A key indicator of high school success is eluding one of the largest student populations in Montgomery County, putting principals and parents on alert and in search of new solutions for a growing problem.
The benchmark is maintaining a C average — a level of performance required for most extracurricular activities and widely regarded as the hook that keeps students engaged in school. Hispanic students, who make up more than 20 percent of the district’s population and who have increased in number every year since 1980, are less likely than any of their peers to hold to that minimum.
At Kensington’s Albert Einstein High School, the site of an early-April shooting, Hispanic students make up more than 40 percent of the population. Of that group, however, 39 percent cannot participate in extracurricular activities. Though that number is down slightly from last year, many parents believe it is still far too high.
“It’s a question of return on investment,” said Gordie Brenne, vice president of Einstein’s parent-teacher organization. “We spend a lot of money trying to deal with the achievement gap, and I don’t think we’re getting much for it.”
Brenne said he and many Einstein parents would like to see the district expand career-training programs like those at Thomas Edison High School, a part-time alternative school for juniors and seniors interested in technical training in fields such as graphic design and construction.
“To get into Edison, you have to have good grades, and that seems backwards to me,” Brenne said.
The eligibility problem has also been pronounced at Gaithersburg’s Watkins Mill High School, where a new program put in place at the start of second semester has drastically improved on last year’s dire numbers.
The plan, called “Village Time,” sets aside class periods twice per week for catch-up work or one-on-one tutoring with every available staff member, including Principal Kevin Hobbs.
Hobbs saw extracurricular eligibility for his Hispanic students jump to 68 percent by the end of the third quarter, up from just over half of the students at the same time last year.
“A lot of kids request the one-on-one attention,” Hobbs said. “It’s worked out well because it’s been a point of emphasis for us.”
BY THE NUMBERS
The percentage of Hispanic students in Montgomery County schools not academically eligible by the end of the third quarter to participate in most extracurricular activities (2006-2007):
9th-graders: 47 percent
10th-graders: 45 percent
11th-graders: 40 percent
12th-graders: 37 percent
The percentage of all students in Montgomery County schools not academically eligible by the end of third quarter (2006-2007):
9th-graders: 27 percent
10th-graders: 25 percent
11th-graders: 22 percent
12th-graders: 20 percent
