LIVERMORE FALLS – SAD 36 directors voted Thursday to expand the Progressive Learning Institute into the middle school beginning in October.

The program offers one-on-one support and hands-on activities for students between the ages of 16 and 20 who have dropped out of school. Seventeen-year-old Jakelynn Crosby told SAD 36 directors that if similar program had been available in the middle school, she most likely wouldn’t have dropped out of school as a junior.

Crosby said she left high school in November and had been considering not going back.

“The high school was not agreeing with me. I’m not a person who likes drama … I was getting myself into way too much trouble,” she said. “I can’t just sit in a classroom and listen to a teacher talk … or be sitting in a classroom forced to read a book I’m not interested in.”

She has a hard time waking up early, she added, and she’s a hands-on learner.

She heard about the Progressive Learning Institute, a program modeled after the Carleton Project – a state approved private school in Aroostook County for young people who have not been successful in traditional schools, at the SAD Adult Education Center.

SAD 36 launched the program in January for students who have dropped out of high school. Five young adults earned their diplomas so far, three of them going on to college, instructor Chris Ellingwood told directors. Four more are on target to graduate later this year and then he’ll be able to bring in others who are on the waiting list to enter.

These students have high dreams, high aspirations and do much better with hands-on, he said.

Crosby enrolled in the program in April and is looking forward to earning her high school diploma in December.

“I actually am thinking about a career in cosmetology,” she said.

She doesn’t blame anyone for her lack of interest in high school but has found that she does much better with school work when she has someone who believes in her.

“It’s not the fact it’s easier, it’s the fact I get more time with the teacher,” Crosby said.

Students learn at their own pace. Also, the institute has intensive requirements that include hands-on activities that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding through creative methods. Those may include oral/audit/visual presentations, computer, web design, videos, community service and small-group activities.

The biggest thing for Ellingwood, he said, is getting students to set goals and develop a transition plan and find out why things did not work out for the student at the high school.

“Individualized planning and instruction is what makes this program work,” Ellingwood said.

He oversees 15 students at the adult learning center and will work with the teacher hired for the alternative learning program at the middle school.

Crosby answered questions posed by Superintendent Terry Despres and board members.

She said she feels that she is making adult decisions about her life.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself,” Crosby said. “I’m actually not as dumb as I thought. It’s a great program. If I had it in middle school, it would have pushed me into wanting to go on to high school.”

Director Denise Rodzen said the district needs to find ways to address different learning styles. Not everybody learns the same way, she said.

Director Mac Haynes strongly recommended the program also expand to the elementary school. Teachers at that level can pick out who might struggle with education and drop-out.

“We are at a point, we are ready for an alternative program,” Middle School Principal Ted Finn said.