The beginning of the school year arrives and, like the song says, “We're all in our places with bright, shining faces.”

But for how long? When will bad grades, disinterest and bad decisions start to empty the seats in classrooms in high schools and colleges in Butler County?

That's something that David Wilmes, associate provost for student success at Slippery Rock University, aims to prevent.

Wilmes said the university has much in place to prevent students from flunking out.

For example, he said, “We have tutoring and a writing center. That's pretty standard on college campuses.

“We have a disabilities office. We have more students with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder characterized by trouble paying attention and controlling impulsive behavior) coming in and other needs from high school,” he said. “That's increased in the last decade nationally.”

Wilmes said, “We have some other things. We have a director of student support and her job is to connect students to resources both on and off campus to make sure they get what they need to be successful in studies.”

The personal touch goes a long way to insuring a student's academic success, according to Josh Novak, dean of student development at Butler County Community College.

“We have a variety of retention programs in place,” Novak said.

“During welcome activities we tell students who their advisers are even before they come on campus.”

“When an adviser connects with a student, they can help develop academic and career plans,” Novak said.

Wilmes added incoming freshmen at Slippery Rock get a little leeway as far as grades go

He said, “We give our first-year freshmen a chance to have a grade-point average (GPA) of below the minimum 2.0 on a scale of 1 to 4. If it's below 2.0, they get a warning.

“They have a whole year to get their GPA to where it needs to be, 2.0,” said Wilmes, “But once they have more than 30 credits they can be suspended for going below a 2.0 GPA.”

Get dismissed from SRU for academic reasons, he said, and a student has to sit out at least one semester before applying for reinstatement.

About a third of those do ask to come back after they sit out a semester.

He said that happens to about 4 percent of Slippery Rock's 7,500 undergraduates each year.

Novak said that at Butler County Community College, a GPA of 2.0 or above puts a student in good academic standing. Anything below a 1.5 GPA can land a student on academic probation or suspension.

Academic suspension will prevent students from registering at the college until the end of the next fall or spring semester.

“That number is pretty low compared with the 3,600-student body,” said Novak, estimating every semester sees about 150 students put on probation and another 100 suspended for bad grades.

But long before that, Novak noted there is a retention alert system in place that acts as a tripwire notifying a student's adviser and Novak of lagging grades or excessive absenteeism, which can bring an outreach team to the student.

What's surprising, Wilmes noted, is that it isn't primarily Slippery Rock freshmen students who are getting in trouble academically.

“We see a big issue between sophomore and junior years. The initial retention rate is 82 percent. They come back for their sophomore year and then flunk out or decide college isn't for them,” said Wilmes.

John Wylie Jr., the Butler Senior High School principal, said classroom teachers are on the front line of preventing academic dangers.

Wylie said they are often the first to notice students falling back in class.

“Teachers can offer them time outside the classroom,” Wylie said.

“Counselors do get involved when grades are issued at the end of the term,” Wylie said.

The South Butler School District issues grades every nine weeks, said the district's Greg Hajek, director of special services.

“Obviously we have a variety of teachers that have the ability to make curriculum-based assessments,” Hajek said.

Hajek said foundering students can come to the attention of a specialized multi-tier support system person, who focuses on addressing problems early with students who show signs of academic weakness.

The support person recommends specific interventions designed to improve grades and frequently monitors progress to see how well students are responding to the interventions.

Hajek said the tier system is made up of three levels.

Tier 1 is the instruction that every student in a school should be receiving. Tier 2 includes students who are receiving extra academic support, often provided in small groups. Tier 3 is for students who have severe or persistent needs who require individualized help.

Hajek said the goal of the South Butler School District is to have at least 85 percent of the students succeeding academically with just Tier 1 instruction, while another 10 percent to 12 percent receive Tier 2 level assistance and 3 percent to 5 percent receive Tier 3 instruction.

Hajek said most years the school district hits these proportions.

Hajek said Tier 3 candidates are “really, really struggling.”

A Student Assistance Program, he said “consisting of teachers, counselors and parents together sit down and try to figure out what interventions they should try to help a student raise his grades and keep up with his peers.

Slippery Rock University's Wilmes finds that the biggest cause of lagging grades among Slippery Rock students is poor use of time.

He said, “Time management is a big one what we see.

“Often they are so structured in high school and also all of their afterschool activities, when they get to college, they have a lot of free time, they may be only going to class three hours a day,” he said.

All that free time can lead to readings not being read and assignments not being done as students opt to explore their new-found freedom with friends.