freshmen not proficient in Math or English

-Jamie Spears 2007

Students & parents lobby for “study hall”

High rates of absenteeism and

tardiness to study hall without credit

New graduation and test requirements required

by state

Fore-shadowed Problems

• Inaccuracy of data• Student apathy

towards testing• Disagreements

among staff about curriculums

• Frequent turnover of leadership all levels

• Graduation rates

Solution /Program Description

• Form high school goal teams with all staff to investigate solutions

• Develop Response to Intervention(RTI) deficiency strategies so students reach proficiency levels

Solution

• School wide tutorial classes with pass/fail credit

Scheduling for staff and students

Senior Class• Seniors with 2.5 GPA

and above can choose to drop tutorial

• Seniors with 3.0 GPA can drop 2 classes

• Under old graduation rules 23 credits with 7 period day

Juniors, Sophomores, Freshmen

– Take short cycle assessment: MAPS

– English: Scores indicate end of 5th grade year assigned to English Tutorial class

– Math: Same criteria assigned to Math Tutorial Class

– If low in both subjects, assigned to Math Tutorial

All other students are scheduled into “regular” tutorials except:

Due to IEP’s, exceptional students are assigned to

tutorials taught by special education certified teachers

Regular TutorialsTeachers use intervention strategies with

students to meet proficiency levels by:

Assignment helpVocabulary buildingCareer choicesTest / study skillsGoal settingSilent readingMonitor academic

grades

Barriers to Tutorial Program

• All students scoring below 9th grade should be in Math and English tutorials but too many students

• Different teaching methods of staff

Budget / Cost per Student• Most teachers have

one tutorial• Students nor staff

available for electives

• Considered an elective so replaces other elective choices of experiential learning

Data / Potential Outcome• No data

available for first year

• Goal teams looking at improvements

2010-11 School Year• Some students taking testing seriously

to enable choice of electives

• English Dept. will incorporate emotional intelligence instruction into the curricula

• Social worker intern working one-on-one

• UNM-Taos College and Career Prepteaming with GEAR UP

Two things that help one move out of poverty are education and relationships.

Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D

Questions

-rich web.net