Student Success in the New Salem Educational Initiative: Bonnie Mathews

Bonnie Mathews first enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative as a Grade 4 student during the 2010-2011 academic year.  At the time, her father, Brandon, expressed concern that Bonnie was not reading well enough for her grade level, and that teachers continually indicated that she had trouble focusing her attention on that task of the moment.  Given these parental and teacher concerns, I scheduled a one-on-one two-hour weekly academic session for Bonnie and launched her on an aggressive program of skill development.

Bonnie proved herself to be a very bright girl who responded eagerly to the focused attention that she was getting from me.  She rose with great speed to full grade level performance in both math and reading, proving quickly that she had all of the latent and manifest academic skills necessary to excel in her grade level assignments at school.  The problem of focus was in evidence at times, even under one-on-one conditions.  I could see that the problem as it occurred in my own sessions with Bonnie revealed itself not because of any academic disinterest on Bonnie’s part, nor because of any intractable skill deficits, but variously 1) because of certain life concerns and 2) because of certain flights of imagination revealed in the context of the moment.

I drew upon my experience with other such apparent attention deficit cases to direct Bonnie’s attention back to the task at hand.  I would first of all discuss any concerns that Bonnie had as to her life at school or at home.  I would offer an empathetic ear and advice as appropriate, give her a chance for further comment, allow enough (but not excessive) time for full venting of frustrations and discussion of solutions--- then bring the session back into focus upon the math or reading skill designated for acquisition.  Similarly, I would give serious attention to Bonnie’s flights of fancy, treating them as creative observations of and interaction with the world around her; then attention would be directed back to the task at hand.

Bonnie came to appreciate the validation that came from this approach. By the end of that first year of enrollment in the New Salem Educational Initiative, her Grade 4 year at school, Bonnie was performing math operations and reading assignments typically associated with students at Grade 5. Bonnie continued on that trajectory as an enrolled student in Grade 5, making A’s and B’s in her first year of middle school.

Bonnie's rise to academic success has been very rapid. Her case provides ample evidence for an approach that treats each child as a unique person with particular physiology, personality, and parental circumstances--- but holds each child to the same set of very high acdemic standards.