A Boost for the World's Poorest Schools

To mitigate the pernicious effects of poverty on student success, nonprofit 'Blocks of Hope' in Colorado aims to provide both educational and social services to students and their families, with the goal of leveling the playing field.

To enhance learning, Smart Primary School has integrated peer-mentoring in its curriculum through the Buddy program. Each student in the first grade is paired with a fifth grader who tutors and guides the younger one with lessons and activities for the next four years. The program has not just helped them improve their language, communication, and mathematics skills, but also helped enhance the school atmosphere through the trust and bonding students build in the process.

Boulder Valley schools are working with Latino parents to create networks of community support, feedback, and insight about the success of Latino children in the district. Parents are working with the school district to make sure stereotypes and racial bias aren't limiting their children from receiving food services and quality education that fit their needs.

In a Buffalo school district where many students from low-income families struggled with trauma, attendance, and the effects of poverty, a nonprofit initiative called Say Yes to Education is implementing drastic change. The program increases graduation rates for minority students, grants scholarships and admissions guidance to colleges, provides medical and mental health care to under-served students, brings in mentors and after-school programs, and even assists students parents with job-readiness workshops and housing assistance.

The ecosystem of D.C. charter schools that has evolved over the last two decades represents a cornucopia of creative and nontraditional approaches to education, in addition to fairly traditional college-prep schools, and is now producing some of the highest graduation rates, college acceptance rates, and average test scores in public schools in the nation.

Community colleges were originally designed to be affordable and accessible, yet the myriad pressures on students means that the best intentions often don’t lead to positive results. But the University of Central Florida and its partners are proving a new model called DirectConnect—heavy on individual attention and clear academic goals—that paves a surer path.

Through programs across the country, nurses, social workers, or trained mentors offer support to new or expectant parents, imparting skills to help them become better teachers for their children. Through regular home visits with the families, these programs are working to close an achievement gap between rich and poor children that starts as early as just nine months into a child's life.

To reach students who had stopped attending school, Nigeria set up “non-formal learning centers” in some states where children could attend lessons three days a week in both Hausa and English, giving them the foundational knowledge needed to reenter the public school system. Between 2016 and 2021, more than 31,000 children transitioned from non-formal learning centers to public primary schools.

A peer tutoring program at a New Jersey high school has helped students improve academic success while feeling connected and supported by their peers. The program started by providing time during study hall periods for small groups of peers to meet. Then, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the program went virtual with pairs of students meeting twice a week in zoom breakout rooms. About 54% of students who were tutored passed a class they had previously failed. The program also fosters social connections and a supportive school culture.

Placing students into smaller groups with peers of similar learning ability allows schools to allocate resources to struggling or underprivileged students. The Peterson Elementary School in Kalispell, Montana, has begun to close the achievement gap for students of lower income families by creating three tiers of educational development. Teachers then tailor curricula around the needs of each peer group.