Concord High School has a new alternative program aimed at keeping at-risk students on track to graduate. Called the Concord Regional Diploma Academy, it offers a menu of choices, including smaller classes in core subjects, online courses and a GED program, paid for with a $410,000 state grant.

The grant money is part of $4.5 million included in the state budget for alternative education, as a way to make the dropout bill heralded by Gov. John Lynch palatable to skeptical lawmakers. The bill, which passed the Legislature last year after failing the year before, raises the dropout age from 16 to 18.

Here's a snapshot of how the money is being used in Concord:

At 3:10 p.m. Wednesday, 11 students filed into a small classroom on Concord High's ground floor, dumped their book bags and grabbed snacks of bottled water, pretzels and fruit. For the next hour and a half, they talked about the difference between adjectives and adverbs, and discussed the importance of visualizing a story as you read it.

"My brain just went dead," said student Phoebe Bryant, as she struggled to pick the adverbs out of a passage.

Teacher Marjorie Mead, one of two in the small class, leaned over and gave her a hint. Adverbs describe verbs, Mead said.

But Bryant just shrugged. I don't know what a verb is, she said.

Mead didn't give up. A verb is an action word, she explained, like "jumping." Bryant cocked her head.

"Like this?" Bryant asked, pointing to the word "playing." Exactly, Mead said.

Assistant Principal Steve Rothenberg said the alternative program was a long time coming. School officials have recognized for some time that some students need a different route to a diploma, he said, and the passage of Lynch's dropout bill - and the promise of grant money behind it - spurred them to act.

Though the law doesn't go into effect until the 2009-10 school year, the state Department of Education asked for grant applications this past summer. Concord High officials learned in November that they had won one of eight grants, and they received the money in January. By Feb. 1, they had hired a director - recently retired Concord guidance counselor Jane Cogswell - and by Feb. 12 were holding their first classes.

About 50 students from seven different school districts are enrolled in the program. Officials hope that number will soon double, as courses are added to the program's menu. Any student eligible to attend the Concord Regional Technology Center - which serves the districts of Bow, Hopkinton, Pembroke, Pittsfield, Merrimack Valley and Hillsboro-Deering - is eligible to attend the Diploma Academy.

From the sunny classroom that serves as the Diploma Academy's home base, Cogswell this week described the types of students who might find help in the program. "The kids who get caught up in the drama - who's fighting with whom, who's sitting next to whom," she said. "Or the kids who don't like crowds, the kids who are so concerned about their image that they can't concentrate on anything else."

The program has pulled in students who had dropped out, students on the verge of dropping out, students who repeatedly failed classes and students who, for whatever reason, were short on credits.

Jessie Creech, 17, missed an entire semester of school this year because she had mononucleosis. A junior at Concord High, she's taking both of the after-school classes the Diploma Academy offers, in English and social studies, so she can graduate with her class.

For senior Jean-Michael Laurent, 17, Concord High is the fourth high school he's attended in four years. Some of his credits, especially those from Massachusetts, didn't transfer, he said, and he also failed two classes last semester. Short on credits, Laurent enrolled in both after-school classes.

"The difference is here there are smaller classes and you can have more hands-on experiences and one-on-one attention," Laurent said. In regular classes, he said, "I wasn't able to do the work."

Tim Bouchard, 18, is in the after-school classes and also takes algebra online. On most days, he starts school at 9 a.m. and stays until 5:55. Then he rushes to Wal-Mart, where he works the 6 to 10 p.m. shift.

Bouchard was missing so many credits that even with a full schedule, he won't be able to graduate this year. He hopes that he can go to school part-time next year and graduate early next winter.

His problem in the past? Homework. He just didn't do it. "I used to think that when I go home, it's my free time," Bouchard said. "School, I just wanted to leave it behind. Then I started to regret it."

Now, in his after-school classes, Bouchard is the definition of an engaged student. He does extra work and raises his hand so much the teacher hesitates to call on him. Bouchard said the Diploma Academy "is keeping me on track. I don't go home and play video games for four hours straight anymore."

The state grant that's paid for the Diploma Academy's 10 staff members will run out in June 2009. The Concord School Board will then decide whether to continue funding the program, said board President Betty Hoadley. Hoadley, for one, has concerns about the cost and its impact on taxpayers.

"When the grant runs out, the question will be, how does Concord High serve the 16- to 18-year-olds whose plans are different from (taking) regular high school courses?" Hoadley said. "I hope the (Concord High) administration will find ways to satisfy the (dropout) law without breaking the bank."

For information about the Concord Regional Diploma Academy, contact Jane Cogswell at 225-0800 ext. 259, or e-mail jcogs@csd.k12.nh.us or diplomaacademy@csd.k12.nh.us