Student Profile: Brittany

Student Academic and Social Circumstances

Brittany first enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative during the 2007-2008 academic year, when she was a Grade 8 student at Olson Middle School in North Minneapolis. It was apparent to me from the beginning that Brittany is quite bright, but when she first came into the program she was recording mediocre grades at school and did not have a very strong self-concept.

Brittany is a person of mixed African American (mother) and Caucasian (father) parentage who has for many years now lived with a foster mother, Marcella Baker, who serves as primary caregiver and legal guardian. Brittany’s mother is at best remote in her life; she does, though, maintain a relationship with her father, whom she visits every other weekend and on holidays at his home in northern Minnesota. She has been offered a chance to live with her dad permanently but considers Marcella to be the most important adult in her life and has adamantly stated her preference to continue her schooling in Minneapolis.

Brittany’s family situation now has an acceptable rhythm and predictable pattern, but when she first entered the program she gave evidence of personal insecurities typical of a young person whose home life has in the past known tumult. At certain points in her school years, Brittany’s life situation had proven disruptive to her educational progress, so that only her natural intelligence had allowed her to operate just below grade level at the beginning of her Grade 8 year. As the year progressed, though, Brittany gained much more confidence as she worked her way through the challenging curriculum that I placed before her. By the end of that academic year 2007-2008, Brittany had mastered all skills typical of a Grade 8 curriculum, and she was taking on reading material more descriptive of a Grade 10 student.

Only slowly did Brittany internalize my comments as to the high intelligence that she was manifesting in rising to the academic challenges of the New Salem Educational Initiative. After I had repeatedly told her how smart she is, she asked me during one of our weekly sessions, “Do you tell everyone that they’re smart?”

This was a bit tricky for me, since I do start with the assumption that all students are capable of rising to high expectations and, upon the accumulation of a requisite skill and knowledge set, operating in the way that describes a “smart” student. But I do not believe in building self-esteem through shallow praise; I believe, rather, that the “smart” moniker should be earned through high level academic performance. Brittany had moved through the curriculum at a much faster than average pace, and it was with specific reference to that pace that I ultimately got Brittany to believe that she is, indeed, very smart.

When she entered her second academic year (2008-2009) of participation in the New Salem Educational Initiative as a Grade 9 student, Brittany and I both had high achievement goals for her. She moved quickly through a set of vocabulary and comprehension exercises that I had for her and passed her practice Grade 9 Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) in Writing, then went on to pass a practice Grade 10 MCA in Reading. These verbally oriented tests come first in high school. Since Brittany appeared ready for both of these at an early juncture, we were by the end of the year able to get an early start on the Grade 11 MCA in Math, a challenging test for which preparation two years in advance is highly advantageous.

Even during the 2008-2009 academic year, Brittany only technically qualified for participation in the New Salem Educational Initiative as an organization drawing funding as a provider of Supplemental Educational Services under No Child Left Behind regulations. This is because our contract is only with the Minneapolis Public Schools, and Brittany had by this time transferred to a Catholic school, to which she had gotten a scholarship on the strength of her rising academic performance resulting from her training in the Initiative. In the early portion of the academic year, though, computer records still showed Brittany officially enrolled at a Minneapolis public school, so that I was able to enroll her on that basis by being quick to process the paperwork.

This will not work during academic year 2009-2010, though, since Brittany is now officially recorded in computer files as attending the Catholic school. In order for Brittany to maintain the kind of progress that she has made in consecutive years of participation in the New Salem Educational Initiative, it is imperative that she continue her training in this program. Although it would be unusual for an inner city student to enter the Initiative so close to the high school years and still gain enough academic ground to attain National Merit Scholarship status (when many suburban and private school peers have had advanced training for several years), I have told Brittany that she has shown that level of potential if she continues to dedicate herself to the challenging math and verbal skills curriculum of the New Salem Educational Initiative.

It is my vow never to let go of a student once she or he has entered the Initiative. My pledge is to continue to train my students up to the college years and beyond. For this to be possible for a student no longer enrolled in the Minneapolis Public Schools, though, a private funding source must be found. Given Brittany’s potential and its life transforming possibilities with the proper training, securing such a private source for Brittany’s continued participation in the New Salem Educational Initiative is one of my chief funding goals as I anticipate the 2009-2010 academic year.