Program targets students before they fail

By Sandy Strickland
Times-Union staff writer

Johnella George, like many of her classmates at Andrew Jackson High School, seemed destined for failure.

To graduate, Johnella and her classmates have to pass first-year algebra.

But they entered the Northside school last fall with no background in a subject that causes many students' brains to go on strike.

Moreover, a high percentage had scored 22 points below the national average in math on a standardized basic skills test, said Jackson principal Jack Shanklin.

It wasn't a formula for success, and it had Jackson's administrators concerned.

So they targeted about 250 students who were at risk of dropping out of school because of attendance problems, poor test scores and being overage. Then they set up a tutoring program with the help of modern technology - the computer.

Algebra on the computer?

You bet. The students spend 90 minutes one day in a traditional algebra class and 90 minutes the next day in computer labs.

The program, known as graduation enhancement, is showing such potential that it was cited by the SchoolMatch site team, which visited various Duval County public schools in May, as the type needed to get low-achieving students back on track.

If need be, the students go back to an elementary math level - fractions, decimals and so forth - to build up their skills, said Jeff Corwin, one of three lab teachers.

Lab and algebra teachers work closely together so that lab work mirrors classroom work.

''What they get in the lab reinforces what they get in the classroom,'' said algebra teacher Doug Wheeler. ''We've slowed the pace down.''

That means students have two days to grasp an algebraic concept before a new one is introduced and two days to do their homework.

For these students, going from basic math to algebra with no preparation is a big jump, school officials said.

George, for one, recalled how baffled she was when first introduced to algebra. The 15-year-old said she wondered why letters such as X and Y were being used in a subject dealing with numbers.

They might as well have been Mandarin Chinese to her.

No more.

''Once I caught on, it got easier,'' said George, who came to Jackson from Matthew Gilbert Middle School. ''Last year, I didn't like math. Now I've got this computer class, and the teachers are helping me and I like math better.''

On a recent morning, George was sitting in front of her computer working on a mileage chart problem. Positive numbers denoted easterly direction and negative, westerly. She had four choices. When she made her selection, the computer signaled whether she had chosen the correct answer. An incorrect one meant she had to figure out what she was doing wrong.

But her grades reflect the fact she's increasingly making the right choice. She made D's and F's in math at Gilbert. This year, her grades have been mainly B's and C's.

Indeed, she's now eager to explain the role of X and Y in equations.

Last year, Duval County tightened its academic standards, requiring George's class, the Class of 2000, to pass first-year algebra and geometry to graduate. In the past, students had only to pass lower-level courses such as consumer math.

Jackson is on block scheduling, a system that transforms a school day from seven 50-minute classes to four 90-minute sessions. That enables an entire course to be taught each semester giving students the opportunity to earn eight credits in an academic year rather than seven under traditional scheduling.

Thus, at-risk students are in the program for 36 weeks, earning both a math credit and an elective computer credit. The regular algebra class lasts 18 weeks with no computer lab.

''Usually we let students fail and then try to help them,'' Wheeler said. ''Now we're trying to help them before they fail. I really feel that only 10 to 15 percent of these kids would have passed if thrown into a regular classroom situation.''

Next year, the majority will take liberal arts math, which will reinforce what they learned in first-year algebra and introduce them to geometry.

While too early to gauge its success, there are several factors that indicate the program is working, school officials said. Their grades improved as their lessons got harder, Wheeler said. For instance, during the fourth nine weeks, some of his students with C's, D's and F's at the beginning of the year were making A's.

He estimated that half the class will pass. Still the program is not a panacea. Absenteeism remains a major problem.

''Our failures in the program are because kids are missing too many days,'' Wheeler said. ''I would say that only 10 to 15 are really trying and failing because they don't understand it.''

There are other benefits to the program as well, Shanklin said. Because math requires reading, it's helping to build their reading level and it's exposing them to computers, he said.

Moreover, it's playing a secondary role of helping get them prepared for the all-important high school competency test, which they will take for the first time as juniors. They also must pass that test to graduate.

''We're trying to develop their skills in their first two years of high school,'' Shanklin said. ''Once we get them through these hurdles, we know they'll be well on their way to graduating.''