An innovative program at Calavera Hills Middle School in Carlsbad, CA underlines the importance of educational relationships and community-building in a remarkable way. As New America Media reports, the school’s Coyote Crossroads program, now in its third year, pairs academically struggling students with their autistic peers as tutors and mentors.
Not only do the autistic students benefit from the support and friendship of their peer tutors, but the tutors also find meaning in their school experience, showing a marked improvement in their grades and motivation in their own classes. The school has also shown a significant improvement in its truancy numbers—down from 55.76% in 2007-2008 to 37.54% in 2009-2010.
One peer mentor reports that her relationships with her autistic classmates give her a reason to get out of bed when that alarm rings in the morning, and she also finds inspiration in her autistic friends. If they can handle teasing and bullying from other students, then she can too. From struggling to make it to school, she now aspires to become a teacher like Ms. Lupu, one of the program’s mentors.
Three cheers for Calavera Hills Middle School for harnessing the power of students to improve their own school community! Fresh ideas like this can help us revitalize our education system and change students’ lives in the process.
Coyote Crossroads from New America Media on Vimeo.
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1 comment:
One of the most important aspects of tutoring is the relationship between the tutor and the student. It's important that there is that kind of trust between the two. Sometimes the benefits of the relationship become much greater than simply academic help.
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