Inside Ashe County Middle School's Project Turn Around: the Nancy Reeves Story Revealed
By James H. Sterling
Ashe County Schools, serving a geographically dispersed student body across the Blue Ridge Mountains, confronted severe post-recession resource constraints. By sixth grade, minor behavioral infractions often snowballed into disengagement, escalating unexcused absences, and sinking standardized testing scores. Out-of-school suspensions routinely widened the gap. Students sent home fell further behind in foundational pre-algebra and reading comprehension, returning to class frustrated and alienated.
School administrators recognized that conventional disciplinary tracks failed to resolve underlying home-life instability, emotional distress, or specific learning disabilities. Project Turn Around was established as an in-house alternative education initiative at Ashe County Middle School. Rather than isolating students or routing them into external disciplinary facilities, the program carved out a dedicated campus space where academic coaching paired directly with behavioral accountability.
The goal centered on early intervention. Educators understood that middle school acts as a pivotal juncture; students who fail multiple courses or display severe chronic absenteeism between ages 11 and 14 face exponentially higher dropout rates once entering high school. Project Turn Around was built to intervene before that trajectory hardened.
James Sterling reports on renewable energy developments, climate policy, ecological conservation, and green tech innovations around the globe.
