NASHUA — Academics have branded them “intentional non-learners,” the capable students who, for an often elusive reason, can’t seem to get it together. It’s an age-old problem for teachers, and starting this year the city’s middle schools are attempting a new approach for helping intentional non-learners succeed.

“Everyone knows you have the potential, but they can’t reach you to bring out that potential,” said Elm Street Middle School Principal Colette Valade. Valade is working with staff to develop Intentional Non-Learners, a program to pinpoint the reasons otherwise capable students aren’t performing.

In the works for six months, the team-based initiative that teachers at Fairgrounds Middle School are rolling out will suspend school privileges for students who need to shape up. After Fairgrounds teachers shared the idea with colleagues during a summer workshop, Elm Street and Pennichuck schools designed programs of their own.

“This came about because at this time, middle school students who do not pass a class still continue on to the next grade,” Valade said. “We no longer have summer school ... retention does not help those types of students, so how are we going to help students who don’t help themselves?”

Intentional Non-Learners provides teachers with a systematic, team-based approach to working with these students.

Dan Scarpatti, a sixth-grade reading teacher at Elm Street and one of the coordinators of Intentional Non-Learners, used the example of a class clown to describe an intentional non-learner. Other examples include students who are skipping school or not turning in their homework, resulting in low or failing grades.

Scarpatti said one of his students last year was a typical intentional non-learner — a smart, personable and charismatic kid who played sports and was popular among classmates. The sixth-grader had been coasting by with minimal effort and B grades, but with the shift to middle school his grades slipped to Cs and Ds.

“He’s the type of kid that, if you were on him all the time, I think he would’ve been able to succeed if we had that plan in place,” he said.

So Scarpatti was eager to establish the Intentional Non-Learners program.

“I think just having that plan is going to be a concrete thing for the kids to look at, a concrete thing for the teachers to look at,” he said.

In Nashua’s middle schools, teachers work in teams that oversee groups of 50 to 100 students of varying academic levels. Under Intentional Non-Learners, a team, rather than any individual teacher, will determine that a student is having an issue.

The program is set to begin in the coming weeks. During an initial meeting, a student having academic problems will be asked a series of questions: What are the reasons for the behavior? What do you need me to do to make you successful? What are you going to do to improve your behavior?

If a specific reason for the student’s academic trouble is not determined, he or she will be considered an intentional non-learner.

A week later, a second meeting will take place. If improvement has been made, it will be rewarded. If not, a warning form will be sent to parent and student.

The team will meet weekly. If the student improves, he or she will be rewarded. If not, a formal meeting will be held with the parents and an intervention team will be established with members that include coaches, guidance councilors, nurses and administrators. A student improvement plan will also be designed.

On the fourth week, the team will meet to review the plan. If progress has been made the student will be rewarded. If not, the student will return to team intervention.

“These are the kids where you’ve tried all the other stuff,” Scarpatti said. “We’ve tried the working with them, bringing them in — this is last straw.”

At Fairgrounds, intentional non-learners are being addressed through a school-wide plan called Team Probation. Students are expected to deliver on three levels: academics, attendance and behavior. If a student doesn’t meet the standard, he or she will be suspended from team activities such as field trips and athletics.

“We’re trying to make it so kids want to stay on team,” said Fairgrounds Principal John Nelson.

Team Probation is based on three-week periods. After a letter is sent to parents, a student will spend three weeks on team probation. If he or she shapes up during this period, team privileges will be restored.

Nelson said though the program can be perceived as punitive, it coincides with a system of rewards intended to inspire engagement. Rewards include academic recognition, pizza, no homework days, raffles and gift certificates.

“We want them to buy in that it’s fun and rewarding to be on the team rather than not do your homework ... and go through the (negative) part of the process,” he said.

At Fairgrounds, a large portion of the student body could be intentional non-learners, said Nelson, noting that of the school’s entire group of underperforming students — from the hardcore non-believers to the borderline intentional non-learners — 20 or 25 percent fit the description.

He hopes that a student who realizes he or she might not be able to play basketball, for example, will be motivated to get on track. “We want kids to see the value of doing a good job in school,” Nelson said.

srios@newstote.com