CH-UH Academic Support Programs Not Meeting Expectations

Two academic support programs designed to reduce the number of course failures among Cleveland Heights-University Heights students are not living up to expectations, and school administrators are not sure why.

Nevertheless, administrators say they have made some adjustments and are working with principals and teachers to gather more information and ideas on how to address the problems.

The , EOS, was introduced last year to give high school students academic support in subjects they are struggling with. The was also launched last year to help middle school students transition to high school, and to ensure that every ninth-grader earned the required credits to move on to the 10th grade.

Since the EOS program was introduced a year ago, there have been more course failures in the 10th grade class than in previous years, Allison Byrd, coordinator of educational services for the CH-UH School District, said during a special school Tuesday evening.

For example, at the end of the first-quarter grading period, there were 255 course failures in the core courses of math, science, social studies and English among the estimated 500 students in the district’s 10th grade class. In the 2010-2011 school year, there were 242 core course failures, and in the 2009-2010 school year, there were 215 core course failures.

“I think any (failures) is too much,” said Byrd. “We’re talking about our core courses, and when you look at our graduation requirements, they aren’t getting any easier.”

Other than scheduling conflicts that prevented some students from getting additional tutoring, administrators aren’t sure why the program is not working.  

“We are going to work our plan on EOS to see what kids it does help because that will give us some additional information,” CH-UH Schools Superintendent Douglas Heuer told the board. “But the additional important piece is to find out what students it’s not helping and then begin to look at what are some of the more rooted problems that had begun earlier that need to be addressed in order to help students to be more successful.”

After reviewing the first quarter grades of the district's Freshman class, administrators also found the Freshman Experience program was not performing as expected.

“We found that their performance was the same as in previous years,” said Byrd.

Principals and teachers said student attendance and behavior problems might have contributed to the lack of improved academic performance, Byrd reported. But it also was discovered that scheduling issues prevented many students from getting the extra time needed for tutoring.

For the second semester, the scheduling issues were ironed out for 90 percent of the students. For the remaining 10 percent of students, the scheduling problems could not be solved. Nevertheless, Byrd said those students will be monitored for any issues and helped whenever needed.

“I thought the Freshman Experience was a good idea,” said CH-UH School Board President Karen Jones. “I’m disappointed — and it’s not a reflection on anyone — that it didn’t work the way we were hoping.”