Port Byron's high school took unique to a whole new level this year.

Last year, the high school carved a half hour out of the daily schedule to introduce an advisory period to provide struggling students additional time for academic assistance and access to teachers.

Now, students with a love of learning and being challenged in the academic arena can enroll in the advisory period's new honors program in English and social studies.

“We think it's a little bit of a twist on what has been done, but it gives us flexibility,” said Principal Shawn Bissetta.

By flexibility, Bissetta is referring to students, specifically sophomores and juniors, who could - and want to - conduct ongoing research, take part in extensive reading and writing exercises with a focus on critical and analytical thought processes without disrupting classroom learning.

“In a time constraint you can't do everything you want. This gives them a chance to do that every couple of days, to have an extra day to work with a teacher to hone their research skills in particular, and analytical skills and to write in an analytical way,” Bissetta said.

From 10:32 to 11:02 a.m. each day, students can take honors classes to prepare themselves for the higher levels of academia.

“This will set the stage and build the ramp to their next level of study,” he said.

Bissetta has seen a good response from both students and parents after one month. “It's been good,” he said. “It's sort of hitting its stride. Everyone's getting more comfortable with it.”

And it's only going to get easier as time goes on, said Bissetta. When guidance counselors, teachers, parents and students started discussing scheduling last spring, the details on how the honors program was going to work was not yet ironed out, he said.

Now that the program is off the ground, Bissetta is hopeful that, come the spring, the program will be easier to publicize to parents and get more students involved. There are currently 23 students enrolled in the English honors class and 14 in the social studies class.

“We look at it as a pilot,” Bissetta said. “It's a good sampling for our first time out. It's a good response particularly because it was later than usual that we were actually able to advertise that we had this. It works well with the class sizes that we have now. We're pleased with it.”

Last year, the high school was looking to devise a way to give students some extra time in the classroom and with teachers to wrap their heads around curriculum. From that the advisory period was born, a time in which administrators, staff and students can “take a step back from the regular, daily schedule in order to address several areas of need within our building,” Bissetta said. “We use the time to provide formal and informal academic assistance to struggling students without disrupting their normal course schedule,” he continued. “We provide students opportunities to attend assemblies and workshops with guest speakers and college representatives, as they are all available at the same time - without disrupting class schedules.”

And the honors program is just another part of this advisory period.

“With all students potentially available at that time, it doesn't disrupt their ability to participate in a wide variety of other classes. The biggest advantage to our new schedule is that it gives much more flexibility, and allows us the opportunity to provide more pinpointed, individualized instruction to all of our students. This is true for struggling students as well as for those that benefit from challenging their ability at a higher level than ever before in preparation for the rigors of college, he said.

But the high school's new vision on academic scheduling is not limited to those that are excelling and struggling. A ninth grade transition class has been implemented during the advisory period. Students needing Academic Intervention Services classes have the time to meet during the half hour, and the student leadership group assembles to plan various activities.

“It's another way kids have a chance to learn, really learn in a nontraditional way about creating more programs, seeing things through from an idea to a finished product,” he said.

And while assessments have to be made at the end of the year, it looks like the honors program and the advisory period are here to stay. Bissetta may even look to expand the honors program beyond English and social studies, he said.

“The biggest thing we're trying to hit at was trying to really be as creative with the time and resources that we have as possible,” he said. “We think we've come up with a pretty creative way of putting ourselves in a position to be able to help kids and give them opportunity.”

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at alyssa.sunkin@lee.net or 253-5311 ext. 239