Peer pressure, low self-esteem and family problems are some of the reasons students fail or drop out of school, educators say.
Along with those problems come tardiness, truancy, lack of effort and an unwillingness to learn.
“They may have negative peer involvement or come from families who are non-supportive,” said Principal Bruce Lane of Lyons Township High School, speaking of the students in the school’s Alternative Program. “Others may have been exposed to gangs and drugs.”
Regardless of their circumstances, children can find support programs at the schools to help them achieve success. Educators are broadening their range of programs and giving more alternatives to students to keep them in school while helping them work out their problems.
Lyons Township students who are at risk of failing or dropping out can opt to attend the Alternative Program. It is housed in a building in Western Springs, separate from the school’s north campus in La Grange and south campus in Western Springs.
In the 1995-96 school year, the program averaged 21 to 28 students. The students are referred by a student-achievement team, which consists of counselors, the dean and a social worker. They also can refer themselves or be referred by parents.
“What we’re really facing for some students is that there are multiple kinds of problems that interact,” Lane said. “There isn’t any one pattern or any one cause. What you find is a combination of factors that kind of make a student susceptive to making poor choices.”
In the Alternative Program, students get the same courses taught on the regular campus, but they receive more instructional time and the classes are smaller. They also receive life-skills seminars to help them with conflict management and resolution, study skills, and time management.
“We’ve been working with them, trying to help them develop skills to be successful on campus,” Lane said. “Basically we’re looking at students who are at risk but who have the potential to be successful if they’re given the support services.”
As far as success rates go, Lane said, most students are able to earn credits through the program. A few have gone back to the regular high school setting as a result.
“Half or three quarters of them have success,” he said. “When you consider that they were on their way out of school, we feel they have made significant progress.”
Students like the program, he said.
“Overall, they feel very positive about (the program),” he said. “We’re able to develop a real working relationship with these students.”
“On the regular campus, there’s like 30 people in a class,” said Julie Ryan, 17, a student in the program who will be a senior in the fall. “In the Alternative, it’s like 10 students to a teacher. They can help us out a lot more than when there’s 30 in a class. I went from having D’s on regular campus to having B’s and A’s.” She will attend regular classes at the north campus this fall.
A program in Park Forest is aiming to reach children at an earlier age. The program is at Mohawk Intermediate School, which covers 3rd through 5th grades, and is called Children At Risk in Education, or CARE.
The program, which will start its third year in the fall, enables pupils at risk to share their problems with adults they know they can trust, educators said.
“When they share and are able to discuss things, it helps them feel better about situations and helps them develop their self-esteem, which helps them try a little bit harder” in school, Principal Diane Moses said.
The pupils in the program may be undergoing a general loss of self-esteem, have problems getting along with peers or have problems at home.
Teachers volunteer to go through a series of training workshops to learn how to handle situations. They meet in small groups for about an hour with the pupils at lunch time or before or after school.
“They look to it as a place where there is a high comfort level,” said coordinator Cindy Burgess, who meets with her group during lunch. “They can talk about things going on at school that might be tough for them, and we brainstorm and problem solve.”
Each child feels good knowing that he or she isn’t the only one to experience problems, she said.
“They love it,” she said. “We can’t have enough of those CARE lunch groups. They ask about them every week and they really rely on them.”
Burgess has seen an improvement in classroom behavior as a result of the program.
“Grades may go up slightly,” she said. “If they know someone is on their side, it increases their effort level.”
At the high school level, problems sometimes take on a more serious nature, such as at South Shore Community Academy on Chicago’s South Side.
Many of the girls there were dropping out of school because of pregnancy. Faculty members decided to do something about it, and two years ago they started a program informally called the Mothers Club.
The program allows young mothers to keep up with their schoolwork while they are at home after their babies are born.
“If they are not able to attend school for the six weeks after pregnancy, they will not miss any of their class work,” coordinator Joyce Toran said. “We provide them with a teacher who will visit them daily.”
That teacher keeps in touch with all of the mother’s teachers and collects the homework and tests the student needs to complete. Classwork is even assigned to fulfill physical education requirements.
“They’re not missing any time out of school,” Toran said. “They continue to take their exams and work on their research projects. Everything is still done, but it’s done at home.”
Students must obtain notes from their doctors to enroll in the program. The program has been successful for the two years it has been offered. In the 1995-96 school year, the program served 60 girls. All of the girls have stayed in school and six graduated in June.
“They love it,” Toran said. “It works out really good because they end up still staying on target.”
Juanita Johnson, 17, who graduated in June, is familiar with the program because some of her friends were in it. “They didn’t think anybody cared about them being pregnant, but (the teachers) gave them anything they needed, and they really appreciated that,” she said. “Four of those girls were my friends, and they graduated with me because of this program.”
In Elgin, high school students who are truant or have discipline problems can often benefit from enrolling in Elgin School District U-46’s Alternative Program. The program gives students who are behind in credits a chance to catch up.
“What we try to do is build a program that has a number of options so that we would have enough different places to put kids who were having problems,” said Paul Patterson, director of special instructional programs for the district. “These are kids just having difficulties. We try to deal with some of the baggage the kids bring in.”
Students in the program have 90-minute classes instead of the usual 50 minutes, which helps them make up a lot of work. Once they catch up, they can go back to regular classes.
“The kids are reviewed on a regular basis to see how they are making progress,” Patterson said.
The program will enter its second year this fall. For 1995-96, there were 178 students in the program and 40 of those students will return to the regular high school in the fall. The program is housed in the former Elgin High School, along with the district’s central offices.
Many students have experienced a death or divorce in their families. An organization called RAINBOWS For All Children was started in 1983 by a divorced parent, Suzy Yehl Marta of Chicago, to help children handle these losses. The organization, based in Schaumburg, serves about 700 elementary, junior and high schools in the Chicago area.
RAINBOWS is a peer support program that is now in effect in 48 states and several countries. Students meet weekly at school to discuss their losses in confidential surroundings.
“Many times the kids think they are the only ones going through this painful transition,” said Rose Guarrine, director of the U.S. national chapter for RAINBOWS, Schaumburg. “If they don’t find a place to go, some might turn to drugs and alcohol. Others may say life is not worth it, so certainly they would be dropping out of high school or maybe elementary school.”
The program’s goals are to build self-esteem, change behavior and boost grades. The program runs 12 weeks each semester and most children stay in it for two years.
Children meet either during lunch time or before or after school in a small support group. They share their feelings, try to solve problems, and talk about school with an adult volunteer who has gone through a training program.
Parents often react positively to the program, which is geared to kids in elementary and high school.
“Rainbows has helped me and my children by coming back to a positive attitude,” wrote one parent, according to Guarrine.
“Things have gotten easier since my child was in RAINBOWS because we started having regular talks about difficult things or just good things that happen to all of us,” wrote another parent.
At Sanborn Elementary School in Palatine, the RAINBOWS program has been in effect for eight years. An average of 50 students participate each year.
Twelve teachers have volunteered to be trained for the program so far, and more are expected to undergo training in August, Principal Mike Carmody said.
“It’s a program that helps kids cope,” he said. “It helps kids in having an adult, as well as other kids who have a common issue.
“It’s a great program, bottom line. You see a difference in the kids and it’s a good, giving feeling for the teachers to help out.”
