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A second chance at credits South Medford High tightens the requirements on credit retrieval programs By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune Being a rebel without a cause was just fine for Justin Bullen until he discovered he couldn't graduate from high school. "If I had it to do all over again, I would pass all my classes," Justin said. "Just the stress my family and I have been put through is too much." After ignoring his teachers and sloughing off his homework for years during a rebellious phase, this 18-year-old Medford teenager entered a credit retrieval program after his senior year. Safety net or easy way out? Credit retrieval programs provide students with another way to graduate, but administrators worry students are using them as an excuse to give up too soon on regular classrooms. Still, with the four-year dropout rate at South Medford High at 36 percent and North Medford at 29 percent, administrators agree this safety net, while not perfect, is necessary. Many schools would like to cut down on the number of students enrolled in Extended Learning Centers by forcing them to make up lost credits immediately. This quick response to a student failing a class would theoretically make them less likely to fail in the future. "Our goal is to eliminate ELC," said Jani Hale, assistant principal at South Medford. She feels an all-out effort by teachers, parents, administrators and students is necessary to get teenagers more involved in the classroom. "There is a limit to what you can do with packets," she said. "A student is missing the richness of a classroom experience." Students can take packets - essentially workbooks - in English, math, economics, world studies, general science, personal health and American studies. They can also take computer training in particular academic areas. "Packets are a last-ditch effort to teach a student," said Hale. Buzz Brazeau, assistant principal at North Medford High School, sees the credit retrieval program as a valuable safety net. "I find some students who do real well with packets," he said. "For some kids, it's a real good match with their learning style. For other kids, it's not a real good match with their learning style." In most cases, whether it's with packets or computers, students still need support, he said. But much of the support depends on the subject matter. "In a classroom, there is more opportunity for application," he said. "But 2 + 2 in a classroom is the same as 2 + 2 in a packet, as it is 2 + 2 in the computer." His story is one of hundreds at South Medford High School, where administrators have tightened requirements this year for the Extended Learning Center. Students are now forbidden to take home their learning workbooks, known as packets, because in prior years many weren't completing them or were losing them. Or worse. "A lot of kids would take them home to friends and pay them $5," Justin said. South Medford forces freshmen who have failed English, world studies or algebra to immediately make up the lost credits. Seniors who have failed English in their first or second quarter are required to go to the learning center. Students can do the makeup work before school, after school or during their lunch break. Enacting these stricter requirements demonstrates the difficulties schools face in designing a program that will help students graduate. Assistant Principal Jani Hale said that in the past, students would shrug off classroom work because they figured they could do it later with packets. "The temptation to skip is very high," she said. "We want to make failing a class so uncomfortable that students do their work." About 250 students out of about 1,950 enrolled are making up one to several classes in the credit retrieval program at South Medford. "We want to cut these numbers way down," said Hale. The increase in students making up failed classes stems, in part, from a school district decision five years ago that did away with D's on the grading scale. "When D's were acceptable, anybody could get a diploma," said Hale. South Medford, along with many other schools, created a credit retrieval safety net. In an attempt to help students, the school let them take the packets home, a decision that backfired on administrators. "They exhibited the same lack of skills that got them in trouble to begin with," she said. Hale hopes for more accountability among students but also wants more involvement by parents, staff and administrators to increase classroom participation. Students offer mixed opinions about the Extended Learning Center, which besides the packets provides computer training and one-on-one help from teachers. For Justin, completing 50 packets has been a pain compared to taking classes. If he'd stayed in class, he'd have his diploma in hand today rather than being stuck in high school, he said. Now a "super senior," Justin said, "I was an idiot. I admit it." Lianne Saffer, 16, of Talent prefers packets to taking classes, however. "I can work at my own pace rather than at the teacher's pace," she said. With a whole year's worth of work to catch up on, Lianne said, she is already more than halfway done after just a few months in credit retrieval. "It's not that tough," she said. Nenna Martinez, 17, of Medford was a straight-A student who got in over her head in her freshman year when she took honors classes. She is glad the program is available to make up lost classes, but admits, "I don't like packets." Tami King, 16, of Jacksonville said, "I hate it. It's boring. You don't learn anything." Administrators at other schools also are fine-tuning their credit retrieval programs. Buzz Brazeau, assistant principal at North Medford High School, said students haven't been allowed to take packets home for several years. "They are just too expensive to print," he said. With 275 to 290 students in credit retrieval out of about 2,100 enrolled, Brazeau said, the school is always working to perfect the credit retrieval program. For some students, he said, the packet program works well; for others, not so well. "We'd always love to have it better for the kids - to make it easier for the kids," he said. "The reality is the kids have made a choice, and unfortunately, this is not a perfect world." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.