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A brave, new classroom

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Computers help students catch up on quest to graduate on time

Shelton High School has a new program that reaches out to students who are in danger of dropping out of school.

The credit-retrieval program is designed to help seniors who are lagging in their accumulated credits and facing the prospects of not graduating on time.

SHS Principal Wanda Berndtson last week explained the program to the Shelton School Board.

A number of seniors are three credits behind the 16 credits they need to graduate, Berndtson said. The school sent out letters to 30 seniors, asking them to apply for the 16 seats in the new program.

Interested students were interviewed and 12 have been picked so far for the class. They spend the first three periods each day in the class, working individually at computers, which gives them the opportunity to work at their own rate.

If they stick with the program, they'll earn 1.5 credits each semester, enough to allow them to graduate this coming spring.

"They have to be highly motivated," Berndtson said. "They talk about graduation every day."

Suzie Wirzbicki, a counselor at SHS, coordinates the program. There are three teachers - one for each period - Chris Lacy, a science teacher, Brian Faire, a math teacher, and Rob Phelan, who teaches fine arts.

"They're hungry; that was part of the plan," Wirzbicki said of the students. NovaNet, the computer program, has been used in lots of places for many years and isn't Web-based, she said.

"They're taking classes they haven't earned credits for. It is direct-instruction for them," Wirzbicki said. Some of the students didn't take school seriously when they were freshmen and sophomores. For others, events in their lives made it impossible for them to do well in school, she added.

The computers allow them to work independently and be tested as they progress in the three to four classes they take within the credit-retrieval program. "It's pretty fresh and exciting," Wirz-bicki noted.

"The students here accepted the motivation and met the requirements of the interview," said Lacy, the first-period teacher. He moved off to help a student with a math problem.

One of their first lessons was how to navigate through the computer program, Lacy said. He kept circling the room, checking on the students, writing computer shortcuts on the blackboard.

One boy explained to a visitor that he started slacking off in school and didn't do the required homework and fell four classes behind in English.

He said it seemed simple; that all the information he needed was right there in the computer, adding he didn't worry about being distracted.

The boy is now planning a career in aviation, saying he wouldn't have dropped out of school, but probably would have had to stay at the high school another year to graduate.

He said he absorbs the information differently in the credit-retrieval class. He said it is more visual than listening.

A girl in the class said she got lazy and didn't get any school work done. Math classes were a problem for her. Now she also attends New Market Skills Center in Tumwater and is studying culinary arts.

She said she will get a diploma on time, but said the class isn't fun, although she likes it better than a regular class.

Another boy, now highly motivated to graduate on time, said he wasn't serious about school as a freshman and sophomore. His goal is to become an apprentice and learn a trade, Before, he didn't care about school and was applying himself. But as soon as he applied himself in school, he said, his grade-point average began to rise.

He took a summer-school program this year to help get caught up. He likes the program, which visually shows students if they've got and problems.

He agreed he's getting more individualized attention on the computer than he would in a typical class.

No one else put him in the academic hole, he said, adding he realized it's now his responsibility.

A second girl said she pretty much failed every class her freshman and sophomore years, then got serious about school as a junior. Without the program, she was faced with attending the school for a fifth year. Now, she is earnest about her studies and has a goal: She wants to become a police officer.

"The nice thing is they can go at their own speed," Faire said. "They had to make a commitment to it." As the school's graduation coordinator, Faire said the first thing he told the students was he expected to see them at graduation.

Phelan said the program is a great opportunity for the students. "I think they'll use it. That's the nice thing," he said. "If they need help, they get help."

The students are extremely motivated, Phelan said. "I've never been a part of anything like this," he said. "They're just flying through this stuff."



Copyright 2009 Shelton-Mason County Journal, Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2009 Shelton-Mason County Journal Shelton, Washington. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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