PROVIDENCE — When Principal Robbie Torchon was told that one-fourth of his students at Alvarez High School failed at least three classes during the first quarter of this academic year, he didn’t blame the usual suspects: Truancy, tardiness and parental disengagement.

Instead, Torchon saw the dismal performance as a challenge. How, he asked, can the 600-student Alvarez — formerly Adelaide High School — get students to not only turn around their grades but set higher goals?

Torchon didn’t waste any time. He put each of the 146 failing students on academic probation, and then invited their parents to attend a conference in the principal’s office.

“We talked about what the problem was,” Torchon said recently. “In many cases, a student said, ‘I don’t try that hard during the first quarter.’ I explained to them the law of averages, that one bad quarter can affect their grade for the year.”

Then, the principal, parent and student signed a contract that spelled out what academic probation entails: The student must attend an afterschool program three days a week; if the teen misses one class, that student, accompanied by his parent, must be in the principal’s office the next day.

“I did some research,” Torchon said, “and all colleges and a lot of private schools have academic probation. If we tell students that they’re failing in April or May, it’s too late. Some parents never get their child’s report card.”

Many high schools delegate this responsibility to the guidance department, but Torchon thinks that the principal should set a tone of high academic expectations.

“I feel this is my duty and obligation,” he said, “to act on behalf of all of my kids.”

Urban parents are often portrayed as being too busy or too overwhelmed to care about their children’s school performance. According to Torchon, that perception isn’t true:

“Every single parent thanked me wholeheartedly for taking an individual interest in their child,” he said. “They said, ‘I support what you’re doing. You will see my child after school.’ ”

On the first day of academic probation, three students failed to show up for their afterschool classes. Torchon called the parents into his office the next day. Two weeks later, no one was skipping class.

“We turned something that could have been very negative into the opposite,” he said. “These families have never been exposed to this kind of microscopic support. My goal is to provide a more personal approach to instruction.”

Torchon is also tackling the high failure rate from another front — the teacher. At the end of the first quarter, every teacher gets an analysis of the grade distribution in each of his or her classes. The goal is to get at least 75 percent of the students in each class to pass their subjects.

“Any time the pass rate falls below 75 percent, they meet with me to reflect on the previous quarter’s experience,” Torchon said. “I ask them, ‘Have you looked at your students’ performance? To what do you attribute the failure rate?’ ”

Some teachers recite a litany of roadblocks. The kids don’t come to school. They don’t do their homework. They have a bad attitude. Their parents don’t care.

Torchon lets them vent and then urges them to brainstorm solutions to the problem. One teacher devised a reward system for those students who complete their homework; another promised to call parents whose children skip school or arrive late for class. Yet another teacher set aside time for students to start their homework in class.

There are no excuses, Torchon said, adding that all the teachers get the phone number of all students’ parents on their class rosters.

“Teachers are beginning to realize that this is not a confrontation,” he said, “but rather an opportunity to reflect on better teaching strategies.”

Eighteen months ago, Torchon was asked to open a new high school on the site of a former Superfund site near Reservoir Triangle. His job was to imbue the building with meaning — to create a sense of community where there was none. This was no easy task because both students and staff were plucked from high schools all over the district and many came from Harrison Street, a shell of a high school where students and staff felt abandoned.

Torchon divided the student body into teams of 130 and assigned teachers to one of five teams, which focused on school climate, data assessment, curriculum and school rules and regulations. One team looked at suspension data; another found that in classrooms where teachers were highly engaged, discipline problems were uncommon.

Throughout the first year, Torchon’s mantra was, “You are no longer guests here, you are hosts. Your diploma’s value will be based on the impressions that people have of your school.”

Although measurable results take time, Torchon said he already sees a shift in attitude. Teachers are taking a closer look at what they do in the classroom, students are beginning to take their work more seriously and parents recognize that the school cares about their children.

Still, Providence, he said, must reach a stage where school quality is no longer dependent on a charismatic leader:

“It’s hard to become a principal in a city without a tradition of excellence.”

lborg@projo.com