All three Joi Jones, Le’Paris Bell and Miguel Lopez failed to hit the minimum reading score required for promotion to high school—6.8, or the eighth month of 6th grade. And they failed again at the end of mandatory summer school. But by January, after another semester in 8th grade, all three hit the mark and quickly found themselves in one of five new transition centers aimed at catching them up to their peers. With extra work this semester and another round of summer school, they, along with some 630 other transition students, could earn up to 5.25 credits and enter high school in August as sophomores.
