Extra help pays for students at risk
By Anne Marie Kyzer

Sometimes a child just needs a little something extra ... a little extra nurturing, a little extra care.

That's what Sam Adkins thinks, and apparently he's right.

During his first year as principal at S.G.A. Elementary School, Adkins and several teachers and paraprofessionals showed what "something extra" could do for their students.

In order to help the children they feared might not be promoted to the next grade level, Adkins and his team developed an after-school program to give them the individual attention they needed.

The Achievement Club, as they called it, included 50 students: 10 students each from first through fifth grade who were most "at risk" due to test scores and grades.

For three days a week after school, teachers worked with the children on their reading and math skills.

When scores came in for the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) this spring, Adkins saw the fruits of their labor.

Every second-grader in the Achievement Club passed both the reading and math sections of the test.

Adkins revealed the test results with a contagious grin and the level of pride usually reserved for a child's parent.

"These are kids that otherwise would probably have failed the CRCT or were headed down the road to possibly being retained," he stressed. "That's awesome. I am tickled to death with that."

The program boasted numbers to be proud of and enough proof that Achievement Club has a place at S.G.A.

Of the first-graders that teachers feared would be held back, 78 percent were promoted to the second grade. Some 86 percent of the second-graders were promoted, and 89 percent of the fourthgraders will go to the fifth grade. The program helped more than half of the fifth graders in the Achievement Club move on to middle school. Among the third-graders, who must pass the math and reading portions of the CRCT to be promoted, 90 percent passed the reading section and 97 percent passed the math.

"Just think what three hours and forty-five minutes a week has done for those kids," Adkins said.

While the numbers show the overall success of the program, the teachers and paraprofessionals who worked with the children saw the results on a much more personal level.

Jackie Joyner and Marilyn Hillis couldn't say enough about the turnaround they saw in their group of second-graders.

"One little girl could only sound out words two letters at a time," Joyner said. "By the end of the year, she could read well and made a one hundred percent on the CRCT."

Joyner said they saw a "miraculous change in almost all of them."

Hillis enjoyed watching their confidence grow through the year. She added that the program was as rewarding for her as it was for the children.

"It just puts a smile in your heart because you've taught them something," she said.

Both said without hesitation they would take part next year.

Kim Campo, a special education teacher who helped the fourthgraders, said the children did well with the less structured environment of the program. It allowed for more fun and accommodated their learning styles.

Campo added that letting the children know they were handpicked because of their potential didn't hurt either.

Though summer just started, Adkins can't wait to see what next year holds for students in the Achievement Club.

"We're already looking at ways to enhance what we're doing," he said. "We're trying to reach every student where they are to get them where they need to be."