Individualized Supports and Safety Nets at Golder College Prep / Chicago, IL

older College Prep, in Chicago, Principal: Rosa Alanis Illinois, is part of the Noble School schedule: 8:00am3:20pm Network, a charter Early release: 8:20am1:40pm (Fri.) management organization Additional time compared to founded in 2005 that now operates 10 high schools surrounding district: 80 min/day and 7 in Chicago, serving a days/year total of 5,400 students. In Student Population addition to allowing time for all students to enroll Grades served: 912 in two English and two Number of students: 540 math classes, the schools Qualify for free/reduced lunch: 88% expanded schedule creates opportunities for students Students Scoring At or Above Proficient to receive individualized on the Illinois Standards Achievement instructional support Test in 2010 based on their areas of (difference compared to surrounding academic need. These district) opportunities include ELA: 47% (+14%) lab periods, office hours, LaSalle Street daily Math: 49% (+20%) homework help, an academic intervention program, and Golder Success Academy. Lab period is a highly structured study hall that provides all students with a daily opportunity to work on assignments from their academic courses with guidance and support from teachers. Homework is an important part of Golders academic program, and students are assigned between two and three hours of homework each night. Because students are in school for long hours and because many students lack structures and supports at home to facilitate homework completion, Golder provides time during the day to start this work in a supervised environment. In order to help students make productive use of their time, teachers require them to use lab tracker sheets through which they set out goals and then assess their own progress. Each day after school, Golder College Prep teachers hold office hours, during which students can stop by to ask questions or receive individualized support on a particular subject or assignment. While every teacher is responsible for holding office hours on at least one afternoon each week, some teachers choose to make themselves available more frequently. One math teacher explains, If I can work one-on-one with a student for a few minutes and help them understand

Golder College Prep

something, that makes my job easier and more fun during the rest of the week in class. The school intentionally refers to these after-school times as office hours to familiarize students many of whom will be the first in their families to attend collegewith the terminology and concept of seeking out instructors to discuss class work and assignments and deepen their understanding of course content. Teachers at Golder College Prep also staff an after-school homework help program called LaSalle Street (the name of the business district in Chicago), which was inspired by KIPP schools Wall Street after-school homework centers. LaSalle Street is designed as a productive alternative to detention for studentsmainly freshmen and sophomoreswho have not completed all of their assigned homework for the day. At least one teacher from each subject area is present to help students catch up on their assignments and raise their grade point averages. Students who are failing two or more classes, or have a grade point average below 2.0, at the end of each quarter must attend LaSalle Street as part of the schools academic intervention program (AIP). The purpose of the AIP is to provide early and effective interventions for students struggling in their academic work. Once a student is in the AIP, their progress is closely monitored and they are prohibited from participating in extracurricular competitions. Students can cycle out of AIP after as little as two weeks, if they have made adequate improvements to their grades. Students who are at the most risk academically and behaviorally receive small group attention and support through Golder Success Academy. Students enrolled in this program meet with an administrator weekly for a one-on-one check-in during designated lab times. In these sessions, the student and administrator set academic and behavioral benchmarks for the coming week and review progress toward previous weeks benchmarks. There are incentives for students who meet or exceed benchmarks. Michael Kucera, Golder College Preps assistant principal of curriculum and professional development, credits the Success Academy program for its success in retaining at risk students, Without Golder Success Academy, most of these students would not persist at Golder. Instead, were seeing 50 percent retention of students who participate.

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