This school year, Hayes High School has been piloting a new period each Friday to give students a chance to retake tests and check in with teachers, which the school reports has been a success so far.

Vice Principal Jake Shafer said Academic Option is a 65-minute period at the start of the school day every Friday that allows students and teachers more time during the day to focus on classroom instruction.

“It gives every student in the building the opportunity to have a teacher check in with them about their grades, progress, and upcoming assignments and missing assignments every week, once a week,” Shafer said. “The teachers are required to check in with every student every Academic Option. What do their grades look like? What do they need? What do they need help with? What’s coming up?”

Shafer said the program aligns with the school’s core value of “every kid, every day.”

“We want to make sure we have a conversation with every kid, every day in this building,” he said. “In the spirit of that, Academic Option gives us the chance to check in academically or non-academically with every student in the building. It’s more than a study hall because you have a teacher actively working with students, and it’s an opportunity for retakes.”

Shafer said the retake tests has tied in with the school’s mastery-based curriculum, and the program has been “a success across the board.”

“Students need the time to get those retakes done and they need the time to work so along with the cell phone policy and teachers checking in with them they have been able to work during that academic option period,” he added. “Taking away the stress for some students having to find the time to retake tests has been great because some students have really full schedules and commitments after school so it’s hard for them to find time. Academic Option has given them that opportunity.”

Shafer said students are taking advantage of the program, and he added earlier this school year, they had 300 students retake tests on a single Friday during Academic Option.

“That’s 300 tests worth of instructional time that goes back into the classroom and that’s 300 students that did not have to find time before or after school to take their test,” Shafer said. “Retakes are time in the classroom when you can’t be doing instruction or labs. Part of the genesis (of Academic Option) was we need to offer time to for retakes that is not during instructional time. That’s been the biggest impact. The numbers suggest that we’re utilizing that well.”

Shafer said he believes Academic Option is “making an impact” on grades in the classroom.

“We’ll continue to monitor that data to see if the program is working,” he said.

Shafer added juniors and seniors who qualify by having good grades and good attendance can opt out of the period and come into school an hour late on Fridays.

“It’s a free late arrival on Friday as an incentive, which students appreciate,” he said.

Shafer added the school will continue to tweak the program as it continues, but he believes it has been “overwhelmingly a success.”

“With any big program, we need to iron out kinks, but overall, it’s rare that we have something that is appreciated in such a widespread way,” Shafer said. “It has been very, very positive.”

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.