Eastern helps all students succeed with College Prep class help

Eastern Regional High School prides itself on the high level of academic success attained by many of its students, even going so far as to honor individual scholars every month at the district’s regular board of education meetings.

For those students on the opposite end of the spectrum, particularly freshmen transitioning into Eastern who might struggle academically or even be in danger of failing a class, Eastern is looking out for them as well.

Three years ago, guidance counselor Susan Bunnell-Jackson and English teacher Elizabeth O’Keefe helped start an initiative focusing on ninth-grade students enrolled in enrolled college prep classes, the lowest of four difficulty levels for classes at the school.

According to Bunnell-Jackson, statistics have repeatedly shown that failing one class in the ninth grade increases the chances of a student dropping out of high school by 30 percent, with students in CP classes tending to be those who were more likely to fail one or more classes.

“We wanted to really work with those students and provide supports for them transitioning to Eastern, especially since they’re coming from three different sending districts,” Bunnell-Jackson said.

To provide that support, Bunnell-Jackson and O’Keefe have taken a number of steps.

First, at risk ninth-grade students now meet with counselors where they are asked to identify goals for the year and their high school career, as well as social goals such as getting involved with a club, activity or sport.

Bunnell-Jackson said in her experience, setting and defining goals helps lead to accomplishing those goals.

“Getting those goals in writing, and also sharing those goals with another person, adult or teacher, helps as well,” Bunnell-Jackson said.

Incoming students are also directed to Eastern’s website, where Bunnell-Jackson and O’Keefe helped with the creation of a nearly 30-page ninth-grade “survival guide,” containing “need to know” information for new students on how to navigate Eastern.

The guide contains pictures of key figures at the school such as counselors and administrators, names and locations of sports coaches, important dates and more.

Bunnell-Jackson said staff involved with program also now collaborate with the ninth-grade vice principal to identify students who are at-risk either due to attendance or grades, and with that a mentoring program was created to provide additional support.

New this year is also collaboration with the 10th-grade accelerated teachers — accelerated class being step in difficulty above CP — to help students who have moved up from a CP class from their freshman year.

“We have students who we meet with on a monthly basis and monitor their grades, really kind of offering them a support system,” Bunnell-Jackson said.

O’Keefe also noted that for the last three years, the school has held a parent night to help get parents more involved in their child’s work.

O’Keefe said the night, which was held a few weeks ago, showed growth for the program with a much higher attendance than years prior, and during the event, parents were guided through a number of web-based activities.

“We also had them fill out a survey, so we have data as far as what parts of the program they found were helpful and what parts of the program we can improve,” O’Keefe said.

Overall, O’Keefe said about 300 students have been involved with the program over the past three years, as she, Bunnell-Jackson and others have worked to ensure no student at Eastern slips through the cracks.

“We’re not going to let them fail,” O’Keefe said. “We’ve got them on all sides. Teachers, coaches, activity advisors, parents, administrators, everybody is helping; it’s a full-court press. They will succeed.”