Dec

20

He Shoots. He Scores. He Passes.

Filed Under "At-risk" students, The Way I See It 

basket ball“Make me want to come to school,” a student once told me when I asked him how I could help him learn. Make me want to come to school. That’s exactly what two of the basketball coaches at my school have done. They have made some of my at risk students want to come to school.

When Doug Armstrong first told me about the P.A.S.S. program ( Promoting Athletics and Student Success) that he and Kent Sykes were instituting this semester to try to motivate kids to do well in school through basketball, I thought it was great. What a wonderful idea. The motto of the program is “you have to pass before you play”.
It’s really very simple, but ingenious. How well the players do in the classroom determines how much time they get on the basketball court. Notice, the kids aren’t kicked off the team if they are failing any courses. Instead, Doug and Kent use the kids’ love of basketball to motivate them to improve their performance in the classroom. If the kids pass all their courses, they get more time on the court. If they are at risk of failing or are actually failing a course, they’re still on the team, but they don’t get as much time on the court. To be able to get more playing time, they have to attend study hall and raise their marks until they’re no longer at risk of failing any of their classes. The deal is, if their marks are in the 50’s, they attend study hall for two hours a week until they are no longer at risk of failing. If their mark is below 50, then they have to attend study hall three hours a week until they are no longer at risk of failing. Simple. Nice and simple.

Doug and Kent spend hours and hours of their time coaching these kids on and off the court. They talk to the kids, and they talk to their parents. They talk to teachers, and they talk to administrators. They supervise and organize the study hall and keep detailed attendance records. Doug and Kent do a lot. I’ve seen how much time and effort they spend mentoring these kids, and I’ve seen how it works. I teach some of these kids, and I’ve seen positive changes in their behaviour and attitude. Doug and Kent are making a huge difference. They are making these kids want to come to school.

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