+

Promoting School Success

A project of the Downtown Education

Collaborative

+DEC Office

Across the street from the library

A bridge between the colleges and the

downtown community

A space for community

events, discussion,

and dialogue

+Meeting a Need in Downtown

Lewiston Lewiston has

historically had a high dropout rate.

In the past 10 yearsthere has been a large increase in ELL students.

These challenges have stressed social services and the school system.

Some of the school-aged youth living in downtown Lewiston sought extra help from the staff at the Lewiston Public Library, but the Library did not have the capacity to meet the growing need.

+

DEC saw a place where it could bring its assets to bear to address a critical community need.

Working with the school department, the library and other partners DEC piloted The Promoting School Success Program in the fall of 2008.

Assets The LPL has a designated

computer lab that is available as a site.

DEC has the resources of the four colleges that be designated to supporting the program.

The youth are highly motivated to learn.

Birth of the School Success Program

+

Coordinated by an AmeriCorps

VISTA Volunteer.

Training developed and

implemented by staff and faculty

from DEC and its member

institutions.

Program staffed largely by

students recruited from DEC’s

four member colleges.

Structure of the Program

M-Th 3:30 – 5:30,

Lewiston Public Library

+Expansion and Growth

13

30

256

2,423

300

3,261

$71

Average daily attendance Sept. 2008

Average daily attendance by April 2009

Students served during the 2008-09 school year

Total visits during in 2008-09

Students served during the 2009-10 school year

Total visits during the 2009-10 school year

• Last year, of a core group of 28 students who attended regularly, 26 showed improvement in their grades and are now passing.

-As reported by Sue Martin, the ELL

coordinator for Lewiston.

Per student cost of the program

+Growing Pains

As the program

has expanded,

the capacity of the

small computer lab has

been tested.

There are only 25

chairs available. So

when numbers exceed

45 (as they tend to do

toward the end of the

quarter) it is difficult to

find places for

all of the kids.

As recently as Nov 10th, we had to open a homework help “annex” on the third floor to accommodate all of the students.

+Who are our students?

The majority of our students

are African refugees from

Somalia and the Sudan.

Our focus is on middle and

high school students, 80% in

grades 7-12.

About 60% of students are

female.

+Who are our tutors?

We recruit from all four of DEC’s member academic institutions: Bates College, CMCC, Kaplan University,and USM-LAC.

Students are in service learning classes, are work study students, and are interns or volunteers.

We also have community volunteers including community police officers and an assistant rowing coach fromBates.

Several of our tutors are fluentin Somali which is a great resource.

+

“I don’t have a computer at home, so

there is no way I could finish all of

my homework without Homework

Help!”

-Mana Abdi, ’13 Lewiston High

School

+

+

“The tutors are really helpful and make

things a lot simpler.”

-Issauk Abdi ‘11 Lewiston High School

+

+

“I love working at the after-school

program at the library. Even on nice

days when they could be playing

outside, kids come in to the library

eager to learn. It’s been a great

experience for me.”

-Sam Polak, Bates ’11

+

“The tutors are more than just tutors. They care

about you, and that means a lot to me.”

-Abdullahi Shaleh, ‘12 Lewiston High School