Improving Students Attitude Towards Math, Reading, And School

The after school mentors will give students the opportunity to build a relationship with an adult who will serve as an advocate for them. They will also offer resources for improving academics as well as build on their self-esteem. These programs can change students attitude towards math, reading, and school in general. Kay Augustine explains, students are more likely to remain and achieve in school when they are perceived by people in school who care about them. (Augustine, 2014) According to the National Dropout Prevention Center, mentoring has been identified as one of the basic core strategies for dropout prevention and it has the power and influence to change the negative cycles of their mentees and families. (Effective Strategies)†¦show more content†¦Amanda Shelmire studied a school-within-a-school transitional program for ninth graders and what she found was that grades improved and students changed their perception of school while in the program. (Shelmire, 2011) Ho wever, once out of the program and in the traditional high school setting student’s long term grades did not continue to improve. This just shows the positive effects for students when placed in a school-within-a-school setting. Not to mention the low cost to develop a school-within-a-school. This is another example that at-risk students are very capable of success when given the right instruction and tools. Alternative schools are another approach to assisting kids in need of academic assistance. These institutions are very much like the school-within-a-school setting because of its minimal student body. It has a sense of community and has the ability to offer support and flexibility for its students. Alternative schools focus on the specific needs of its students as well as maintaining a challenging curriculum that meets all state and federal standards. By giving students more time to learn and practice academic concepts will help advance these students to a higher educational level. â€Å"Middle school is where at-risk students start to get off track† (Jones, 2011) and implementing an alternative school in the middle school grades is a way to prevent these students from dropping out of high school in the