As you get ready for the start of school, re-think your credit recovery program. Most campuses wait for the end of a semester, when the actual course has been failed (or even worse, when multiple courses have been failed) to address the issue. Don’t wait that long. Use a tiered approach, like the one below, instead.

1. Create a morning, lunch, and afternoon support center. In the center, have computers with internet access and a good curriculum software system (I prefer A+), and a teacher or aide who can tutor.

2. At progress report time, or every three weeks, whichever is shorter, identify every student who has a grade lower than 75. Inform them and their parents that the support center is open, available, and highly recommended.

3. For students who are near failing due to incomplete work, they can complete the missing work in the center.

4. For students who are near failing, due to poor grades, have them work on the computer curriculum program to remediate weak skills.

5. For students who are failing electives, have them write one page reflections related to the subject, based on internet research.

6. Let the new grades pull up the pre-existing grades.

This will take care of most of the students. At report card time, do the same thing, except make the lunch session mandatory for three weeks (or a specific number of assignments). The student can speed up the three week term by attending the other sessions.

This plan works at every grade level. It is always easier to fix problems sooner, rather than later. And, it is always better for students and for your campus to prevent failure in the first place. If you are already doing something effective and pro-active, the other LYS readers want to know about it.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…