At risk students - who are they?
Most educators can tell the difference between an at risk student or someone who is not really interested. Neither student will ask for help but you can tell by their mannerisms if they are truly struggling. Our job is to get them to open up and help them without hurting their self esteem. Easier said then done.
Guy,are you saying that as an instructor you gave him a failing grade and he still advanced? If so, will this student have to re-take the course or demonstration the competency in some other way?
If not, how can the administration justify this behavior?
Attendance and poor scores could be an indicator of a student either at risk or disinterested. More information would be needed to make a determination.
I see your point and I agree. I have a student that is just - well - not hear mentally for the class. He finds ways to kind of weasel out of things. I have identified him as high risk and we got him some help and even though I still feel like he should never advance, he did, and he is doing terrbly and it is with that said that not having a procedure in place to deal with him in that state - to help him is a challenge for the school.
At risk students come in all varietys. The one that is struggling and doing poorly on tests is most often paying attention and not causing problems. The one who is not interested will either be sleeping or talking and being disruptive. In either case you must identify the problem and address each one accordingly, find the cause and try to help
My only means of determining if a student is at "risk" is how they conduct themselves in class. Generally the students who aren't at risk seem to be more focused on learning and getting what they paid for. Those who aren't paying attention, don't show any real interest in learning, who continually disrupt the class, have attendance issues and of course, don't have much pride in their appearance "generally" seem to be the students of risk.
Is there really a difference here? I think if a student is not interested, then they ARE an at risk student.
attendance and poor scores on tests to name a few i would imagine
We are trying to identify students that are at risk.We are looking at attendance and grades as well as referrals by instructors and staff.
This could be an interesting thread. What are some of the distinctions you use to determine whether a student is at risk or not interested, Lauren?
