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Our Mentoring for Academic Achievement Program was created and implemented
in the Spring Semester of the 2001-2002 academic year. MAAP is designed to
identify students at each grade level who are in jeopardy of not obtaining a
Regent’s Diploma. In the MAAP program, professional teams of teachers and
support staff provide advocacy, monitoring, motivation, school-home
communication and individualized strategies for accomplishing academic
improvement. Students are identified for inclusion in our program based upon
their results on state assessments and regents scores, course results, or
marking period grades. Those students who have been determined to be in
jeopardy of not meeting state or district standards are then placed into the
MAAP program. While we have programs available for special education
students, and gifted and talented students, we never had a formalized
program that catches and assists those at-risk students who might otherwise
fall through the cracks.
The Results:
The program, as originally
conceived included approximately 100 students (25 of which were seniors),
four MAAP mentors, and was intended to function as a pilot program through
which we would develop the skills and strategies necessary to support as
many students in the class of 2005 (and subsequent classes) as possible in
their efforts to complete Regent’s Diplomas.
Over the past few years our
Regent’s completion rate has increased steadily by two to three percentage
points per year. At the end of the 2000-2001 school year, the class of 2001
had a Regent’s completion rate of 79 percent. The class of 2002
boasted a Regent’s completion rate 88 percent, exceeding all our
expectations and delivering an incredible 9% increase in Regent’s Diplomas
over the previous year, which is by far the largest single-year increase in
the history of Commack High School. We are certain that the additional six
to seven percent increase beyond our initial projections, was directly
related to the impact of the MAAP Program.
Due to the
outstanding success of the MAAP program, we have increased the number of
students serviced from 100 to 200, added 5 MAAP mentors to the 4 we had last
year, and a MAAP program coordinator. We are confident that these changes
will lead to even further success and meet the challenges of the State of
New York and the Commack School District. Indeed, our success has lead to
the permanent incorporation of MAAP into our school program and has quickly
become a part of the academic culture of Commack High School.
Written by: Alan Baum |
be required to obtain a New York State Regent’s Diploma and in response to
the “No Child Left Behind Act,” Commack High School, like other public high
schools, was presented with the challenge of raising the number of our
students obtaining a Regent's Diploma to 100%. This challenge resulted in
the development of an innovative, yet simple concept, known as the
Mentoring for Academic Achievement Program (MAAP). 
