ESC Region 12 ~ Grand Central Station

Title:	GRAND CENTRAL STATION: Engineering Success for Struggling Students
Location / Contact:	Salado Intermediate School, Salado ISD Penny Whitmire (pwhitmire@saladoisd.org) Robinson High School, Robinson ISD Jackie Jones (jjones@robinson.k12.ts.us)
Short Synopsis:	Effective integration of students with disabilities with their nondisabled peers
Description:	Grand Central Station evolved from years of watching struggling students give up on school and finally give up on themselves. As struggling learners reach middle school, increased workloads and organizational demands often trigger a predictable downward spiral: failure, lowered self-esteem, anxiety, anger, behavior problems, shut-down. Educators, parents, and community partners addressed this important challenge, asking themselves, “If we could build the ideal supportive environment for struggling learners, what would it look like?” GCS was created to be the ideal safety net for at-risk secondary students, activating organizational and systemic structures to ensure each student’s success through on-going assessment of individual learning needs, structure and accountability for academic progress, and tracking/communication mechanisms that ensure implementation at school and home.
Evidence of success:	Longitudinal Data show 33 GCS students who entered the program as 8th graders had a 30% failure rate. By 10th grade, these same students had a 7% failure rate. Over the past 3 years, implementation of nine GCS labs has begun on eight different campuses. For the six labs operational in 2001-2002, these labs served 89 students who were at risk for school failure. Their failure rate was reduced from 30% prior to intervention to 9% by the end of the year.
Recognition:	Salado ISD and Robinson ISD Grand Central Station Programs have been nominated for the 2003 Promising Practices Award from the Texas Education Agency.