LaShaundra Lark, an English teacher at Frayser Middle/High School, is helping Frayser Prep Academy students Tamika Williams and Keith Norman on the computer. (Photo by Wiley Henry)

Tamika Williams has not had to reinvent herself, but she is trying to prove to herself that she can succeed in life.

She is quiet, reserved and speaks softly. But the image she is projecting has everything to do with her accomplishing a goal: She is determined to graduate from high school on time. Until then, she’s dressed for success.     

At Frayser Prep Academy, high school students wear business attire to classes, a concept used by Memphis City Schools in a pilot program that seeks to bolster confidence among teens who have fallen behind a grade or two.

Keith and Tamika, both 17, are older than most students in their grade. But they are still in school and committed to finishing the accelerated curriculum at Frayser Prep Academy, a program MCS launched Oct. 15 to address the challenges faced by overage or older students.

Frayser Prep Academy is a pilot program at Frayser Middle/High School. It is the first of its kind for the district. There are 110,000 students in 209 schools in grades K-12. Of that number, 9,000 are overage for grade in K-5; 10,000 are overage for grade in middle school; and 10,000 are overage for grade for high school.

“That’s 1 in 3,” said Supt. Kriner Cash, who has given his full attention to the problem during his first 100 days on the job. Since July 1, his first day, the superintendent has made some changes to improve education and meet a host of challenges.

Frayser has a student-body of nearly 1,000, but half of them are overage for grade. About 120 of those students are in the experimental program at Frayser Prep Academy.

“Frayser is an ever-changing community,” said Dr. Cassandra Turner, the principal. “We noticed back with our previous superintendent that the 9th-graders were 17-years-old.”

If that trend continues, she told her fellow educators, the numbers might grow, putting additional financial pressures upon the district. “At that time we had some ideas, but it wasn’t taken to a district-wide level.”

Since Frayser had so many overage students, MCS decided that it would be the testing site to determine if a pilot program could help students to achieve proficiency in coursework and graduate on time.

“The children are too old in that school in a regular curriculum,” said Cash. “About 458 or 460 are overage for grade. I think it (Frayser) is a prime candidate for transforming a school into a school for overage for grade.”

Frayser Prep Academy is not an alternative school, Cash emphasized, or one for unruly students. “They haven’t been successful in learning English, math and science in a traditional way. That’s why they’re overage for grade.”

The pilot program at Frayser is an attempt by MCS to pare down the numbers of overage students district-wide. In January, the district will unveil three additional prep academies at Stafford, Macon Success and Pyramid.  

In order for students to excel, Smith said they have to “demonstrate a mastery of 70 percent to be proficient in a subject area.” This includes the basis courses of English, math, science and social studies.

A different kind of teacher is necessary for students in the prep academies, Cash pointed out. “We need tough, high-quality, creative, innovative, perceptive, excellent at relationships, and good listeners.”

Another chance to succeed

Tamika is a year behind in school, but the accelerated coursework will allow her to graduate on time. If she were in a traditional classroom, she would graduate at 19.

Tamika fell behind at Brookmeade Elementary and repeated the second grade — not because she failed, but because her mother “thought I wasn’t learning nothing. She thought I should’ve done better.”

Her mother’s high expectation, Tamika said, kept her from passing to the next grade. “She wanted me to bring home an ‘A’, but I was a ‘C’ and ‘D’ student,” Tamika said.

Now Tamika is determined to work hard to make it to graduation. “I still feel I can make the grades,” she said.

Keith’s story is altogether different, but not unusual. “It started back in 8th-grade at Ridgeway Middle,” he recounted. “I lost my father; he was killed. And I had uncles who were selling drugs. So I looked up to them.”

He began to yield to the “glitz and glamour of drug dealing and a life of crime. I had a car and wanted to be grown. I was going to school, but messed up.”

Last year, Keith attended Ridgeway High School. But he wasn’t a model student. “I just didn’t come. I just didn’t care,” he said. “I didn’t see a future at Ridgeway.”

At Frayser Prep Academy, Tamika and Keith are given another chance to get it right. If Keith had stayed at Ridgeway, “I would’ve dropped out.”

A large number of students have dropped out with similar circumstances, according to MCS data. “There is a population in the school district that hasn’t received the care and handling that they need,” said MCS Communication Manager Quinton Taylor, who oversees the marketing of the district’s prep academies.

“We’re doing something creative and different,” said Mike Smith, coordinator of the Office of Student Support Services and its liaison for Frayser Prep Academy. “If kids see they have an opportunity to graduate, they will do it.”

Twenty-one credit hours are still required to graduate, said Smith, pointing to the state mandate for both traditional schools and the prep academy.

“Some kids are on a GED (General Equivalency Diploma) path and some are overage for grade (in traditional schools),” said Smith. “We want them to take advantage of the program.”

The Frayser Prep Academy is voluntary, but students must commit to an accelerated curriculum with parental involvement. To enroll, there is an entrance interview and an exit interview upon completing the program.

“When we started the program, we met with parents,” said Smith. “It is a very enriching and engaging program. Students will be taking a double dose to earn credits.”

In traditional schools, students are required to attend for 180 calendar days. Prep academy students must attend school 250 days a year including summer coursework. They, too, must take the ACT and Gateway exams to graduate.

The Frayser Prep Academy’s 2008-09 calendar year is divided into five quarters. The 1st quarter started Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 18; the 2nd quarter starts Jan. 5, 2009 – March 11, 2009; the 3rd quarter starts March 12, 2009 – May 22, 2009; the 4th quarter starts June 1, 2009 – July 31, 2009; and the 5th quarter starts Aug. 10, 2009 – Oct. 9, 2009.

The prep academy doesn’t recognize grade levels, either, said Dr. Turner. Instead, students will advance toward graduation depending on the level of their needs.

The new classification is based on mastering levels 1-4, the principal said. The first is entry level and the fourth is exit level. The prep academy also includes creative programs for advancement and individualized training:

 • E-learning — which enhances computer-based literacy skills.  

 • Course recovery — where students who’ve failed a subject can retake it.

 • Jobs, workforce initiative — to prepare students for the job market.

 •Academic and social mentoring –- to increase students academic and social skills.

“Students will be on block schedule to allow them to pick up more credits,” Dr. Turner explained. “Students will be in the classroom for 90 minutes. There are four classes per semester, which is a full credit in each class. Then they can pick up four more credits the next semester.”

In order to handle the rigorous schedule, students will remain in school until 5 p.m. instead of leaving at 2:15 p.m. If students don’t meet the requirements or if they are having difficulties, tutors are available.

“We have some (students) with challenges,” said Dr. Turner. “But we will look at it case by case. We will work with them and won’t kick them out.

“This is an opportunity to assist kids. . . We’re taking kids where they are. Everything that becomes a barrier, you dismiss that.”

Cash intends for the prep academies to be an enriched, rigorous curriculum. “This is a redirection,” he said. “We’re trying to create a whole different environment for kids to want to come to school.”