Program helps students improve

A Friday afternoon program at Green River High School is credited with helping students improve their academic skills and grades.

According to the high school’s principal, Darren Howard, the interventions program has helped students climb from D and F grades. During a presentation Tuesday night, Howard said the program has resulted in a 34 percent reduction in the number of D grades given to students and a 10.5 percent reduction in the number of Fs.

Howard said the program operates through a list generated every Monday featuring the names of students with Ds or Fs, though students can be listed through a teacher request. Students are then notified by their fourth-period teacher they are on the interventions list and if their grade is not passing by 8 a.m., Thursday, will have to attend interventions for the class their grade suffers in. Parents are also notified of their child’s interventions status. In interventions, students are then assigned to their teacher for extra support.

Howard said students not on the list are able to attend interventions for classes they want extra help in, regardless of grade. Students not on the list are able to come and go as they choose, though Howard said students listed for interventions help don’t have that opportunity because of the expectation that the student will be at the school for the remainder of the afternoon. Howard also said students in vocational classes have used the time to work on their projects, describing the vocational class rooms as busy areas during interventions.

For Howard, interventions is a chance for students to learn concepts they may struggle with as well as complete work or make up tests to improve their grade, though the grade itself isn’t the focus.

“It was never about grades ... we wanted to close the skills gaps,” he said.

While the program takes up one hour and 49 minutes each Friday afternoon and students not selected for interventions are not required to attend classes, Howard said it also isn’t a free pass for teachers to get out of school early. He said teachers are working hard to help students Friday afternoons, saying the time period is not an additional planning or prep period. He said he’s also refused requests from teachers seeking an early Friday exit from the school.

The interventions program does have a number of successes attributed to it, but Howard admits the program can be improved.

He said teachers and staff need to be more strategic and intensive with the time, saying the new WY-TOPP test and other processes are allowing them to identify specific skills and standards students need. Howard also said the program could be more efficient in identifying students who need additional help.

Despite the areas where interventions can be improved, Howard said the teachers and teams behind the program are performing great work at GRHS.