A new law raising the drop-out age to 18 went into effect this year.

High schools across New Hampshire are now scrambling to figure out how they can keep at-risk teenagers in the classroom.

One alternative program adopted by some school districts keeps students in class by taking them out of the school building.

NHPR Correspondent Robin Respaut filed this report.

Sound of cafeteria…

The main cafeteria at Pinkerton Academy in Derry hums as hundreds of high school students take their lunch break.

Sound of bell…

With more than 3,000 students, this is the largest high school in New Hampshire.

And Dean Chris Harper says Pinkerton’s size can be a problem for freshmen coming in from small middle schools.

Tape: They have to move from a more self-contained, teamed approach in the middle schools into a high school which has a lot of drama, especially with a large high school like Pinkerton Academy.
He says it is easy for a teenager to feel lost or distracted at a bigger school.

That can cause their grades to suffer.

Last year, of the over 800 freshmen, more than 100 didn’t pass.

And according to Associate Dean of Students Richard Towne, those students are most at-risk of dropping out.

Tape: We’ve found that kids that started off behind, stay behind and have a difficult time graduating within the four years.

Next month, the high school is trying something new.

It’s turning to a private Illinois-based company called Ombudsman.

Its program offers struggling students personalized courses and 1-on-1 instruction with a teacher.

And, students never have to set foot on the high school’s campus.

Instead, their classroom is going to be a mile away in a vacant store in downtown Derry.

Tape: The reason that works very well is it’s a little bit self-paced, it’s computer based. And I think the other thing is it is small classes, and it’s concentrated time. There are no passing times, there are no lunches, there are very few distractions.

Steph Guyer runs vocational and alternative education at Kingswood High School in Wolfeboro.

That school district has been using Ombudsman for the last 14 years.

It is currently teaching 60 students in a program they call Lakeside Academy.

Tape: We may have students down there who are pregnant or parenting, students who are very good students. We have students who may have a family situation, 18-year-olds who are on their own. And we have students who have difficulty fitting into a traditional high school program.

Kristen Trowbridge came to Lakeside Academy in August and has no regrets about leaving Kingswood.

20 It was a lot of kids, so it was harder to do your work and you got distracted, so…it was just harder up there.

Trowbridge was also six months pregnant at the start of this school year.

And now, because the Lakeside Academy program is only three hours long, Trowbridge has more time to spend with her baby.

Sound of typing…

Tape: I’m Killian Dearborn, and I’m from Effingham.

Eighteen-year-old Deerborn nearly failed his freshman year at Kingswood.

And his grades didn’t improve much after that.

Tape: I just couldn’t keep up with the work, and I wasn’t getting the help I needed from teachers. So, I came down here, and I’m graduating a half a year early.

It’s not uncommon for students who were falling behind before attending Lakeside to suddenly be on a fast track toward graduation.

That’s because students spend three concentrated hours a day with an intensive computer program, designed for their individual needs.

For example, if a 10th grader reads at a 7th grade level, the program focuses on that weakness while still covering other core subjects.

Again, Kingswood Vocational Principal Steph Guyer.

Tape: I’ve had students tell me they learned more in a semester at the school than they did in three years here at a regular program.

Susan Randall is with the state Department of Education.

She says the Ombudsman program is just one way school districts have found to help those students who struggle in traditional high schools.

Tape: Raising the age of compulsory school attendance to 18 certainly has driven a lot of innovative activities in New Hampshire, ….. What does Johnny need to be successful in school is different from what his two best friends may need. And it’s important that we provide the skills and the setting that’s needed to make the students as successful as they can possibly be.

Personalized teaching has begun to pay off in Wolfeboro.

For the first time in at least 40 years, Kingswood High School reports not a single student dropped out last year.

That’s a grade every school district in the state would like.

For NHPR, I’m Robin Respaut.