At Mosley, a Fresh Start for Both Students and School

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  Dressed in all black Tuesday night, Oates decided to lay to rest the "Can't brothers" by placing the words "I Can't" and "You Can't" into a box and burying them during the school's orientation.
  "We're dropping these words from our vocabulary and replacing them with the 'Try Sisters,' 'I'll Try' and 'You'll Try,' " Oates said. "Students who drop out often believe 'I can't' or they've been told that 'you can't,' so I wanted to have a funeral to give these students a fresh perspective on school."
  The informal ceremony not only represented a fresh start for the nearly 50 students attending Tuesday night's orientation, but it also symbolized a new beginning for the school that has been plagued with changes for the past two decades.
  Mosley, formerly known as Lakeside School, was New Hanover County's alternative school for more than 20 years and has been restructured several times over the years to meet student needs. The focus of the school has shifted from catering to high school students with discipline problems to helping students not promoted to the ninth grade transition into high school to dropout recovery.
  The school is now undergoing another change by becoming New Hanover County Schools' first performance learning high school. It's a transition that teachers, administrators and school officials plan to make permanent.
  "We have all intentions of making this school work," said Rick Holliday, assistant superintendent for support services with New Hanover County Schools. "We're committed to this as part of our high school reform initiative."
  Isaac Bear Early College based at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Wilmington Early College at Cape Fear Community College also are schools based on the reform initiative, Holliday said.
  "Mosley just takes us to the next level," he said.
  Non-traditional learning
  The performance learning center uses non-traditional learning approaches to offer students who have already dropped out of school or are at risk for doing so greater access to personal support services in a small business model.
  Each classroom is equipped with computers and students learn and are tested on course material from a computer program called NovaNet. Students also are given projects and role-playing exercises to assess their knowledge on the subjects, Oates said.
  The number of teachers and students in each classroom also are reduced. At Mosley there are seven teachers or learning facilitators and 100 students enrolled at the school.
  Students are taught in small classes where they are able to complete courses at their own pace. Students are enrolled in four classes a semester. Once they complete the course material they can sign up for another course, even if it's in the same semester, Oates said.
  Teachers at the school are responsible for supervising classes and helping students with concepts they don't understand, Oates said.
  "It eliminates the one-size-fits-all approach of learning in the traditional classroom," Oates said. "The performance learning center allows students to learn at their own pace because the cookie-cutter approach doesn't work for all students."
  A business environment
  In addition to changes in instruction, the school day also is structured differently. Classes begin at 9 a.m. and end at 4 p.m., and students are paired with mentors in their chosen field to shadow during the year. Mosley students will complete an internship during their senior years, Oates said.
  "Our focus here is not only on academics, but we want to prep students for post-secondary education or their chosen career path," Oates said. "Our goal is for the students to come in, take their classes and move on."
  Students must apply and interview to be a part of the school, Oates said. He said they also are required to wear uniforms, which consist of white, navy blue or black polo shirts and khaki, navy blue or black pants, to go along with the school's business environment.
  The performance learning center is a national model put together by Communities in Schools, an organization that focuses on student dropout prevention. The first performance learning center was started in Georgia about years ago. According to the Georgia Communities in Schools Web site, there are now 29 sites in the state. The model has been duplicated in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Pennsylvania. Mosley is North Carolina's fifth performance learning school, Oates said.
  Learning a new way
  Mosley's staff, which includes the principal, teachers, counselors and administrative assistant, participated in training at performance learning centers in Georgia and North Carolina to prepare for the school year, said Louise Hicks, executive director of Communities in Schools of Cape Fear.
  Hicks said New Hanover schools officials studied several schools before deciding to implement performance learning at Mosley.
  Regina Watson, who taught at Mosley when it was Lakeside, said she's excited the school system decided to make these changes.
  "The school system is moving in the right direction by giving these students an alternate learning setting," said Watson, who's been teaching at the school for 10 years. "They have the traditional schools and the early college high schools. This is the missing piece of the puzzle."
  Sophomore Crystal Tart will be attending Mosley this year after attending New Hanover High School and Lakeside School. She said this the first time she's been excited about starting school.
  "I really think the teachers are going to care if I do well here and that will make a lot of difference in my grades," Tart said. "My outlook on school has already changed."