Like the Disciplinary Protocol, the Academic Intervention Protocol is not designed to punish you. You may feel punished by having to confront your difficulties, but the interventions are intended to help you find solutions. The academic process is predicated on the belief that you wish to be at The New School and want to succeed. The process operates in the following stages:
Stages of Academic Intervention
Prestage: Initially, if a teacher has concerns about your work, he/she will come to you to talk about his or her perceptions of your course involvement--participation and focus in class, your level of engagement in the material, your assignment quality and timeliness, etc.--meant to alert you that your current academic activities are below-average standards. A teacher will often send you and your parents an email expressing concern about your work.
At Stage 1, a teacher becomes concerned enough about the direction a student’s work is taking to schedule a more formalized meeting with the student during Lunch or Essential Time. The teacher may invite the student’s advisor and other teachers to join in the discussion. After this meeting, you are expected to show improvement in your course work.
At Stage 2, the student has not shown any definite improvement in academic engagement or has not attempted to collaborate with the teacher or others to improve his/her academic situation. The advisor and the teacher meet with the student to discuss possible solutions and to develop an agreed upon verbal or written contract that will help the student succeed in the current class. The teacher emails the parent or guardian to alert them of the nature of the meeting and contract and of the student’s possible failure or loss of credit.
At Stage 3, the student has failed or earned a D in a class for the quarter or for the semester in more than one class. The advisor arranges a meeting with the student, the High School or Middle School Director, and the student’s current teachers (not the ones from the previous grading period), and the earlier contract is reviewed and redesigned where needed. Parents may be asked to be present; if not, the advisor emails the parents the results of this meeting and the solutions that were discussed. In addition, a student may lose high school privileges.
At Stage 4, the student has failed additional classes in the following quarter or at the end of the semester and has not shown positive academic changes. The advisor arranges a meeting with the student, the Assistant Headmaster/HS Director or MS Director, the parents, and the advisor to decide where the student stands in relation to his or her academics and to the school community in general. The student is on Academic Probation, which indicates that he or she is in danger of not completing the current school year successfully. Students on Academic Probation risk not being invited back for the following school year.
At Stage 5, the Headmaster notifies the parents that the student must leave The New School and the student is not invited to return.