Greensboro Middle College Gives Struggling Students a Second Chance
Despite the best efforts of educators‚ some students will unfortunately fall through the cracks.
But administrators in the Guilford County School system are having extraordinary success patching those cracks.
In 2000‚ the school system launched its first Middle College program‚ an educational second chance for students who had become disengaged from the traditional school setting.
“We’re creating a setting where we can re-engage and graduate high school students‚” says Dr. Lora Hodges‚ principal at Greensboro Middle College. “It’s an environment that is nurturing‚ creative and small.”
And it’s located in a place that once seemed a near-impossible destination for these disengaged students – a college campus.
Greensboro Middle College is housed on the campus of Greensboro College. The 100-plus Greensboro Middle College students dine and socialize and attend classes with college students.
“It really proves to be inspirational‚” Hodges says of the setting. “They see themselves differently.”
The results have been equally inspirational. The program’s seniors have achieved a 100 percent graduation rate. And three-fourths of them have gone on to college.
Though the curriculum is the same as found in the traditional setting‚ the approach to education is different. Smaller class sizes allow for more individual instruction‚ and the circumstances of the individual students sometimes demand other techniques.
“Sometimes [teachers] have to put their counselor hats on‚” says Barry Williams‚ the system’s instructional improvement officer for Learning Alliances.
Nevertheless‚ the Middle College program doesn’t settle for less than the students’ best efforts.
“We’re a drama-free school. Students are given the opportunity to make decisions‚ and they have the responsibility to make the right decisions.
We expect them to be self-correcting‚” Hodges says.
Greensboro Middle College’s enrollment is limited to students in grades 11 and 12. Other programs begin earlier‚ attempting to turn around freshmen and sophomores who have already begun to struggle in their existing classrooms.
And there are options among the programs. Middle College at Bennett is limited to girls while Middle College at North Carolina A&T is a boys-only campus. Another program caters to students interested in entertainment technology.
Guilford County’s efforts have not escaped notice. Once the only Middle College program in the state‚ its success has resulted in other counties following suit and the governor mandating the endeavor be instituted statewide.
“Over the last several years we’ve had a lot of school districts visiting us‚” Williams says. “We get a lot of inquiries from throughout the state about what we’re doing.”
