The Results are in, year two…

This year has been a challenging year for our tutoring project.  East Tech was in the middle of a school relaunch that included students from East and South High Schools.  Taking three schools and combining them into one is very challenging for students, teachers, and administrators alike.  For us it meant that many of the students, teachers, and administrators we have worked with, built friendships with, and established a working relationship were gone.

The next thing that was really challenging was in terms of our financial support.  Last year we had a great partner commit to give 25 thousand dollars a year for 5 years.  This pledge was going to allow us the time to work with two classes of students and track them all the way through high school and to gather the data to show that our plan is in fact helping students not only stay in school, but reverse the trend of high drop outs and low scores.  The amazing part of the pledge was that it was originated by a missionary in Africa started the pledge and helped raise other support to make this work.  For the better part of the last year the Ivory Coast has experienced civil unrest that has kept this promise from being realized.  The loss of $25 thousand this year and $125 thousand over the next 5 has been a serious blow and threatens the future of the project.
Now that we are clear that the project has seen it fair share of challenges, let me get to the results.  We started with 30 students, and finished the year with 15 students.  Of the 15 that finished the project we were able to exit test 12 students.  The average student was tested at the beginning of the program reading at a 3rd grade 5th month level.  Each student had a face to face one on one tutor that worked on reading curriculum and then spent time reading to each other twice a week.  The students were able to read many types of books that covered all kinds of topics and many were more to their level than we would want, but they engaged students with real life issues and with things they deal with every day.  Drugs, sex, violence, gangs, prison, pear pressure, and other topics were able to be discussed with a caring adult.

All of this is important as relationships with caring adults are in short supply for many kids.  The real impact of the relationships can never be measured with a test, but our students, their teachers, their tutors have all seen a huge change in the behavior and attitude of each student.  Where we can test is in the reading comprehension and skills, the average student gained 3 1/2 grade levels this year.  That means that students that were reading at a third grade level have now closed the gap to read at a 7th grade level.  Of the students that we have worked with for two years, they have now caught up with their current grade level (in two years) from 3rd grade to 10th in two years.  This is nothing short of astonishing, and for those kids it is a life changer.

The challenges make the year feel like a failure, our inability to find a way to cover the cost of the project have been an ongoing source of stress and frustration.  I can tell you that only when you walk with Jesus can you fall on your face and change the lives of young people forever.  If this is failure, I will take it every time.

Now to sort out what next year looks like and if we can continue this effort.