New graduation requirements have put increased pressure on this year’s sophomores and juniors, landing a few of them in an all day computer based learning program away from their regular classes and classmates.

Everything from maintaining a 90 percent or better attendance rate to passing five state-mandated end-ofcourse exams, is making it difficult for students to earn their diploma. Administrators say that it can be difficult for students to recover and pass their classes if they get behind during their early years in high school.

Because students have to now take a required four year sequence of elective classes to earn an endorsement, students do not have much wiggle room in their schedule if they fail a core class or have extremely low grades.

To combat this problem, administrators have worked to intervene early to ensure that these students can get back on track before it is too late. One tool they have used to do this is the Diversified, Education, Leadership, Technology, and Academics (DELTA) program.

“As an administrator or counselor, we all want you to have eight classes and successful in all eight of them,” Principal Brandi Hosack said. “But unfortunately there are some who don’t pass classes and that’s when we have a problem, and if I don’t help them then I’m being irresponsible as a principal and we feel DELTA is the perfect program for credit recovery.”

Students in the DELTA program are tasked with completing online modules that allow them to recover or earn credits that they either already lost or ones that they were in danger of losing because of poor performance in class. Some students who have had discipline problems or show a lack of progress toward passing their classes near the end of the fourth six weeks were assigned to take classes in DELTA all day.

These students said they were not happy about being placed in the program.

“I understand it is supposed to help but being in one class staring at a computer all day is kind of ridiculous,” sophomore Lavel Deckard said. DELTA director Margaret McNeely said the program is designed to help students with various problems.

“DELTA is for someone who may be from another state or country and they have trouble in a different learning environment,” she said. “Or if someone is behind on their credits in their core classes and we provide help, or if someone is at risk of dropping out of high school.”

Students assigned to DELTA all day have strict behavior guidelines to follow, including escorts to the bathroom. Students are also unable to take elective classes while they are taking DELTA all day.

When students enter the class, they are told to power off their cell phones and put away their headphones. They must walk to the front desk one by one and grab their journals.

When they take their seats, they have to sit two seats away from each other. There is not talking in the classroom among students except with the teacher, which is done at the front of the room to avoid distractions for other students in the room.

The rules are designed to help all students to be successful, McNeely said.

For students like sophomore Noah Hollingsworth, the all-day DELTA assignment was not easy at first.

“We can’t move when we want which is ridiculous to me because it’s hard for me to stay still,” he said. Despite his initial dislike of the program, Hollingsworth said he came to appreciate it after he quickly began making progress and earning credits. After about 2 months in the program, he recovered credits he lost during his freshman year and the first semester of his sophomore year. “

I do think DELTA is good for kids who get behind on their credits and have trouble in their classes,” he said.

Assistant Principal Tina Salazar said DELTA is designed to help students graduate on time.

“I recently put a student in one period of DELTA and he recovered 2.5 credits in 3 months….. remarkable,” she wrote in an e-mail. “He was struggling in class because he was bored. He blossomed in DELTA where he worked at his pace.”