Achievement Mentoring (Queen Anne's County FY18 and beyond)

Story Behind the Curve

Queen Anne's County public schools have implemented a variety of strategies to address poor subgroup performance, including specialized training, individualized learning plans, and co-teaching. Mentors, tutors, reading/math specialists, and the after school programming are current resources for students who need additional support. Challenges facing the public schools include funding reductions which have resulted in the loss of learning support specialists.

Demographic factors which influence student achievement include the rise in the number of single parent households and high out-of-county commuter rates. Children often remain at home unsupervised after school until 6:00 p.m. or later.

Due to the change in the focus from MSA to CORE curriculum, the school system anticipated a drop in data for the percent of middle school students in Queen Anne's County passing the MSA in Math and Reading. Their prediction was correct. Data from the new assessment will be included for this result once it is available.

Strategies to improve these indicators

After School - "Partnering for Youth" (PFY) program

Achievement Mentoring for At-Risk Youth

Character Counts

Youth Mentoring

Why Is This Important?

Data Discussion

Story Behind the Curve

• Program Challenges:  Include any obstacles to the delivery of program services and your strategy to overcome the obstacle.

 The contract agreement it states that I would be serving four middle schools and three high schools. At the start of the year I reached out to all of the middle and high school counselors and principals and explained the scope of the program, my role and the criteria for the clientele that I would be serving. However, two of the middle school administrators/counselors that I had contacted responded saying that my services were not needed at this time. BUT some of the students who were referred to me at the other high and middle schools had siblings in elementary level grades so I thought it might be beneficial for these students to receive the same services as well. When I reached out to the elementary school counselors and principals, the response was immediate. They already had one or two students whose names came to mind, that they requested that I add to my caseload. As a result, my caseload grew to twenty students within a relatively short amount of time. I wished for all of the students to benefit from this program, however, my students were spread out across nine different schools once I included the elementary schools. Therefore my mileage expenditure ended up being over the expected budget in order to accommodate all of the students in the program. As I have experience with at risk youth, my biggest challenge this quarter was in time management and the larger caseload spread out across different areas and schools than I am used to accommodating. I brought this to the attention of the Local Management Board and it was decided upon that I transition out the elementary school aged children in order to take on new clients which have recently been referred to me at the middle and high school level. 

How We Impact

1HFY18

• Program Successes: 

            One of the program successes I’ve noted is seen in the students’ responsiveness to the program. In following with the behavioral mentoring and  reinforcement model, I always do a check in with the students before each meeting. Initially they seemed almost confused as to why I didn’t immediately go into discussing what assignments they were missing, or behavioral/attendance issues. I base this on the fact that they would often look at me without much of a response when I would ask how they were doing in general before diving into the achievement mentoring piece. However, once they realized I would always start off my visits with the “check-in,” the students would start volunteering information readily, which varied from issues at home, with a particular class or student, ect. I have always observed that utilizing this strategy as defined in the BMRP model, greatly helps to develop rapport within a few short weeks with students. And I have found that once students’ trust is gained, they are also much more apt and open to discuss implementing change in their grades, attendance and/or behavior.

       As per/due to  this responsiveness of the students, I am then able to delve into what obstacles may be impeding his/her progress. For example, if a student is failing a class I give them a print out of all of the assignments that he/she is missing, and we develop a game plan of how to bring that particular grade up. In some cases, the students are not comfortable asking their teacher(s), what they are required to do to improve their grade level, so I am able to serve as a liaison for them. I am confident that this strategy is working because students will often ask me what the response was from the teachers that I emailed the following week. Additionally, I will often call home to let the student’s parent or guardian know teacher feedback that I have received for students that need that additional push. In this manner, I am able to provide consistent updates to students, parents and teachers. This holds the students accountable in addition to making  them cognizant of what is required of them to improve their grades. Consequently, many students on my caseload have shown academic progress and success. 

Case Vignette:  Include a story that highlights the positive impact of the program on children, youth and families assisted by your program.

   Although I have had many students make significant strides this quarter, there is one student who has demonstrated an amazing turnaround both personally and academically. At the beginning of the quarter, this student was a member of the varsity football team. However, due to his absence of attendance to various practices and his inability to keep his C average up, he was unable to stay on the team. Consequentially, this created a greater lack of motivation in him and his grades continued to decrease. During all of this, his mother was diagnosed with lupus and he was spending much of his free time devoted to helping her. He told me that his older brother was also living with them but was offering no help. Additionally, his father who had previously been incarcerated and who he knew would likely be incarcerated again in the near future, was often not responding to his attempts to reach out for emotional support. This student told me that part of the reason he felt unmotivated was due to the fact that he did not have anyone to really look up to in his life.

  His counselor and I met and discussed his ongoing academic and emotional struggles to brainstorm ways to help him become more successful. His mother and I were also in frequent content via email. He was a perfect candidate for the school’s mentoring program and began to also meet with a male mentor who also happened to be his carpentry teacher that he spent two periods a day with. The school principal also developed a close rapport with him. In addition, when I would meet with him, in following with the behavioral monitoring and reinforcement model, despite his deflection, I would continuously point out any and all small academic successes I had observed that week. This combination of ongoing support from myself and other staff members gradually enacted a change in this student. His grades began steadily increasing and he started taking more of his own initiative in staying after school to complete make up assignments. He set his sights on earning at least a C average in order to try out for track in the spring. In December, he joined the track team and has maintained his C or higher average. This student is truly an example of one who chose to persevere in the midst of great obstacles against him. 

Program Summary

Target Population

            Total number served this quarter  1HFY18            20

2)         Gender (#)                            M 12                      F 8

3)         Grades (#)                             

K          1

1          1

2        

3          1

4          3

5         

6         

7          2

8          1

9          2

10        2

11        5

12        

Story Behind the Curve

In FY 19, the follow up contacts quarterly between the student participants and Achievement Mentor dramatically increased, this is because this measurement was being calculated wrong. In FY 18 it was measured by students who receive at least quarterly contacts; whereas, it should have been calculated by each individual contact made with the student. 

Program Summary

FY19:

Achievement Mentoring is an evidence-based program (Rutgers University) that provides intensive case management services at four middle schools and two high schools using the Behavioral Monitoring and Reinforcing Program (BMRP) approach. Youth and family members are connected to behavioral, academic, and social resources. Additionally, the Mentor helps students learn coping skills and job preparation skills.

Target Population

FY19:

The target population is students who come to the attention of the guidance counselors and administrative offices along with other agencies included on the Local Care Team and the Detention Center who are known to be children of currently/formerly incarcerated parents.