Troubling trend improves at Watkins Mill High

Student ineligibility had been among the highest at MCPS high schools

Over the third grading period last year, 37.5 percent of students had less than a 2.0 grade-point-average, making them ineligible for sports and extracurricular activities. That ratio is down to 25.3 percent for the third period this year, or 430 of the school’s 1,700 students, according to data compiled at the school.

One of the most glaring areas of improvement was African American and Latino students, who traditionally have ineligibility rates well above those of white and Asian American students. Among African Americans, ineligibility dropped from 44.4 percent to 28.9 percent, and among Hispanics from 48.1 percent to 31.9 percent, according to the data.

Sprung from teachers’ suggestions, Village Time was implemented on Jan. 28, at the start the third grading period, which ended April 4.

Hobbs stops short of holding the results as a clean statistical indicator of Village Time’s success and is cautious not to overstate its impact. But what he has been hearing anecdotally from teachers and students has convinced school leaders to bring back Village Time next year. Village Time drew to a close April 25 with the approach of the hectic schedule of state-mandated exams, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests, and finals.

‘‘It’s just been amazing in getting them organized and getting them focused on the assignments they’re missing,” he said. ‘‘What’s clear is teachers and students have been saying it’s about the zeros [on assignments], just simply not turning stuff in.”

The new approach has been a boon not just for underachieving students. Much of the positive feedback has come from students and teachers in the school’s AP and IB programs, many of whom can feel overloaded by the abundance of homework, assignments and tests, Hobbs said.

And Village Time has promoted better teacher-student relationships, giving students time to approach teachers in one-on-one setting to get specific help and guidance.

So if Village Time was responsible for 75 percent of the success, the other 25 percent has come from efforts by school staff to focus on individual needs and share best practices, Hobbs said.

‘‘It’s more about persistence, more ‘My job is to get you there,’ versus ‘I’ll just judge you at the end and see how you did,’” he said.

MCPS administrators are encouraged by Watkins Mill’s success, but remain cautious about how much Village Time was responsible for the change — and if it might merit consideration as a model for other schools.

‘‘It’s too soon to say that, but I think it’s something that needs to be watched,” said Adrian Talley, community superintendent for five upcounty school clusters. ‘‘The good thing about it is that it’s all about building relationships between students and all staff members, and that we know will make a difference.”