LEAVING NO CHILD BEHIND by Erin Evans

Spring 2008


Students at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School are looking to win a testy battle. Between moments of excitement, students focus on how to divide—and conquer the difficulties of third grade math. In 2007, Stokes’ students performed at a mere 46 percent proficiency level on the math section of the DC-CAS, a test measuring “adequate yearly progress” in all D.C. public schools.
Reading and comprehension is another battle. Only 38 percent of its students are proficient in reading. Understanding language is a tall hurdle in this struggle. Over 50 percent of the students’ families have immigrated to the United States and are from homes where English is a second language.
Students from Howard, George Washington and Trinity universities guide Stokes’ students with educational and social mentorship in the school’s tutoring program.



Fresh faces are the sweetest present. Eyes filled with innocence. Minds so green that Transformers and Hannah Montana uphold the aesthetic of cool. Loose teeth and scratched faces are daily casualties. Laughs and cries give sound to their ups and downs.



It’s not all work and no play. Interaction between students is often fickle. They are friends on one day and enemies the next. Every day is a different story, a different feeling.
Roberto Medrano, a Howard alumnus, has been tutoring at Stokes for the past three years. He is one of five third grade tutors and the only male. The young boys look up to him in a big brother type of way. During a break in the lesson, Shaquan and Juan find time to act as human cyclones as they hold a tight grip in mid air.



They often find solace under a table. Pouts and tears are their own quick remedies to take a break from their lesson. After a long day in class, the last thing on an eight-year-old student’s mind is extending their day by another hour-and-a-half after the teacher says, “you’re dismissed.”