Maine Township High School District 207 has a somewhat unusual approach to help students focus on English and math this summer: let them spend the morning rock climbing in the school gym.
The six-week course for incoming high school freshmen who have fallen behind in reading or math emphasizes self-esteem and team building as much as it does paragraph summaries and fractions.
“A lot of what we’re doing is combating the negative images of themselves,” said Declan FitzPatrick, an English teacher at Maine West High School and one of two instructors for a new freshman academy at the school. “We try to combat as many things as possible that have gotten these kids down.”
Students all get a chance to rock climb, pair up to practice trust falls and use relaxation techniques and meditation to control stress. A rappelling outing is scheduled for later in the summer.
The goal is that the students will be a little less nervous than they might have been the first day of school this fall.
“We show them how their mind and body are connected and how what they feed themselves will affect how they do academically,” said Jim Geary, a counselor at Maine West.
The summer school class is required for all incoming freshmen who tested at the 6th-grade level or lower when they took the California Achievement Test in 8th grade. Other students may take the classes as an option.
“There was a recognition on the part of the high school that these kids were coming up with low scores, and there was no way they could get through high school classes,” said Suzanne Millies, District 207 assistant superintendent for instruction.
This year, 70 students are enrolled in the classes at the three high schools.
“I’m enjoying it a lot because I’m learning new words,” said Luis Zavala, a 14-year-old from Des Plaines who is enrolled at Maine West.
“Instead of using the boring words I used to use, now I’m using more interesting words like `forsake’ and `besieged.’ I didn’t even know that those were in our vocabulary,” Zavala said.
District officials haul out test scores to show that the formula is working. Not only do the students get a sneak peek at what high school is like, but since the program started three years ago, reading scores at the end of the summer improved by an average of one grade level, and math scores by 3.8 grade levels, Millies said.
Palatine-based High School District 211 also has high student interest in a special class for incoming students. Enrollment increased 50 percent this year to 234 students in a communication skills class stressing reading, writing, listening and speaking, said Jim Dewey, District 211 director of summer school.
The enrollment boost was due primarily to a grass-roots effort made by the teachers, who divided the eligible students in the district and called each one, explaining to the parents how they could help the children catch up before high school starts in the fall, Dewey said.
For many teachers, the summer programs give a chance to experiment with different teaching styles and work one-on-one with students to pinpoint their individual needs.
“These kids are struggling. If they don’t get it the first time, our job is to present it a second way or a third way. We never give up,” said Sue Klein, who teaches the communication skills class at Hoffman Estates High School.
These programs for incoming freshmen follow growing concern that more students are not meeting state expectations on standardized tests, especially in reading.
While both districts remain comfortably above state averages in all areas tested on annual standardized tests, at District 207, the percentage of students not meeting state goals has more than doubled at each school since 1993.
Catching the incoming freshmen is only one part of an attempt by District 207 to restructure the remedial education curriculum. Beginning this fall, special freshman academies will be set up at Maine East and West to give additional help to students who still do not meet state and district standards. The high school district also has paired up with its feeder elementary districts to head off foreseeable reading problems in youngsters entering 1st and 2nd grades.
“The elementary and high school districts are getting together to get on top of the reading problem for kids. If kids can’t read, they can’t do anything,” Millies said.
“It’s a lot easier to correct in elementary school. By high school, there are eight years of negativity and bad habits. That’s a lot harder to turn around,” she said.
