SALEM (AP) — Salem-area high schools are helping students struggling with numbers.

The supplemental mathematics classes, called labs, are part tutorial, part test prep and part study hall.

It’s a relatively new and aggressive way some schools in the Salem-Keizer School District are battling low test scores and trying to reach students better.

McNary High School pioneered the labs when they had the lowest state test scores in math in the district four years ago.

After starting the math labs, McNary more than doubled the number of students passing this year, to about 65 percent, and they’re now No. 1 in the district.