Once the regular school year is underway, freshmen who have not completed all their assignments or not passed the tests required for promotion are given extra time. Freshmen get credit only for work that merits a C or higher. Once a freshman completes the work or masters the skill, the P is replaced by an A, B, or C grade. The P grades do not dampen a student's spirit to learn like F grades do, says Beverly. The teacher must find something where the student can experience success.
Some students come to high school never having experienced success.
Though well regarded, the early years of the program had mixed results. In 1992, before the new grading policy was adopted, two-thirds of the freshman students passed all their classes. That rate dropped the following year to 59 percent and then inched up in 1994 to 60 percent. This year, Hyde Park reconfigured the school day to accommodate a 45-minute session for freshman division. Instead of the usual fare of announcements, freshman division is an enhanced study hall, where students can study vocabulary, write in journals or learn critical thinking skills.