Two years ago, as I was visiting an elementary school, I was walking towards the principal's office when I saw a little first grade student sitting on the floor with her head down.
I asked the student, "Are you in trouble?" She looked up at me, put her head back down.
I said, "Excuse me, are you in trouble? Is that why you are waiting to see the principal?"
She looked up at me again, rolled her eyes, turned her head, and then put her head back down. The school counselor said, "Yes, she's having one of her days... she's waiting to see the principal."
I talked to the principal about this little girl and learned the little girl had a run-in with a teacher. The teacher asked her to do something, and the little girl looked up at the teacher, wagged her finger from side-to-side, and said in a tone that you can only imagine, "You don't tell me what to do."
For one of the first times, I started to realize how first grade teachers can predict future dropouts.
I became interested in this little girl and found out she was from a broken home and was being shuffled between mom and grandma. The doctor had recommended medications for her conditions, but they were not being administered. Eventually, DFACS got involved and the girl, separated from her family, moved from one foster home to another.
For a year and a half in 2008-2009, the school tried to evaluate her to see if she should qualify for special education. Unfortunately, the school was unable to make it through the complete RtI process. It was just a very frustrating situation.
In math, she was barely passing the CRCT and in reading she was barely making it. I thought, "This is going to be hard."
Fast forward to fall 2009...
I was at a different elementary school for a Beta Club induction. A student walked over to me, hugged my waist, looked up, and said, "Do you remember me?"
I said, "No, not really..." She told me her name. Although I'd only seen the girl twice over a two year period, I immediately remembered.
She told me how happy she was with her foster family. The adult with her, the media specialist, said, "Yep, she spends a lot of time with me but she's adjusting."
Fast forward to this week...
I went back to that school and walked into the front office. They looked at me and said, "How can we help you?"
I replied, "I'm here to see this student, do you know her?"
They said, "Oh, yeah, we know her. Her classroom is down on this hallway, last one on the right."
When I opened the door to her classroom she looked at me and blurted out, "I know him! He was at my old school!"
The teacher looked at her, looked at me, and then asked me, "Would you like to come in?" I told the teacher, "No, I'm really here to see her. May I see her in the hallway please?"
In the hallway I said to this little girl, "I've heard you've had some good news lately... you were in a talent show?"
"Yes, I was! And I won! I'm going to go onto the next level, but I won first place!" She was so proud.
I said, "I also heard you did well on the CRCT." She replied, "I did... I didn't think I was going to do well in math at all because math is really hard, but I did well."
I told her, "That's what I heard. Do you know what your score was?" She did, and she told me... and that's what I want to share with you.
A year ago, she had barely passed the CRCT. Barely. She's what we'd call a bubble student.
This year as a third grader she scored over 860 on the math CRCT. Her reading scores were over 850.
A bubble student who has now exceeded expectations on the CRCT in both math and reading...
When I was able to tell her how proud I was of the work she was doing, it made me so proud of not only her, but also her teachers and the entire team that has worked hard to help her.
I saw our version of the Verizon commercial. There's one person standing in front... and behind that person is an entire support team...In this case a team of teachers and paraprofessionals, bus drivers, custodians, nutrition workers and principals and administrators social workers, school psychologists, special education and parents.
This entire team over the last two years has turned around my vision for this little girl's future. She's going to be successful... she's working very hard and she's happy.
And it's because of you.
I dare us to remember why we are in this profession. We make a difference. You make a difference. That's why. So in May 2010, I dare you to remember your success story from this school year.
Have a great week!
91% of 2010 seniors qualify as Work Ready
