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Providing Support for Struggling Students
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by Diane Downey
North Eugene High School
Eugene, Oregon
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| | To help make sure all our students can be successful, we offer another course called AP Support. This course ensures that we lift all students up and that the curriculum is not "watered down."
- Any student whose grade drops below a C is immediately enrolled in AP Support and must remain in that course at least until the end of the grading period. (At any given time, 25 to 50 percent of our students are enrolled in AP Support.)
- Students may enroll in AP Support voluntarily.
- Students who complete an entire quarter of AP Support earn a one-eighth credit in language arts.
- Students not enrolled may drop in at any time for text makeup or for help with an assignment.
- Ideally, students keep the same AP Support teacher all year.
- The AP Support teacher is certified to teach language arts.
- The AP Support teacher and AP English teacher maintain regular communication regarding curriculum and performance of individual students.
- The AP English teacher provides frequent grade printouts (every two to three weeks) to assist the AP Support teacher in monitoring student achievement.
AP Support is not just a study hall. The AP Support teacher provides both structured activities and individual instruction:
- AP Support administers all makeup work for the AP English course. This ensures that students who have been absent and need to do makeup work do not slow down the pace of the AP English course.
- Other AP Support activities include listening to texts on CD while reading, prewriting for essays, completing homework, reviewing and discussing texts as a group, studying for tests, completing late assignments, and typing and proofreading essays.
The AP Support teacher is an extension of the AP English teacher. She acts as tutor, counselor, emotional supporter, advocate, and cheerleader for unmotivated, low-skilled, and low-SES students. She teaches study skills and self-discipline. She reminds and reprimands, cajoles and comforts. And she celebrates students' successes with them. In addition, AP Support provides a quiet time and place for study -- an academic haven for students who have chaotic home lives. In general, students are appreciative of AP Support:
- "Lucky for me and other students, there was such a thing called AP Support."
- "I used AP Support to my advantage in getting ahead, so I didn't have to be so stressed out about school work."
"AP Support helps you get up to speed with the rest of the class."
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