Student Success in the New Salem Educational Initiative: Blake Bradford

Blake Bradford first enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative as a Grade 2 student in the 2009-2010 academic year. At the time, Blake was functioning below grade level in both math and reading, the typical situation for Minneapolis Public Schools students whose families face significant economic and life challenges. I designed a highly aggressive program of skill remediation for Blake that by the end of the academic year found him ascending to grade level in math and near grade level in reading.

I was sufficiently pleased by Blake’s progress to place before him select skill acquisition assignments more typical of a Grade 3 curriculum. Thus, by the end of his Grade 2 year, Blake had mastered most of his multiplication tables through 9 and had knowledge of a number of vocabulary items not generally understood until Grade 3. Blake eagerly looked forward to his two-hour weekly small-group academic session, highly abetted by the relationship that I was forging with his family.  Every week, Blake’s mother (Rebecca) and grandmother (Sara) would tell me what a liking Blake had taken to me, how he got so excited about each weekly academic session, and how much they thought this had to do with the academic progress that they could see and that was observed by Blake’s teachers at school.

During his Grade 3 academic year (2010-2011), as Blake completed one logically sequenced assignment after another, his pride in accomplishment grew accordingly, his academic focus became more and more acute, and his performance both in his small-group sessions with me and in his school setting gave evidence of a young man who had recovered to grade level and was poised to rise above his level of school enrollment in both math and reading.

At the beginning of Grade 4, Blake encountered a host of personal and familial problems that seemed to impede his proper concentration in school and threaten to undercut the remarkable progress in both math and reading that he had sustained during Grade 2 and Grade 3.  But I worked with Blake’s family, serving directly as counselor and acting as community resource liaison when the need arose. Blake’s attitude steadily improved, and the winning smile that accompanies his natural disposition began to spread widely on his face again as he began each session with me. By the end of Blake’s Grade 4 year, he was functioning fully at grade level in math and reading and was once again poised to take on tasks above level of school enrollment.

Thus, Blake now looks forward to academic year 2012-2013 with the prospects of great academic achievement.  My ability to forge strong relationships with Blake and his family, while providing the highest quality academic instruction, has been instrumental in keeping Blake on this path to success.