Student Success in the New Salem Educational Initiative: Damon Peters

Damon Peters first enrolled in the New Salem Educational Initiative as a Grade 3 student during the 2009-2010 academic year.  At the time, his mother, Maxine, expressed deep concern at the indications of teachers that Damon was reading far below grade level and that his math skills lagged behind those of his peers who were functioning fully at Grade 3.  She did not want to see her son fail in school and get caught in the cycle of poverty that typified so many people around her.

This was a familiar situation for me, since I typically observe students from challenged backgrounds functioning two grade levels or more below that of school enrollment when they first enroll in the New Salem Educational Initiative.  This frequently results in an entire academic year of intensified instruction in both math and reading, at which point most students have risen to grade level in both key skill areas.

In Damon’s case, though, the ascent was even more rapid.  He had witnessed three other family members go off each week to academic sessions with me, and upon his enrollment was primed and ready to exert full effort.  I quickly noticed that Damon is naturally very bright, so that all he needed was a logically sequenced program of skill remediation quickly to close the gaps to grade level that had been present in both math and reading.  By the end of his Grade 3 year, Damon had not only attained full grade level performance;  he in fact was already moving on to skill acquisition assignments typical for Grade 4 students.

During Damon’s second year (academic year 2010-2011) of enrollment he had mastered all math and reading material pertinent to his Grade 4 level of school enrollment by November 2010.  By February 2011, he had mastered Grade 5 material in both key skill areas, and by the end of May 2011, Damon had passed math and reading tests indicating mastery of Grade 6 material. At the end of his Grade 5 academic year (2011-2012), Damon was taking on many challenges at the high school and collegiate levels.

At the 2011-12 Annual Banquet, Damon demonstrated his mastery of Shakespearean (Elizabethan) English, an interest he pursued during summer 2012 by reading King Lear with me and attending a staging of this great play with several other students at the Great River Shakespeare Festival (Winona).   Damon is a student who started below grade level but in just three years of participation in the New Salem Educational Initiative is functioning far above his Grade 6 status in school. His continued progress along a college preparatory track will be a joy to observe.