GLOCESTER - The state's Department of Education has removed Ponaganset High School from its list of schools requiring intervention in light of recent improvements in student performance.

In order to get off intervention status, a school has to meet its progress goals for two consecutive years, according to Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. Ponaganset succeeded in doing that, according to the state's most recent report cards, which were released last week.

Ponaganset was one of eight schools in Rhode Island which performed satisfactorily enough to be removed from the intervention list.

Ponaganset was placed on the intervention list two years ago because it was failing to meet its goals for students with disabilities, Krieger said. In theory, this means that the Department of Education then works jointly with the local district to address the problem.

But, in Ponaganset's case, the Foster-Glocester Regional School District and the high school's staff tackled the issue on their own, according to Michael Barnes, acting superintendent of the regional district.

Ponaganset did several things to address this problem, among them having math teachers in grades 6 through 12 work with special education teachers, and better aligning curriculum to reflect state standards, Barnes said. Some of the district's actions targeted just students with disabilities, but just as often they benefited all of the region's students, he said.

"To me, the strategies to get off an intervention list are the strategies you want to be using in the district as a whole,'' Barnes told The Valley Breeze & Observer.

These strategies include curriculum instruction and assessment, using model lessons that are aligned with state standards and having special education teachers work closely with math and English teachers in grades 6 through 12, he said.

Ponaganset's principal, Dennis Kalafas, praised his staff for the school's improved performance.

"A lot of the credit has to go to the special ed department,'' Kalafas said.

But in addition, said Kalafas, Ponaganset has made a concerted effort over the last year to reach students who are not performing, whether they are special ed or not.

Specifically, the school has put together a special response team which develops individualized plans for those students, whom teachers feel they are no longer able to reach. Sometimes the problems are academic, sometimes not, said Kalafas.

Whatever the case, Ponaganset doesn't want to give up on the student, he said.

Also new this year is the use of the school's Alternative Learning Program by students with disabilities, said Kalafas. Additional resources will become available to this group when the high school's renovation and expansion is completed, he said. Notably, the school's new design adds a resource room for special ed students next to the nurse's office on the first floor.

The state measures school performance to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Schools are required to show adequate yearly progress for all its students or risk being placed on intervention or watch status. Almost three-quarters of the state's schools made adequate yearly progress in 2007-2008, according to the state's recent report card, but there was still a big difference in student performance in urban schools and suburban schools.