Excel School Program Succeeds Where Others Failed

By Lucie Juneau Patrowicz

(Monroe, LA) An article in the The News Star reports that students in Monroe’s ResCare Excel alternative program are experiencing something new: success.

The ResCare program recently replaced a traditional alternative education program that repeatedly failed to improve the academic performance of the program’s middle- and high-school students. Under the new ResCare Excel program, both attendance and performance have improved dramatically.

According to program manager Jose Otero, attendance rates are now 88 percent, up from 50 percent last year, and most students have progressed a full grade level – some  as many as three – since the program started this year.  

As described in the article, entitled “Rising from an educational death,” the ResCare Excel program succeeds by combining proven educational practices – such as maintaining a low student to teacher ratio and providing students with a lot of one-on-one attention – with pioneering strategies that stimulate student interest.

One of the program’s most distinctive features is that it provides students with the opportunity to shadow professionals working in the community. That experience helps students envision a future beyond the classroom, the program’s participants say. According to the article, some students have recently taken an interest in pursuing careers in the funeral industry as a result of working with staff members at a local funeral home.  Read the full story at the publication’s website.

For more information about Excel schools and other ResCare education programs, see the ResCare Schools and Academies web page.