«Back

PartnersSI creates systemic change in public education by working up and down the system—with district leaders, principals and classroom teachers—in order to impact the academic achievement of our students. In this section, we bring you student success stories from the perspective of our School Improvement Fellows, whose work on-the-ground transforms our students' daily educational experience.

Janelle (name has been changed) was a quiet student who struggled with reading and staying focused. She had recently lost her father and didn't seem to connect very well with other students in the class. She would frequently raise her hand and when called on would say, "I forgot." She would rush through her reading, making simple errors and not understanding the content.

Seeing Janelle so disengaged, her teacher tried to connect by asking her questions about herself. She discovered that she was a real athlete. She loved all sports and excelled at them. So her teacher made a point of sharing with Janelle personal stories about her own sister who played college soccer. She found books about sports for her to read and frequently used sports related examples during her lessons. During one of my classroom observations, I heard Janelle talking excitedly about how she and her teacher "both loved sports and knew girls could be good athletes."

As her reading skills improved, Janelle began participating more in class and was more focused. By the end of the year, she raised her hand frequently and always had a relevant response—no more "I forgot." She became an engaged reader. For example, in one assignment the students were asked to make connections between the stories they were reading and their lives. Janelle's book was filled with sticky notes (a strategy she had learned from her teacher), marking all the places where she had made that important connection between what she was reading and how it was relevant to her life. By the end of the year she had increased 5 reading levels. Even more importantly, she is developing into a life-long reader.

—Tali Horowitz, School Improvement Fellow

Elia (name has been changed) entered the 2nd grade reading at a 1st grade level. Not only was her academic learning lagging, she possessed little self-confidence, always walking around school with her head down and avoiding eye contact. We knew there was abuse at home and she was extremely sensitive, avoidant and reactive to failure. I worked closely with Elia's teacher to figure out ways to engage her during class and meet her needs. My first step was getting the teacher to see Elia and accept responsibility for improving her learning. After that, a group effort between the school's literacy coach, Elia's teacher and myself, was made to build Elia's self-confidence. As Elia began to experience small successes in fluency, language and weekly assessments, she became more confident and resilient. We made sure to communicate these successes to her in relation to her goals. Slowly but surely she began to smile more; she was eager to show us her accomplishments; she could explain what she needed to work on and was determined to get it right the next time. We saw a day-to-night transformation: Elia was now motivated and believed in herself and her ability to learn and achieve. On the California Standards Test, Elia moved from reading at basic to reading at proficient levels. She made the year-and-a-half progress she needed and completed the 2nd grade reading at grade level.

—Jeana Kim, School Improvement Fellow

Articles in this issue (Sep 2007):

• Q&A with Jennifer Hammett-Sanchez
• Student Success Stories
• Funder Spotlight