Students enrolled in Lana’s HIT program at Thurgood Marshall Academy display academic achievements in the first quarter.
My last article was the conclusion of a three part review of the High-Impact Tutoring (HIT) program at Thurgood Marshall Academy. My time at TMA started with the program inception with the first cohort of students last February. Over the summer session, we utilized the Modern States online college courses platform. This fall semester, I have been working with a new cohort of 24 carefully selected TMA students. The students have been working hard this semester, and I recently took time to reflect on their academic achievements.
One of the events held during TMA’s Spirit Week earlier this month was the honor roll assembly. TMA held their honor roll assembly to recognize outstanding academic achievement in individual subjects, grade point average, etc. Several HIT program participants from both the previous and current cohorts were amongst those recognized! This was also the first opportunity to introduce/ talk about the HIT Program to the student body. TMA recognized all HIT program participants, past and current. In addition, school staff acknowledged academic achievements of the HIT students who participated in the Modern States online college course platform.
Regarding the current High Impact Tutoring Fall semester 2023-24 program, here are some statistics:
- 24 students were recommended and selected to participate in the HIT program.
- Of the 24 students, 17 were selected for math and 14 selected for English language arts (ELA)
- 6 students are enrolled for both math and ELA.
Earlier this month, we recorded student grades for the first quarter.
As you can see, these students are working hard and achieving academic success in the classroom! Teachers selected these students based on the merit of their academic potential. Their teachers recognized them as performing above the current class curriculum. They require extra stimulation, motivation, and coaching to push them to a high-achieving status. I believe that I am having some impact in this direction during the coaching sessions, but I cannot ignore the fact that challenges remain. Along with the impressive grades above and honor roll recognition, we do have HIT program participants with C and D grades. Can you guess the one common denominator these students with less than B grades share?
All the HIT students who have C grades or less have work due that they have not turned in yet!
I have observed throughout these two HIT cohorts that their challenges have little to do with academic capability or competence. As with most things in life, it’s all about their mindsets and approach to their class work and education. I’m going to share this feedback on two of the HIT students from their ELA teacher to make this point.
Joe is passing my class with a B or B-, same as Sara.
Recently, Joe has been slacking when it comes to turning in his assignments on time. In a recent reflection he mentioned that sometimes he gets bored with the readings and that’s why it takes him a bit longer to get through things. He is more than capable and has recently been making minor errors such as turning in work without name or date.
Sara started off really strong. I can tell that the work may not be as challenging for her, same with Joe. On our most recent assessment, I have reason to suspect that she waited until the last minute to “throw something together” and because of this, got a grade that feels out of the norm for her.
She tends to do work from other classes (I suspect because the current work may not feel challenging enough for her) so I am currently working to make this next unit a bit more rigorous. Her mood may also be teetering which might have an impact. Her mood ratings as of late have been 1/10 or no higher than about a 6/10 which also feels out of the norm.
Overall, they’re both doing well and I’m trying to push them into that higher order thinking plane. Recently I’ve just been noticing minor mistakes that, if they’re not careful will start to impact their grades in a negative way. Joe because I think he moves too quickly, and Sara because I get the sense that she’s bored.
I should mention that TMA recognized one of those students discussed above more than once during the honor roll assembly for academic achievements.
I can confidently say that students in the current HIT cohort have experienced personal growth along with academic success this semester thus far. However, the students and I have a lot more work to do. They can start by reflecting on how they can improve their grades by the end of the semester. As always, I am looking forward to more coaching, engaging, mentoring, and impacting these amazing students this next half of the semester!
