Brandywine Community Schools’ alternative education center has made substantial headway in recent years, its director reported.
Michelle Wruble, director of Bell Education Center, located at 1830 South Third St., Niles, said during the school board meeting Monday that Bell made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in reading.
It obtained “safe harbor” provisions in math, which the U.S. Department of Education identifies as a way to demonstrate growth by showing a 10 percent reduction in the percentage of students scoring below proficiency and reaching the criteria for graduation, attendance or science.
Alternative schools have only been included in AYP calculations the past few years, Wruble said.
Discipline referrals are down 82 percent, a result of Bell’s focus on improving that area, she said.
“We want kids to feel safe here,” Wruble said.
The number of students missing 10 or more days — classified as “truancies” — was up slightly from 33 students in 2009-10 to 38 students in 2010-11.
Reasons for absences span a wide variety of issues, from transportation to legal to social and emotional, Wruble said.
Bell students are typically experiencing hardships like parenthood, incarceration or family problems, which is why they have chosen an alternative school, Wruble explained. Bell also offers child care to accommodate students who are parents.
Some students are homeless or “doubled-up” — living in an unstable residence, like a friend’s home.
Many are “stop-outs,” which means they haven’t completely dropped out of school, but “stop in every once in a while,” Wruble said.
The average age of Bell students is 18, and most students who enroll there come in with about 11 credits, which is about mid-sophomore year level.
Wruble said the school is focusing on boosting attendance by offering incentives, identifying barriers and maintaining daily contact with students, and credit recovery by addressing what skills are needed to obtain credits and what number of credits is realistic for students to obtain. It is working to monitor daily student progress and offer flexible class scheduling, and teaching students basic skills, like how to study, and calling when students are absent.
The graduation rate has skyrocketed from 15 percent in 2007-08 to 57 percent in 2009-10.
Wruble reported that Bell students earning 2.5 credits or more have an average of 83 days of attendance; students earning two credits or less have an average of 24 days of attendance.
“They haven’t seen the correlation on finishing their diploma and how good things can happen,” Wruble said. “We do have students who say, ‘we’re so glad you’re here.’”

About Bell Education Center

• Average age of students: 18
• Total enrollment: 93 (88 are adults)
• Average number of credits at time of enrollment: 11
• Graduation rate has increased from 15 percent in 2007-08 to 61 percent and 57 percent in the last two years.
• Discipline issues went from 158 referrals in 2008-2009 to 64 referrals in 2009-2010. There were 54 smoking referrals in 2008-2009 and zero smoking referrals in 2009-2010.
• Truancy (students missing 10 or more days per year): 73 students in 2008-09; 33 students in 2009-10; 38 in 2010-11

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Source: Brandywine Community Schools