Some students ride a longer arc to academic success than do others. The key to advancement is found in the faith that success will be achieved and that there will be an enduring commitment to make academic achievement a reality.
Hispanic students, for example, frequently present the challenges inherent in the circumstances of the nonnative English speaker who hears only Spanish spoken in the home. Children of impoverished and frequently dysfunctional families all face huge challenges that children of the middle and upper classes do not face. Their parents tend to have limited education. They do not hear as many sophisticated vocabulary terms being spoken. They are not privy to as many discussions ranging around important domestic and international issues. These disadvantages are magnified when a student also hears most discussions in a language other than that which prevails at school and which will be employed in postsecondary educational experiences and in the workplace.
Even academically engaged and talented students can reveal stunning academic deficits while reading new material or engaging in discussions. Rosa Martinez (data privacy name), one of the participants in my Sunday evening college preparatory class attended by advanced Grade 10 students, has a huge vocabulary and excellent reading comprehension when all relevant terms are within her understanding. Still, even she can reveal vocabulary deficits for topics that we have just not discussed. I have warned her not to be complacent as she anticipates the Grade 10 Reading Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) necessary for graduation. She must be very careful not to be blindsided by terms sprung on her that, despite her academic sophistication and advanced training, are unfamiliar. She must be prepared to read very carefully and derive the meaning for unfamiliar words from context.
This is even truer for students who are not as advanced as is Rosa. For example, I have two enthusiastic Grade 6 boys with whom I meet on Friday evenings. Enrique (so I’ll name him here) is a highly adept student at mathematics, but I work long and hard with him to read word problems carefully so that he can let that math ability shine. Since enrolling in the New Salem Educational Initiative in Grade 2, Enrique has become an ever more engaged reader, and he has made up huge vocabulary deficits. But his struggle will be ongoing as he strives to keep up with students who hear only English in the home, especially those whose parents make utterances associated with avid readers or people who in one way or another have become fairly well educated.
His buddy (I’ll call him Antonio) presents a less challenged case of verbal development, but he has his moments of surprising vocabulary deficits, as well. And Antonio is not as mathematically gifted as Enrique, so I have to work hard to build his confidence and provide the kind of motivation that comes from the expectations and the behavior modeling of ambitious middle and upper class parents. Additionally, Antonio lost a year of education in the United States during one sojourn back to Mexico, and he was made to repeat an academic year upon return. So Antonio is 12 years-old going on 13, rather than the 11 years-old going on 12 that is typical for a Grade 6 student. He is experiencing some of the social dislocations and struggles of early adolescence. I have forged a strong relationship with Antonio, so he ultimately listens to me, but under the challenges posed by his array of personal and life stage issues, the fact that he knows that I will always be in his life to support him looms large in his ability to make the right decisions.
So for students who need ongoing support to overcome particular obstacles, such as those faced by nonnative English speakers, a vital feature promoting student success in the New Salem Educational Initiative is that emphasizing an enduring commitment and a permanent relationship with student and family. Rosa, Enrique, and Antonio are on a secure path to success in the knowledge that they have entered my universe and I will never let them go.
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