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As the end of each marking period draws near, Brady Blade keeps a sharp eye on Montgomery County Public Schools' Edline Web service.

The veteran athletics director, in his third year at Einstein High, probes for athletes in danger of academic ineligibility. That's how he discovered sophomore wrestler Wilmer Escoto had a "D" in chemistry this quarter.

"[Blade and wrestling coach Adrian Baez] e-mail my teachers, if I have, let's say, a ‘D' … seeing if they have something for me to do to improve my grade," Escoto said. "He e-mailed my teacher, she gave me some worksheets to do, and now I have an A in that class."

MCPS guidelines require students to maintain a 2.0 grade-point average and have no more than one failing grade each marking period to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports. This school year's second term ends Jan. 23, giving athletes on the academic bubble less than two weeks to determine whether they will finish the winter season as a player or a fan.

Identification

The MCPS Department of Athletics doesn't keep statistics on eligibility. Coordinator of Athletics Duke Beattie said, "it's hard to get at that number" because it's impossible to know how many would-be athletes have never been eligible in the first place.

But every year brings anecdotal evidence of key players lost mid-season, or even before, to ineligibility. Second-quarter report cards will be released Feb. 3, almost exactly two-thirds of the way through the winter sports schedule. Some players are bound to disappear off rosters early next month.

When Blade arrived at Einstein, he found the school's teams disproportionately affected compared to his longtime post at Bethesda-Chevy Chase.

"It came to me that if we wanted to increase the amount of people involved in sports at Einstein — which was a major goal of mine when I came over here — I realized that what was holding these people back from playing was that they were ineligible," he said.

So Blade hit the hallways to inform students, especially younger ones, about eligibility rules. He hit the computer in his office for regular checks of Edline, a service which allows teachers, parents, coaches and students to monitor classroom performance on a daily basis.

Ed Ross, of Watkins Mill, is another athletics director taking full advantage of Edline to identify student-athletes in danger.

"Academic progress for athletes has been something coaches and ADs have been concerned with for years," Ross said. "This year, we've really taken advantage of the new technologies."

Intervention

Identifying which athletes are in academic trouble is only the first step.

Last year, Watkins Mill instituted "Village Time," a twice-weekly period that allows students to catch up on missed assignments. The Gazette reported in May that the ratio of students with below a "C" average in the third grading period fell from 37.5 percent in 2007 to 25.3 percent in '08.

Ross has added an extra layer of academic support specifically for the school's athletes.

"Beginning with the fall sports season, we began something called ‘Monday athlete check-in,'" Ross said. "Myself and a few others supervise students in an after-school study hall. It's more than a study hall, though."

Ross and his coaches review grade reports for any student with one or more failing grades. They look for missing assignments, and if those assignments are not fulfilled within a week, coaches hold the student out of practices and games.

"It's worked tremendously so far," Ross said. "In the first marking period we had a significant increase in eligible students … and we're hoping to have a similar report to share at the end of the second marking period."

Blade's approach is different, but equally successful. Einstein does not have study halls for athletes, but deals with them on an individual basis. Einstein uses what Blade refers to as the "shoe leather approach."

"I think, though the technology is fabulous, it still comes down to the face-to-face with the kid," he said. "You go to the class armed with the information from Edline, you take it to Johnny in your hand, you pull Johnny out of class, and you … explain what the consequences are."

According to Blade, 313 students played a sport at Einstein this fall. Of them, 299 — 95 percent — remained eligible after report cards came out in November.

Participation

Keeping players academically eligible has an obvious payoff for teams and a school's athletics program as a whole. But ultimately, it's the students who benefit.

"The whole point of the athletic program, philosophically speaking, is to support the academic mission of the school system" Beattie said. "Many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students across the county put forth a significant effort to maintain that eligibility. They put in more effort than they would if they were not athletes."

Wilmer Escoto may make Einstein's honor roll this winter. If so, it will be thanks in large part to the "carrot" of playing sports.

"I go [to Edline] every other day," said Escoto, who plans to play lacrosse in the spring. "I want to see what grades I have and I want to improve them. … My coach and [Blade], they tell me if I don't meet the requirements, I can't wrestle. So therefore I have to keep my grades up."