Luke Rapley
EDAP 7802 (2nd hour – Saturday)
Dr. Bill Kruskamp
Remediation Enrichment Intervention (REI)
Remediation Enrichment Intervention (REI) is a program that was started this year at my school. My school needed to switch to six lunch periods and this forced us to go to seven class periods. The students only take six classes so the seventh class was half advisement and half lunch. REI is a program that occurs during all six of the lunch periods. This program focuses on remediation of students struggling in their normal classroom subjects during their advisement time slot. Leading up to the numerous standardized tests the students must take in high school students that have failed the test in the past are required to attend these remediation sessions to help them become successful. When standardized testing REI is not taking place, teachers can recommend struggling students to attend REI sessions focused on the topics currently being covered in the classroom.
Last semester, I collaborated with colleagues and we created an Excel document that was used to keep track of which REI sessions students would be attending. There was one document for each of the major content areas (math, science, language arts and social studies). These forms were placed on the shared drive and teachers would open the appropriate document and recommend their students for REI. This method of recommending students began last semester and has continued this semester. However, we have had a few problems this semester with this method of registering REI students. Since each department has a separate sign-up form, sometimes the same student will be recommended for REI in more than one subject on the same day. The duplication is not determined until the person in charge of REI creates the REI passes for the students. Now, the person in charge must contact both teachers that recommended the same student and figure out a plan where this student can attend REI for one subject on one day and the other subject ton another day. We have only had students signed up for two different REI sessions at the same time; however, there is a possibility that a student could be signed up for four different REI sessions at the same time. Because of this problem with the current registration process, we wanted to create a better method of registering the students for REI. I have been working a database registration process to alleviate this problem of scheduling a student. The database allows for the teacher to enter the student’s name, student number, class for remediation, ACT teacher, ACT period, date for participation in REI and the recommending teacher’s name. This database will be a single file for all teachers to use when recommending their students for REI. The advantage of this database file is that multiple people can use the file at the same time and the program saves each persons information into a central location. With one click of a button, teachers can easily see a list of students that have already been recommended and the dates they will attend their extra help sessions. This feature should eliminate the problem of scheduling a student to attend multiple remediation sessions on the same day.
As with any new program, there are always bumps in the road. The REI program has made huge strides in less than one year of existence. The feedback from students has been very positive. We do not require students to attend these sessions but most of them have agreed that the sessions were worthwhile. The positive response of the students toward the program has aided in growing the program. The students that have participated are not afraid to ask for extra help because they know the benefits of these extra help sessions. Those who have participated encourage their friends to participate when they are struggling. I think the number one advantage of the program is that the students can receive 25 minutes of tutoring during the school day and they do not have to have their parents bring them to school early or pick them up after school releases for the day. As we move forward with this program, there will be other modifications that will need to be made. If we stop making modifications, we are not trying to make a good thing even better.