A project with CLASS: Greater Starkville Development Partnership's Project Community Leaders Assisting Schools for Success helps students, teachers

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A project with CLASS: Greater Starkville Development Partnership's Project Community Leaders Assisting Schools for Success helps students, teachers

August 28, 2011 12:02:00 AM

David Miller

STARKVILLE -- Sometimes, teachers need a helping hand.

By nature, children learn at different rates. Some have discouraging elements outside of the classroom that hinder their growth, which in turn can hold back a classroom as a teacher works to bring individuals up to speed.

Through the Greater Starkville Development Partnership's Project CLASS, or Community Leaders Assisting Schools for Success, every third-grade classroom in the Starkville and Oktibbeha County school districts has a support network to improve students' reading and math skills, so they can perform at grade level by the end of the year.

Each class is sponsored by a local church or business, which provides resources, cash donations for supplies and/or volunteer hours to help tutor students.

The goal of the program, which originated from discussion in the education committee of the Partnership, was to unite churches and businesses already interested in supporting local schools but didn't know how. Through Project CLASS, churches and businesses know exactly what students and schools need and where to go.

Originally, the Partnership wanted to sponsor every classroom from second to eighth grade. But for the pilot year, organizers chose third grade because it's considered "a make or break year" in a student's development.

"Third grade was identified because that's where we could have the most impact for future standardized testing goals and future school system goals," said Partnership CEO Jon Maynard. "We knew we could have an immediate impact there."

The 2010-11 school year was the pilot year for the program, which had 140 trained volunteers tutor at every third-grade classroom and a handful of fourth-grade classrooms.

The pilot year was considered a success, as reading and math test scores improved. Students' attitudes and motivation improved, too.

Lynn Parker, a third-grade teacher at Henderson Ward Stewart Elementary School, was sponsored by the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection. By the end of the school year, six tutors from the church would spend at least an hour each week in Parker's classroom.

"I had a lot of students struggling with math," Parker said. "The tutors I had worked really hard taking the kids to the side and helping them with things like rounding numbers and multiplication. They were here no matter the weather."

Episcopal Church tutor Julia Heard was unsure of how effective she'd be since she had no teaching experience. She thought the presence of one or two tutors would be a burden for a teacher already looking to keep an entire class focused.

What she found, though, was that the tutors were a welcome detour from the set structure of everyday learning.

"At first, I think a lot of people thought it would be embarrassing for a child to be singled out," Heard said, "but they all loved it. It didn't matter what kind of student they were. And it's not like they were using it as an excuse to get out of the classroom.

"Because none of us are teachers, you can leave there thinking there's nothing you did that helped that child," she added. "Then you get back the next week and find out they were better. Some of that is because Lynn's a great teacher, but I think they just responded to the extra help."

The Partnership and Project CLASS organizers initially asked businesses to make donations of $250 or $500. Some businesses, like Sullivan's Office Supply, provided office furniture and school supplies instead of cash. Maynard said Project CLASS isn't actively seeking donations this year because of a surplus of last year's funds. Financial contributions this year will be on an as-needed basis.

Funding plays a vital role in Project CLASS, and not just for teaching resources. Parker said teachers are keenly aware of each student's welfare. So when they see a student needs something that goes beyond what they can provide, Project CLASS takes care of it.

"A lot of students come and don't have winter coats, paper, you name it," Parker said. "I was even able to get glasses for a student. It was really beneficial. The GSDP was outstanding in making sure we had the resources."

Project CLASS hasn't launched yet for the 2011-12 school year and is currently seeking volunteers.

For more information or to enroll, call the Partnership at 662-323-3322.

David Miller reports on news from the Starkville bureau.