Mentoring Students to Prevent the ‘Summer Slide'

A progressive funding model has been a boon to schools in Berlin’s poorer neighborhoods, which receive a baseline of staff and resources. But schools in poorer neighborhoods face a myriad of struggles that additional resources haven’t been able to quell, due to the deep socioeconomic disparities between the home neighborhoods of wealthy and poor students. However, one elementary school seems to have succeeded in desegregating students by offering a choice of academic tracks.

After budget cuts and limited resources put a strain on students’ academics, Lingelbach Elementary focused on building community while also training teachers in the science of reading and providing more one-on-one support for students. The percentage of third graders passing English exams has since risen from 26 percent to 71 percent.

The Bunmi Adedayo Foundation trains public primary school teachers in new methods and boosts their morale to improve their skills and provide students with a higher quality of education.

The Wonderland Gifted Girls Academy provides free education to girls in Oyo State, Nigeria, to increase educational opportunities for girls and give them a foundation to build their future on.

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.

By implementing evidence-based practices such as school consolidation, citywide proficiency tests, teacher bonuses, standardized lessons plans, and monthly professional development, the Brazilian city of Sobral went from one of the country's lowest-performing school systems in the 1990s to receiving the highest math and literacy scores in 2015. Since adopting similar policies, other school systems in the state of Ceará have seen improvements, claiming 12 of the top 20 spots for primary school performance in Brazil in 2019.

Amidst controversy over gifted programs in New York City, a school in Harlem believes it can offer an alternative model with an admissions policy that bakes in diversity. The school has designated almost half of the spots in its incoming kindergarten class to disadvantaged students, and “the parent-teacher association encourages local East Harlem parents to apply.” But these policies may not work for other gifted schools, who see the diversity of its student body drop lower and lower every year.

Since implementing a “science of reading” curriculum, Sharswood school has seen its reading scores jump, with 43 percent of all students scoring proficient or advanced and and more than half of third grade students meeting the mark. Teachers says a big factor in the successful implementation has been the flexibility to tailor resources to each classroom and the support of an onsite literacy coach.

In an effort to better support its youngest learners, Mississippi implemented sweeping education reforms, including introducing a standardized “science of reading” curriculum, providing more teacher training and support with in-school literacy and math coaches, and holding back third-grade students who don’t meet their reading skills benchmarks. Over a decade, the number of students reading at grade level has climbed from 12 percent to 35 percent, and the state now ranks among the top ten nationally for fourth-grade reading scores.

At East End Community School, teachers and administrators work to combat chronic absenteeism by building a “culture of attendance,” with celebratory ceremonies for students with high attendance, monthly attendance reports for parents, community dinners, students raffles, and individualized, shame-free check-ins for families struggling to get their students to school. The school’s rate of chronic absenteeism has dropped from 25% to 13%.