At a Glance
At Lenape Technical School, a comprehensive technical high school, all academic and CTE teachers must provide enrichment activities, makeup work, or other assistance to students during a set weekly time.
Description
To reduce the number of students with failing grades and the number of failing grades per student, Lenape Technical School (Lenape Tech) administrators implemented a mandatory weekly enrichment period. During this 40-minute period, which occurs every Thursday, students who have a grade below a C in an academic or technical course must attend the weekly enrichment session for that course. These students make up work if needed, complete remediation work, review previous materials and/or work on upcoming assignments during this time. Students who have grades above a C may go to their technical program, club program (such as Chess Club or Fitness Club), or work on independent projects.
Lenape Tech administrators view the enrichment period as an opportunity to intervene early with those students who need additional support. Prior to the implementation of this in school practice during the 2016-2017 school year, many students who needed remediation or intervention could not obtain it because of the schools limited after-school accessibility to students, or they chose not to obtain additional help. Often students who struggled in their courses faced challenges with organization and study skills and lacked an understanding of how to seek out help. As Administrative Director Wes Kuchta explains, they could not dig themselves out of this academic hole.
During the weekly enrichment period, teachers provide a variety of supports to students. They may conduct individual learning sessions with students, help them prioritize their assignments, prepare them for upcoming assessments, and/or use the time to do test/quiz corrections.
As the required enrichment sessions continued to take place, teachers observed that many previously struggling students began to improve their grades. Lenape Tech administrators and faculty believe that success begets success so that when students improve some of their grades, they often end up improving their grades in other courses as well.
Impact
Lenape Tech administrators report that the number of students earning failing grades over consecutive grading periods has decreased since the school implemented the weekly enrichment period. In one grading period, the number of students with a failing grade dropped from 33 students to five students.
Contact
Lenape Technical School
http://www.lenape.k12.pa.us/
Wes Kuchta, Administrative Director
kuchwes@mylenape.net