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James Tenbusch is a public school executive with many decades of experience in dealing with students facing academic problems. He believes the primary responsibility of all school administrators is to protect students against failure. "If you live by this credo," says Tenbusch, "your leadership will challenge the assumption that certain students are destined to experience learning problems based on their school history, socioeconomic status and cultural background". James Tenbusch advocates for a very simply intervention model to respond to students at-risk, which he calls the "70s Rule." This model involves monitoring three critical elements of student performance on a weekly basis: attendance rate, assignment completion rate, and assignment accuracy rates. Tenbusch claims that "it's all about paying attention to these three simple indicators of student success or failure." According to Tenbusch, most teachers are already keeping good records on their student’s attendance, completion, and accuracy rates through an electronic grade book or a lesson plan method. "The key," says Tenbusch, 'is to identify and respond to any student who drops below the 70% threshold on any one of the indicators, because if you don't, you will soon have a student at-risk of academic failure." James Tenbusch recommends using a four step approach to what he calls "turning the kid around." Step 1: The teacher fills out an "academic concern notice" and meets with the student to discuss his or her academic situation. The notice can be a simple form setting out in check-box fashion the various obstacles to learning that exist for the student and the subjects where these problems occur. The notice is sent to the parent along with a current progress report or other information explaining the deficiency. Step 2: If the student does not improve, the teacher contacts the parent directly. A phone call or face-to-face conference is attempted first. If this is unfeasible, a letter to the parent expressing concerns about the student is sent home. The teacher again copies the principal about the request for direct contact. Step 3: If the student does not show adequate improvement toward meeting the 70s threshold, a copy of the most recent progress report is given to the principal, who becomes directly involved. The principal might convene a conference with the student and teachers or a meeting with a parent or require additional services, such as homework help, tutoring or counseling. Step 4: If the student still does not show adequate improvement, the superintendent becomes directly involved by contacting the student/parents as a final means to address the obstacles to student success. James Tenbusch states that the successful use of this intervention strategy requires adopting a systems approach to meeting student needs along with a willingness to resolve problems and work around obstacles. This may mean dealing with issues associated with a student’s home or neighborhood environment and those the student may have regarding tardiness, homework submission and getting help with assignments. Creating high expectations in an atmosphere of firm guidance and instructional support at every turn is central to this process. James Tenbusch holds a Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Educational Processes from Northwestern University and regularly contributes to the field of education through journal publications in areas of: services to at-risk students and technology integration. Find out more about James Tenbusch, by logging on to his website: www.jamestenbusch.com. About the Author: Jarvis Bright is a technical writer, researcher who has a passion of writing and research. He mainly spends his time to informative websites and often do research work for various companies. Nowadays, He’s writing about Education articles which are his core interest.
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