ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, September 22, 1996 TAG: 9609240096
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
ROANOKE'S TEEN Outreach Program is reaching out across the region to see if others are interested in adopting its model curriculum, which aims to nurture teen-agers' respect for themselves and others.
Other school districts besides the city's, and other organizations that work with youth, ought to be interested. Though low-key and tiny, TOP is showing impressive results.
The program, as described in a series of workshops hosted by TOP in Roanoke County last week, works with academically at-risk high school freshmen and sophomores. The emphasis is on volunteer mentoring.
Trained facilitators lead sessions on various life skills, such as making responsible decisions; dealing with peer pressure and the risks of sexual relationships; gaining self-insight; handling anger and conflict; setting goals.
More importantly, TOP involves the kids in what's called service-learning - learning by helping others. Teen-agers read to Hurt Park Elementary School kids. They help nursing home residents trace family histories.
The interesting thing is: It works.
Every year, TOP surveys the pool of at-risk students from which it draws its participants. Then it compares results from the teens who go through TOP's one-year program against the results experienced by non-participants.
Get a load of these. Among Patrick Henry High School sophomores in the 1994-95 school year:
* Eighty-six percent of those enrolled in TOP failed fewer courses in 10th grade than they did the previous year. That compares with 39 percent of the non-TOP students who failed fewer courses.
* Eighty-one percent in the TOP group skipped school fewer days during their sophomore year than during the previous year. In the comparison group, 44 percent of the students had improved their truancy rate.
* Ninety-one percent in TOP reported either no contacts with the police or courts or fewer contacts than the year before. Sixty-five percent in the non-TOP group had less or no involvement with the criminal justice system.
* A third of the 10th graders in TOP made it to the honor roll at Patrick Henry. Only 9 percent made it in the comparison group.
* Eighty-six percent of TOP participants were suspended less often from school as sophomores than they had been the previous year. Seventy percent of the non-TOP students experienced fewer school suspensions in 10th grade.
* Fifty-seven percent of TOP students reported being sexually active as sophomores. The rate for the comparison group was 65 percent. (The survey suggests that TOP may not have put a stop to ongoing sexual activity - but kids enrolled in the program who had been abstinent were more likely to remain so.)
Introduced in Roanoke six years ago by the Junior League, based on a national model, TOP this summer was adopted by Family Service of Roanoke Valley. The program began with just 20 students at Patrick Henry, but has since tripled in size, serving William Fleming and the Noel C. Taylor Learning Academy as well as P.H.
Still, many students who could benefit aren't able to, and Roanoke remains the only TOP site in Virginia. That needs to change.
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