November 8,2011

Tyrone is 23 and from Washington, DC. Last year, he served as a City Year Washington, DC corps member at Winston Education Campus at the same school he attended as a child. Tyrone worked with a sixth grade class all day, every day for the entire year, providing classroom assistance, one-on-one small group math and literacy tutoring, and running after-school programs.

He was warned about one of his students, Tasha, before he even met her. She was known around school for talking back and disobeying everyone. Tasha regularly disrupted class and was so distracting to other students that Tyrone couldn’t even have her in his small group literacy and math sessions. Tyrone tried to talk with Tasha and explain to her that he cared about her and wanted her to succeed. But his words seemed to go in one ear and out the other.

Then one Saturday, Tyrone was walking down the street by his house and he ran into Tasha. She was shocked, and excited, to realize that he lived in her neighborhood. After that encounter, Tasha started coming to school on time, being less disruptive, and participating more in class. She began asking Tyrone for help and trusting him to help her. Because of her change in behavior, Tyrone was also able to work with her in small groups to provide the support she needed academically.

Tasha’s turnaround not only affected her, it affected the whole class. All of the students made progress academically. In fact, from the beginning of the year to end of the year, 87 percent of the students in Tyrone’s classroom remained proficient or improved an entire level on the DC BAS literacy assessment.