Columbia County hopes to boost the performance of some low-achieving middle-school pupils by teaching them material before their classmates.

In a concept called acceleration, middle-schoolers who performed poorly on last year's Criterion-Reference Competency Test are learning math and language concepts in special classes three to four days ahead of their peers, in hopes the material will be familiar when they see it later in a regular classroom.

"Acceleration is a unique intervention with these kids, incorporating a new concept of pre-teaching," said Mike Lindsey, the director of middle-school learning.

Harlem Middle School math teacher Ken Glaze instructs his 84 pupils in sixth through eighth grades on vocabulary and some simplified concepts.

"That gives the kids the chance to participate in a regular math class, because they now have an idea of what's going on," Mr. Glaze said. "It builds their self-confidence to understand what's being talked about. They now don't just tune out."

In the past, schools might have put low achievers into separate classes or after-school programs where a regular teacher would go over the material causing problems.

Pre-teaching, however, proved successful within the system, so officials decided to take the next step this year by hiring 11 new teachers dedicated to accelerated and remedial education in the county's eight middle schools. Progress is monitored and classes are capped at 18 pupils.

"These teachers have one focus, and that is getting these kids back up to grade level," Mr. Lindsey said. "In the past, with regular classroom teachers, they had to give up part of their planning time and there was a fatigue factor."

These pupils now take the acceleration and remedial course each day with a designated teacher. They are taught accelerated concepts three days each week and remedial subjects twice each week, Mr. Lindsey said.

Pupils in Mr. Glaze's class undergo daily skill drills and many review basics such as memorizing the multiplication table.

"I really feel like a lot of our students understand the concepts they're being tested on, but they don't have the quickness," he said. "Once they memorize the multiplication table, you can see their improvement."

But the true test of the program's effectiveness won't come until the CRCT is administered in the spring, Mr. Lindsey said.

Reach Donnie Fetter at (706) 868-1222, ext. 115, or donnie.fetter@augustachronicle.com.