Motivation program helps students DARE2XL
There just isn’t enough time in the regular school day to accomplish all that needs to be done for some students’ success. Just ask Dr. Donald Sheffield.
“How important it is for all children to get the time and attention and to practice for the best of their ability,” Sheffield said, talking at a recent press conference about a motivational after-school tutoring program he brought to Fayette County.
“You can’t maximize them without extending their day. Not all children need this, but you have to make sure that all get the time they need.”
Sheffield is a senior instructor for Outreach and Cooperative Extension at Penn State at University Park and president of TAME Inc. (Techniques Assisting Motivation and Excellence). He developed the DARE2XL after-school program that Penn State Fayette has adopted for students in Uniontown Area and Laurel Highlands school districts.
With the help of $200,000 in funding from the state Department of Welfare, the Workforce Investment Board, other agencies and the school districts, DARE2XL got started in Menallen and Clark elementary schools in January for first- through eighth-graders.
William Thompson, executive director of the Westmoreland-Fayette Workforce Investment Board, said officials are pursuing funding for the next school year.
“The intent is to continue at Laurel Highlands and Uniontown and expand to Brownsville, so we’ll have three school districts in September,” Thompson said.
Forty students in Laurel Highlands’ R.W. Clark and 33 students in Uniontown’s Menallen elementary schools participated. A survey by Sheffield indicated that the students had better grades the more they attended the program and that parents were pleased.
Menallen Principal Charles Yasechko said he had hoped for improvement in three areas and saw it in the DARE2XL participants.
“Number one is a general improvement in school attitude and, of course, to improve students’ behavior and also to improve course academics. Several students had deficiencies in those areas. I tried to keep in touch and did see improvement,” Yasechko said.
R.W. Clark principal William Martin said a highlight for him was the support he saw from parents.
“They bought into the program. That spread to the children and the enthusiasm was high,” he said.
Eight-year-old Alex Rolaf, a student at Clark, said he liked DARE2XL because of the homework help.
“It was good. I got my homework done and could play when I got home,” he said.
Sheffield said Alex, himself, turned out to be a help to classmates.
His mother, Alisa Rolaf, said it was her son’s self-confidence that she noticed.
“I never really had problems with him doing his homework. This is motivational and for self-esteem. He has two older brothers and it can be tough,” Mrs. Rolaf said.
Sheffield said parents can practice the motivational methods at home. Attitude can have a lot to do with a student’s success in school, and Sheffield called DARE2XL an “academic pep rally.”
The students and teachers do rap chants of pledges, like the four-verse “Excellence Begins When Excuses Stop.”
Clark teacher Patti Parisse said the rap chants brought some fun to the tutoring.
She and colleague Rita Palya said it was a positive move to work in a small group with students who were interested in their studies.
Carol Bubonovich, Laurel Highlands’ federal funds director, said she liked that college students were involved as tutors with the school district teachers for the program. She said some high school students also got involved as a senior project for the sake of career exploration.
The college students hailed from Penn State Fayette and California University of Pennsylvania.
Rachel Tiberi, DARE2XL coordinator at Penn State Fayette who saw the program first hand, said a highlight for her was seeing the bond between the students and the teachers and tutors. The college students, she said, also got a chance to work with veteran teachers.
“It really met a bunch of needs. It helped parents and teachers in the long run with the students’ better attitude. It gave insights to those interested in potential careers and helped continue our outreach mission to the school districts,” said Joe Segilia, director of outreach at Penn State Fayette.
Sheffield started DARE2XL in Aliquippa in 1991. The name stands for Dream, Aspire, Reach and Excel.