Nakoa Continues His Progress in Math
By Eric Steckel | July 9, 2021
Summer tutoring sessions should get him back to grade level
Over the course of the school year, we have been monitoring and sharing the progress of Nakoa*, one of our eager Path2Math students.
Nakoa has made significant progress this year. Through summer tutoring sessions, he should be able to reach grade level in math going into fourth grade.
Nakoa first enrolled in Path2Math as a second-grader in the 2019-2020 school year. He had been making significant progress in his math skills, and was on course to get back to grade level. When schools closed last March due to COVID-19, Nakoa, like so many students, began to struggle. Despite the best efforts by our dedicated teachers and principals, distance learning was not an adequate substitute for in-school instruction. Ms. Cheryl, his grandmother, was alarmed when Nakoa began to fall further behind once again.
Fortunately for Nakoa, he has a loving caregiver who advocated for his education. Ms. Cheryl reached out to Children Rising.
“I didn’t want him to fall behind,” she explained. “I’m a grandma, I’m not a teacher, so I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to give him what he needed to sustain his level of learning.”
“The online tutoring has allowed us to adapt to the student’s need on a more individual level.” — Reto Peter, Path2Math Tutor
In October, Nakoa was re-enrolled as a third-grader in Path2Math Anywhere, our newly-developed online tutoring program. Since then, he has been working with Mr. Reto, one of our experienced math tutors, once a week for 45 minutes. Despite some absences and hiccups along the way, Nakoa’s progress has been steady and consistent.
Ms. Cheryl is happy that Nakoa is receiving summer tutoring and hopes that her grandson will get back to grade level in math going into the fourth grade.
“The online tutoring has allowed us to adapt to the student’s need on a more individual level,” Mr. Reto told us. “However, with everything that’s going on in their house, and their home and their environment, it can be challenging sometimes. But, because their regular teachers just can’t give them the individual attention they need, we as tutors can do that, even if it’s just an hour a week.”
In that time, Nakoa has mastered 40 skills in all, including 22 skills in Level E (third grade) and three skills in Level F (fourth grade). That puts his overall math level at 340, which is squarely between third- and fourth-grade level. Our goal is to get Nakoa’s math level to 400, which is where he needs to be going into fourth-grade math.
The good news is that because of the expansion of our online tutoring program, Nakoa will continue to work with Mr. Reto through summer tutoring sessions. Although Nakoa’s attendance and effort is key to reaching his goals, Mr. Reto is confident.
“He’s ready to work when we get online. He loves when we do speed flash cards, and he’s been showing some interest in geometry, so it’s been fun, it’s been great.”
We are so pleased with Nakoa’s hard work and look forward to reporting on Nakoa’s progress going into fourth grade.
* Names changed to protect the identity of the students
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