Project Description

The New Hampshire Department of Education has been awarded a three-year (2006-2008) dropout prevention grant, called APEX II (Achievement in Dropout Prevention and Excellence). This project builds on a previous dropout prevention and school improvement program (APEX I) that was implemented in 2002-2005 in Franklin and Manchester, NH. APEX I demonstrated the promise of strategically combining three powerful school improvement models to reduce dropouts, improve individual student success, and to improve overall school climate. These models are:

  1. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a systemic, data driven behavioral support and improvement process.
  2. Rehabilitation, Empowerment, Natural supports, Education and Work (RENEW), an intensive individualized school-to-career service for the most at risk students, and
  3. A Student Leadership Process, including a student-led needs assessment and action project program where students work with PBIS Universal Teams to participate in the assessment and improvement of school climate, safety, and learning.

From April, 2006, through December 2008, we will work with students, families, teachers, and administrators at 10 high schools and their sending middle schools to implement a system of student, teacher, and school supports that will enable all students to be successful in high school.
There are three levels of support for the schools in this project:

  • School-wide: At this level, the APEX staff will help the schools to evaluate and re-design their discipline systems usik=9i Supports model (PBS). Staff members will work with the schools to form a Leadership Team (Universal Team), assess the school’s current behavior profile, redesign the school’s behavioral expectations, sharpen the school’s data collection and retrieval system, and design and implement school-wide interventions that will benefit every student in the school. In selected schools, the leadership efforts will include the development of student-led data collection and student leadership development so that a diverse representation of “opinion-leaders” can be part of the school’s Universal PBS team.
  • Targeted: At this level of intervention a team of specialists and administrators will focus on students who exhibit challenging behaviors and who are at risk for school failure due to academic, social or behavioral issues. The goal of this team is to design interventions for the student or group of students based on a functional and contextual assessment. These “function-based” interventions have been proven highly effective in the reduction of problem behaviors and the associated negative consequences. This level of project intervention includes working with middle school staffs to identify and help specific at-risk 8th grade students to transition to the 9th grade in a positive way.
  • Individual Student: RENEW facilitators employed by the APEX project work with staff members at each high school and specialists from community-based organizations to identify individual students who are struggling to complete their program or who have already dropped out. Individualized teams will be formed for each student and they will be trained to develop individualized, student-directed school-to-career plans using an evidence-based practice called RENEW (Rehabilitation, Empowerment, Natural supports, Education and Work).

Student Leadership

The APEX project also includes the development and support of a student leadership team (in schools that have adopted PBIS) in order to gather information about school culture and climate from a variety of perspectives, to ensure that the voices of all students are part of the school-wide Universal implementation process, and to develop better communication and understanding between students, faculty, administrators, and other stakeholders. This part of the APEX model is provided by faculty and students from New England College through Main Street Academix, Inc. in Henniker, NH.

The Rational for APEX

Research tells us that students with certain characteristics are more likely to dropout of school. These student characteristics include low socio-economic status (Rumberger, 1987; 1995), educational barriers (Wagner, 1991; 1995), membership in certain ethnic or minority groups (Rumberger, 2001), or a history of abuse, neglect or substance abuse in the family (Alexander, et al., 1997; Kortering, et al., 1992). The research also tells us that some high schools have higher dropout rates than other high schools when controlling for these student-related factors (Rutter, 1979; Merritt, 1983). High schools with better student outcomes tend to have well- organized, consistent and positive systems of discipline and tend to have a philosophy that all students should be successful (Bryk & Thum, 1989; Gottfredson, Gottfredson & Hybl, 1993; Nelson, 1996; Rumberger, 2001). The New Hampshire APEX model is based on this research and the philosophy that school factors can contribute to lowering dropout rates, and that all students should have the individualized supports necessary to succeed.

The NH APEX model is designed to achieve five outcomes: 1) to significantly reduce the high school’s drop out rate, 2) to implement a school-wide positive behavioral system in the high schools in order to reduce the suspension and expulsion rates, including meaningful student and parent involvement in decision-making, 3) to provide an intensive and individualized school-to-career service for current dropouts or students at great risk of failure so that a significant majority of those students successfully complete high school, 4) to develop a transition process for at-risk 8th graders so they have a successful transition to 9th grade, and, 5) to expand the state’s capacity to implement these proven dropout prevention strategies by creating comprehensive and high-quality professional development and technical assistance capacities through multiple venues and training levels

Collaboration with Other Initiatives

The New Hampshire Department of Education has embraced PBS as a high priority strategy for school improvement, and has worked with Rivier College and SERESC to create the New Hampshire Center for Effective Behavioral Interventions and Supports (NH-CEBIS). APEX has joined resources with NH-CEBIS to provide training for all levels of PBS implementation, and to ensure that the APEX II schools have access to strong technical assistance, data collection and evaluation services. In addition, APEX II is collaborating with the NH Systems of Care in Education initiative and the state’s Youth Vision Committee. The APEX II staff are working with the NH Federation of Families and NAMI-NH to ensure parent participation at the individual, school and community levels. The Family Resource Network at the New Hampshire State Library is also part of APEX II, obtaining and providing resources and information on PBIS, dropout prevention, disability and education, and secondary transition.

****APEX II is a Dropout Prevention grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. (CFDA No: 84-360A)

CASE EXAMPLE: Franklin High School

Franklin's Team looked at the data and decided that the primary problems centered on the 9th and 10th graders:

As a result of using data, the Franklin team decided to implement 9th grader advisories, and they taught those advisees about behavioral expectation. The results are shown in 2004-05:

Franklin's Results: Problems by Referral Behavior

APEX worked with Franklin HS beginning in the fall of 2002 through June 2005: Here are the results: Franklin HS Dropout Rates:

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Research & Published Materials

PowerPoint Presentations

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Project News

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Project Staff & Contacts

Robert Wells, Ph.D.
APEX II Project Director
NH Department of Education
Phone: (603) 271-1536
Email: rwells@ed.state.nh.us

JoAnne Malloy
Project Co-Director
UNH/Institute on Disability
Phone: (603) 628-6837
Email: jmmalloy@aol.com

Kathleen Abate
Project Co-Director:
Alliance for Community Supports, Inc.
Phone: (603) 628-7681
Email: gsffcmh@aol.com

McKenzie Harrington
APEX II Program Specialist
NH Department of Education
Phone: (603)-271-3739
Email: mharrington@ed.state.nh.us

Donna Couture
APEX/RENEW Facilitator
Alliance for Community Supports
Phone: (603) 723-4125
Email: dcouture@sau3.org
Region: Berlin

Tara Veit
RENEW Facilitator
Alliance for Community Supports
Phone: (603) 628-7681
Email: Taraacs@Hotmail.com
Region: Nashua

Jonathan Drake
RENEW Intensive Facilitator
Alliance for Community Supports
Phone: (603) 978-0075
Email: Drake.j.d@gmail.com
Region: Seacoast

Maria Agorastou
APEX Facilitator
Phone: (603) 862-0318
Email: Maria.agorastou@unh.edu
Region: Seacoast

Maureen Tracey
APEX Facilitator
Alliance for Community Supports
Phone: (603) 628-7681
Email: maureentracey3@hotmail.com
Region: Nashua, Manchester

Nancy Cristiano
Family Resource Connection
Phone: (603) 271-1188
Email: ncristiano@library.state.nh.us

Trishia Jacobson
APEX /RENEW Facilitator
Alliance for Community Supports
Phone: (603) 986-9175
Email: Trisharx@aol.com
Region: Conway

Betty S. Santerre
APEX/RENEW Facilitator
Alliance for Community Supports
Phone: (603) 991-3315
Email: Betsan9@hotmail.com
Region: Woodsville

Rebecca Boutot
Facilitator
Alliance for Community Supports
Phone: (603) 788-0991,
Email: rcboutot@msn.com
Region: North Country

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Resources and Links

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