LOWELL Put away the textbooks and drop your pencils.

This isn't your grandmother's after-school program.

A new middle-school initiative that is gaining steam across the state pairs students with local business people in apprenticeship programs to fill those crucial after-school hours.

"For middle-school kids, the traditional models of after-school programs don't engage them. They fall short," said Kate Carpenter, director of national partnerships for the organization. "Middle-school kids aren't really interested because they're at a crux point where they look like adults and are developing an adult perspective, but what's available for them is also available for children."

The program, called Citizen Schools, began in Boston and moved to Worcester and Framingham this year. Officials are in the early phases of discussing a Lowell launch in 2003.

Studies have shown that the hours after school and before parents return home are often when children are at their most susceptible. Children in middle schools are at perhaps the most vital age for after-school programs.

"It's a time where you can still affect a child. It's seen as a bit of a tipping point," Carpenter said.

Citizen Schools aim to take the concept of after-school learning out of the classroom and into the community. Local companies and organizations volunteer to take on students as apprentices, showing them the finer points of working in a government office, a bakery or in a dance troupe.

Rather than extending the school day, Citizen Schools aim to widen the breadth of experiences a student has during a normal day. It's a different model than the after-school homework centers that are often found at middle schools.

"Middle school is really where adolescents are at an educational crossroads. Citizen Schools do provide that broader framework for people to learn in," said Lynn D'Ambrose, program officer for the Nellie Mae Foundation's Out of School Matters! initiative, which has given grant funding to the program.

The organization works in conjunction with local community-based organizations to initiate the programs at school-based sites. In each city, they discuss the program with local officials and work in conjunction with them to bring the program to fruition.

In Lowell, the after-school model has already followed an innovative path, with classes in such diverse areas as jazz music and art, science labs and television projects. The history of thinking outside the box when it comes to after school makes Lowell an ideal choice for the next wave of Citizen Schools, officials said.

"We're looking for communities that have a lot of resources, that can mobilize those resources, that have a vision," Carpenter said.

Susan McMahon's e-mail address is smcmahon@lowellsun.com .

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