Lexi, an 11th grade StreetLeader at our UrbanPromise East Charlotte Site, was managing her responsibilities well.
When COVID altered the world last March, Lexi was an A/B student who had little issue juggling her school work, job responsibilities, and social commitments. So when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) announced last summer that they would be shifting the 2020-2021 school year to a fully virtual model, Lexi wasn’t all that concerned.
“When I was little and the doctor gave me a note saying not to go back to school [because I was sick], I would cry!” Lexi recalls. “I used to be in love with school. I was always happy to be learning new things. The biggest challenge that I have always had was procrastination, but I was good at prioritizing school over other things.”
How different could a virtual school year really be? Lexi assumed she could rely on her usual coping strategies to help her navigate this new situation.
“I thought I was prepared; I went in expecting it to be good,” Lexi said. “I lost track of how I was doing very quickly.”
In a year of near-constant stress and change, how many of us can relate?
Lexi realized she was in trouble when the first round of progress reports came out last fall and she scrolled through the results — she was failing all eight of her courses. For an A/B student, the news was devastating.
“It honestly made me question my identity.”
After first quarter grades were finalized last fall, CMS reported that 14.4% of all students had failed at least one course or subject. That percentage doubled the number of students who had a failing grade during the first quarter of the previous school year.
So Lexi found herself in a deeply discouraging situation amongst many other CMS students (1 in 7, to be precise) — how could she possibly bounce back?
BETTER TOGETHER
Fortunately, Lexi wasn’t the only one who took notice of how the unique challenges of a fully virtual school year were impacting her academic performance and her mental health.
Will, her UrbanPromise StreetLeader Director, noticed too.
“We all realized pretty quickly that normal academic interventions were not going to work during this unconventional school year, “ Will said. “CiCi (the StreetLeader Director at our South Boulevard Site) was the inspiration to bring on extra support. She hired an extra facilitator at their site, and we decided to do the same.”
Will hired Salma, a recent college graduate with previous tutoring experience who is also a CMS alum (South Meck ’16). Together, they began digging in.
“Will and I starting by talking about what was going on with each student individually, because we knew every case was unique,” Salma recalled. “I felt the best thing to do was to focus on positive reinforcement and on building relationships so that the StreetLeaders would see me as a mentor and a friend, rather than as a strict facilitator.”
Establishing relationships isn’t a quick strategy, but Salma’s intuition was spot on.
“The first few weeks I really just observed. I knew that, because of the pandemic, these students’ whole schedules had changed. On top of that, many of them were going through difficult private struggles,” Salma said. “It took some time to build those relationships, but, as I did, students were more comfortable talking about their grades with me.”
As Salma was working on getting to know each StreetLeader, Lexi was working on opening herself up to receiving more support. As she got to know Salma, she felt more confident sharing some of her concerns and asking for help.
CMS stated that “missing assignments” was one of the most prevalent reasons why students were failing at such high rates. For Lexi, that assessment rang true.
“It got to the point where I felt desensitized, like I was living in a haze,” Lexi recalled. “All of the notifications [in Canvas, the virtual platform where students submit work] were a constant stress.”
Imagine emails piling up in your inbox, each one alerting you about a new task to complete or, worse, reminding you of all that you haven’t done. The system overwhelmed Lexi, and she found herself checking out mentally and emotionally from the constant notices, causing her to miss assignments.
“We realized that virtual school just doesn’t have some of the natural structures that in-person school does — like teachers reminding students in class about what’s due soon or asking students to stay after to finish things,” Will said.
So, after meeting with StreetLeaders and their parent(s) individually, Salma and Will put together customized weekly assignment trackers for each student based on their Canvas accounts. Salma printed trackers before “study halls” on Thursdays, and the StreetLeaders used that time to make a concrete plan for their assignments for the week.
From there, Salma checked in to provide accountability, encouragement, and support. She also planned “reward parties” and sought personalized ways to help students celebrate their progress.
Out of the 20 StreetLeaders at UP’s East Charlotte Site, half were failing one or more of their classes in the fall. At the end of third quarter, only 2 are still failing one or more courses, and the majority now have A’s, B’s, and C’s across the board!
MORE THAN A GRADE
Academic achievement is an important value at UrbanPromise, but it’s only one piece of the holistic sense of health we seek to foster in our students’ lives. Salma's and Will’s reminder to students that they are capable certainly affected their report cards, but the investment went further than simply impacting their grades!
“The students’ moods completely shifted once they saw their grades improving,” Salma said. “They gained confidence once they were turning in their assignments. I think they were proud of themselves and the work that they did.”
Lexi, whose grades have now returned to mostly A’s and B’s, confirms Salma’s observation:
“Right now, I am very proud of myself! I lifted myself up from where I was and did not stay in that dark hole. And I didn’t do it alone either, I had the help of Salma and Will.”
Lexi’s sense of identity has been restored, now with even deeper dimensions than before.
“I feel more able to manage failure now. I was shaming myself for not being able to balance so many plates at once, and the pandemic overall forced me to realize that, even though I am a really independent person, I do need help.”
What’s more, as Lexi continues to pour into our younger UrbanPromise students in her role as a StreetLeader, she can pass this hard-won wisdom on to the next generation!
Many students have struggled this year with being hurdled into a brand new style of schooling. Many adults have struggled with the new situations we’ve found ourselves in, too.
None of us may have felt prepared for this pandemic, but with extra support, innovation, and encouragement, we may just come out stronger than we were before.
THANK YOU for believing in StreetLeaders like Lexi at UrbanPromise, and THANK YOU for making it possible for us to hire people like Salma on their behalf. We could not do this work without YOUR support and encouragement, and we’re so grateful to you for the part you play in our community!