Raise Achievement Levels Raising Achievement

Raise Achievement Levels

Raising Achievement Standards

Start fostering a positive attitude to learning in the early grades, and ensure that students have a good foundation in basic skills. Using intensive, all-day kindergartens may be effective, particularly if they are attached to Head Start programs. Having programs that foster basic skills in students even younger than kindergarten-age is an important way to ensure that students develop positive feelings about school in general, as soon as possible, and help students enter kindergarten well-prepared.

Create after-school programs for middle school students. After-school enrichment programs, ideally programs that did not simply tutor, but also mentored students in a 'Big Brothers/Big Sisters' type of fashion, and provided them with outside activities to reinforce in-class learning, like going to local museums and events, would create a sense of enthusiasm about learning, and also a sense that the system 'cares' about them. If financially feasible, creating a summer recreation program, even if not explicitly academic, would keep students more focused upon the learning environment during the summer. Drama, music, and the arts and experiential science learning are fun ways to teach students while avoiding the sense that students are in 'summer school.'

Step 3: Establish mentors for 7th and 8th grades in the high school. Have high-achieving high school students who present strong and realistic role models come to the school, talk about their success, and provide academic and/or emotional support to older middle school students.