A pilot program launched by Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools to help students who have fallen behind academically will be expanded during the upcoming school year.

The program is being shaped into a two-year model to catch students up academically to their peers through a rigorous class setting and a transition period into middle school.

In January, about 15 fifth-grade boys from throughout the school district were selected to participate in the class at Fairview Early Childhood Center. An extra-long school day and extra-long school year was enforced to move students toward their peers' learning level.

After a year of virtually one-on-one instruction with teacher Charles Collins, students showed academic and behavioral strides, administrators said. Test scores went up, and the students found new self-respect.

The success of the intervention model, which is meant to combat the dropout rate, will continue into a second year. The plan is for all of the students to move to Parker Middle School with Collins at the beginning of the new school year.

"Throughout the course of the year they will evolve from the same setting they're in now," said Mark Cockrell, executive director of middle and secondary education. "By the end of the year, we hope to have them successfully integrated."

Students will transition into regular classes, but Collins will act as a support mechanism for academics and middle school life during the students' first year.

"There's so much more freedom and decision making at the middle school level than the elementary," Cockrell said.

As the first class moves to Parker Middle, a second class will start at Fairview Early Childhood Center with a new teacher. The elementary class then will move to Parker Middle during its second year in the program.

When Nash-Rocky Mount administrators formed the program in November they identified 49 boys and 17 girls throughout the school system that were two years behind academically.

The number of students in the program may fluctuate, and adding girls in order to serve all students also has been discussed. Over time, the program will be reflective of the school system's needs, Cockrell said.

As discussion continues to prepare for the next group of fifth-graders, administrators are happy with the first-year results.

"We're just excited," Cockrell said. "It should be another exciting step."