Raising the Educational Achievement of Secondary School Students - Volume 2 Profiles of Promising Practices - 1995

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Dropout Prevention In The Middle Grades Helping At-Risk Students Make Up Lost Time

The Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program (UCAP)
Providence, Rhode Island

Key Characteristics

Accelerated program allows retained students to catch up with their peers

Personalized learning environment engages tudents and develops responsibility

Experimental learning opportunities foster learning in the community
Number of Students:105
Grades Served: 7-9

Racial/Ethnic Breakdown:

36% African American

31% White

5% Hispanic

5% Asian

Eligible for Free/Reduced-Price Lunch: 81%
Chapter 1 Program: No
Major Sources of Outside Funding: Tuition from participating school districts, Rhode Island legislative grant, Rhode Island Department of Education dropout prevention grant, private industry, foundations

Overview

Jolene was fed up with school and frustrated that, once again, she would have to repeat the seventh grade. Two years after entering the Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program (UCAP), Jolene has renewed vigor and is ready to enter the tenth grade with her peers; she even hopes to attend college. Jolene caught up through an accelerated program that helps middle-school students complete three years of school in two, matriculate into a regular high school, and graduate with their peers.

Founded by Rhode Island in collaboration with three urban school districts to address soaring dropout rates in those cities, UCAP provides accelerated classes and individualized services to middle-school students at high risk of dropping out.

School Context

The Urban Collaborative Accelerated Program began in the fall of 1989 as a middle school serving selected at-risk students from three neighboring cities in Rhode Island--Providence, East Providence, and Pawtucket--where dropout rates ranged from 25 percent to 44 percent. All students in UCAP have repeated at least one year of school and have other behaviors--chronic absenteeism, low grades, or a history of suspensions--that identify them as at risk of dropping out of school. Many of these students come from the state's poorest and most violent neighborhoods and have chaotic family histories.

UCAP attracts more than twice as many students as it can serve. Teachers--who recruit and admit students--target those who most need UCAP's offerings and have a realistic chance of succeeding. Students may stay at UCAP for a maximum of two years, during which the school challenges them to master the equivalent of three grade levels.

Major Program Features

UCAP helps students develop the academic and social skills needed to successfully complete high school. UCAP's director modeled the program after a smaller-scale summer program he had managed in Providence. With support from superintendents of the three neighboring cities, the director gained an endorsement from the state legislature for a larger initiative to address rising dropout rates in the area.

Individualized Instruction and Accelerated Promotion

Accelerated curriculum. UCAP's curriculum is continually changing. The academic focus is on basic skills and problem solving. In English and social studies, instruction is organized around thematic units rather than isolated subjects. English and social studies are taught as a humanities unit, during double class periods and to twice the usual number of students. Humanities themes may include the American colonial period, Native Americans, and the Holocaust. Teachers team teach or share classroom management and instructional roles. Because team-taught classes are larger, class sizes range from 15 students with one teacher to 28 students with two teachers.
Because UCAP emphasizes individualized instruction and student progress, students are grouped heterogeneously, not by grade level or ability. Teachers encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning and to complete their coursework and return to grade level as quickly as possible. To facilitate this, teachers provide large amounts of optional work so students can work at home on their own time; although completing in-class assignments is mandatory, homework completion is not. But because all UCAP students trail their peers by at least one grade, they are motivated to catch up quickly.
In addition to its core curriculum and state-mandated health and sex education classes, UCAP offers elective classes in computers, animal studies, bowling, dancing, arts, pottery, sign language, and cartooning. Artists, technicians, and other community members teach these classes in the afternoons while teachers grade course work, prepare for classes, work together, and meet in committees.
Flexible use of time. There is no such thing as a "typical" schedule at UCAP. Teachers, who have complete control of instructional time, create individual weekly schedules to suit changing instructional needs. Teachers meet weekly as a group to plan future class schedules. Classes can run from 50 to 90 minutes; often, teachers reserve an entire morning for extended study of a particular subject or theme. Teachers rotate the extended classes across all disciplines to give subjects equal time throughout the semester. Elective classes are held in the afternoons, four times a week. Teachers have common planning periods every afternoon, when students take elective classes, and on Fridays, when students are dismissed early. Once a week, teachers discuss individual students' progress and problems. Teachers also have weekly staff meetings with the director to decide on a range of other issues, from policy to upcoming events.
Assessment of student progress. UCAP students can advance to the next grade level of coursework as soon as they meet criteria developed by teachers; students do not need to earn Carnegie units before progressing and can progress at different rates in different subjects. The criteria include requirements for every grade level and every subject, incorporating objectives from each of the districts that sends students to UCAP. Criteria for every subject include 10 to 20 topics and three or four skill levels. Criteria in all subjects are skill-based. Students demonstrate that they have met criteria through mastery of skills on projects, and in social studies through their mastery of content as well.
Teachers assess student progress on an individual basis, paying particular attention to completion of assignments, understanding of content, and quality of work. Students must meet all criteria at a mastery level of at least 80 percent in order to move on to the next grade level in a specific subject. Schools that admit UCAP transfer students receive transcripts and are familiar with UCAP's assessment methods.

Student-Created Discipline Policy

UCAP uses a student-managed disciplinary process to help students take control of their lives and develop individual and community responsibility, despite the high number of UCAP students with histories of discipline problems. Students develop school rules and monitor their implementation and enforcement through a student discipline committee. All students take rotating turns on the committee to hear and rule on cases presented by teachers and other students. Often, the rules developed by students are stricter than those devised by staff. For example, students might change a "no swearing" policy to "no swearing in any language." Teachers say the student involvement improves students' attitudes toward school and results in accelerated learning. Although UCAP expels about 10 percent of its students every year, the rate of disciplinary infractions is lower than in other schools.

Experiential Learning Options

With private funding, UCAP sponsors several programs that allow students to engage in learning outside the classroom, apart from the regular demands of the academic schedule.

Community service projects. UCAP has always incorporated community service projects into the school experience. Community service is a popular elective that students may participate in four afternoons a week. In 1993-94, 45 students volunteered at such places as a Head Start program, a neighborhood ministries program, and a public library. A teacher coordinates the program, arranges and interviews job sites, and monitors activities.
Career mentorships. UCAP began a career mentorship program during the 1993-94 school year. Supported by a grant from a private foundation, the program placed seven students in job sites throughout the Providence metropolitan area and paid them $15 a day; in 1994, 15 students were placed. Students spend one day a week at these job sites, working closely with an adult mentor. (This arrangement requires students to miss class one Friday morning a week.) UCAP staff select students to participate who might benefit from this program and could handle missing class. A UCAP teacher--paid an additional stipend--places students in such sites as a hospital, a zoo, a law firm, and the attorney general's office. In 1994-95 school year, staff anticipated that there would be 15 to 20 mentorships.
Summer programs. Since 1991, 25 UCAP students have participated in a separately-run summer program, created by UCAP's director, that offers opportunities for recreation and interdisciplinary study, culminating in the production of a book. Other UCAP students worked at a zoo, attended basketball camp, or tutored other UCAP students; UCAP also offers summer tutoring in math for about 15 students. During the summer the UCAP counselor and all the teacher make home visits to all incoming students and their families. These home visits provide the school with valuable background on the students and signal to students that UCAP is going to be a very different experience from the schools from which they came.

Supportive Counselors

The school has a full-time counselor with a background in social work, who makes home visits to incoming students and their families; information from these visits is available to other teachers. The counselor meets regularly with two part-time counselors who monitor UCAP alumni who have entered more traditional high schools, and may also make home visits. Counselors serve as problem solvers and liaisons between UCAP, the high schools, and alumni to ensure the proper flow of information and support. UCAP counselors sponsor alumni gatherings, such as field trips and pizza parties, "just so they know we're still here and that our doors are always open." These events give UCAP graduates time to socialize with their peers--a rare opportunity because the school draws students from three school districts.

Support for Implementation

Legislative Charter

UCAP's charter gives it autonomy to initiate many of its unique programs and approaches to education. The school is an independent public entity, with total control over all aspects of its operation, including such key factors as budget, curriculum, and personnel. It is run by a board of superintendents of the participating school districts, with day-to-day oversight by a director who reports to the board on a monthly or bimonthly basis.

Teacher Empowerment

UCAP has four full-time and four part-time teachers in addition to a project director, secretary, teacher's aide, social worker, and part-time librarian. Teachers at UCAP are closely involved in all decision making affecting the operation of the school. Together, teachers decide which applicants will be admitted to the school and whether a student is to be expelled. Teachers also have significant input into hiring other teachers and staff; they are responsible for scheduling the academic week, defining the curriculum, and scheduling the yearly school calendar. The project director attributes this autonomy to the simplicity of the school's administrative structure.

Funding

UCAP's operating budget was about $6,850 per student in FY 95, a figure comparable with the average per-pupil expenditure in Rhode Island in 1991-92 ($6,830). Not included in UCAP's operating budget are special programs and services discussed above, which are funded through private sources. In each of the school's first five years, UCAP raised about $75,000 to support special programs. Some of these private funding sources include Patriot Metals in Providence, Pawtucket's Memorial Hospital, small charitable and community foundations, the New York Community Trust, electric and telephone companies, and two family trusts.

Evidence of Success

More than 80 percent of UCAP graduates remain in school after entering traditional high schools, and student grades, attendance, and attitudes have improved. Although graduates' academic performance is slightly below average, their average post-UCAP grade point average of 2.4 on a 4.0 scale is a significant improvement when compared with their average pre-UCAP grades of 1.6. On standardized tests, pre-UCAP scores on the MAT were in the 24th percentile; post-UCAP scores have reached the 43rd percentile.

According to a 1992 evaluation, students were absent an average of 42 days each school year before they came to UCAP; after they left UCAP, their absences fell to an average 18 days a year. Behavioral problems have declined--according to parents and mainstream school teachers, UCAP graduates get into few fights, seem happy, and have a good sense of self-esteem. Students report having less anger in their relations with peers and teachers and consistently cite the "family atmosphere" at UCAP that has helped them succeed. UCAP graduates also report a reduction in drug use and a general trend toward self-discipline. Said one, "If I hadn't come to UCAP, I'd just be a bum in my house."

In fall 1993, the Carnegie Foundation recognized UCAP as one of four Lead Schools in Rhode Island--schools that are considered exemplars of middle school teaching philosophies.
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[Clusters and Team Teaching]