Using computer software to monitor progress and teachers that can take time to answer questions and prod students along, a program in Tampa, Florida is helping low-income students to excel at their studies and improve their grades dramatically.

Education experts say the program is hardly novel, but its implementation is. "It's rare to find a school targeting this group -- the bottom third, the quiet ones that go along," said Margaret Terry Orr, an associate professor at TC and a specialist in dropout prevention. "All too often we wait until it's too late and then place them in alternative schools."

The root of the problem said Orr is a lack of money and school's reluctance to provide the kind of intensive attention that some students need from falling through cracks and dropping out.

The article, entitled "Middle School Program Offers Low-Income Students the Encouragement and Attention They Need to Flourish" appeared in the April 3rd edition of the Saint Petersburg Times.

Published Tuesday, Sep. 18, 2001