Our first week back at LIST marks our first full year of being in operation! It was a great opening week, especially when I think back to last year at this time – last year, I would open up shop with one or two scheduled students (if that). This week, I opened with only 4 spots available, and by the end of the week, I am down to one open spot. Last year at this time, I was the only volunteer tutoring students – this week, I have one volunteer coming two days a week and three more waiting on deck for when the time slots are full! A year ago, we did not have intent access – this week, we are wifi capable!
As I look at the students scheduled to come to LIST, I see many students I know from their attendance last year at LIST, but I also see a lot of new students. I spent all week stubbing at the local school and I had several students from last year track me down to find out if LIST has opened and if they can come back! It’s great to see how LIST has become a part of the community in such a short time, and our presence is only getting stronger with each new student that signs up and with those that are signing up again.
I was particularly encouraged this week when I saw one of our students from last year – I have blogged about her often. Her test scores rose by nearly two levels in math and one level in language arts. What was really gratifying in particular, was the fact that the school’s test scores as a whole went down nearly 32 points (a fact I learned through my subbing this week). In light of this information, two things struck me, the progress this student made went totally against the flow – she improved while the school as a whole struggled. The other fact that struck me is that the need for LIST is even greater now then a year ago.
(On a side note, for those of you wondering how the school’s scores could drop so far, I do not know the full answer, mainly because I am no longer on the campus as a full time employee. I think there are many reasons and the issue is very complicated, but what I do know is that the teachers at this school work very hard and do a great job with the resources they have).
Whatever the reasons for the decline, LIST seeks to stand in the gap and be a resource for the families of our community as well as the teachers. Our second year looks to be getting off to a great start!
