Data Breakdown

At the end of the 2nd quarter, we had our first opportunity to evaluate the improvement of our tutors. While we recognize the need to provide additional data about tutor reading level, this academic data provides a first glance at the performance of our tutors.

Based on a 4.0 Scale -

Average 1st Quarter GPA: 2.32

Average 2nd Quarter GPA: 2.49

Average Improvement: .17

Additional Data -

Program participants averaged 46.8 hours of additional reading instruction.

Program participants averaged 21.2 hours of community service hours earned.

11 of our 16 tutors showed improved grades during the 2nd Quarter.

Looking a Little Closer -

The 5 tutors who experienced a GPA decrease had an average 1st Quarter GPA of 2.94.

The 11 tutors that showed improvement had an average 1st Quarter GPA of 2.03. They showed an average improvement of .38 on a 4.0 scale.

In sum, the students with the most significant challenges experienced the most significant progress.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Climbing Higher

Reach measures success in many ways. The first semester recently came to a close, so we have been looking at the progress that our tutors made from the 1st quarter to the 2nd quarter. While not every one of our students improved, some of our students demonstrated really significant growth. Today, I want to recognize three of our fantastic tutors:

DaQuan presents as one of our quietest tutors, though I know he's more social than he appears. At the end of the first quarter, DaQuan admitted that he could have done better. During the second quarter, he did better. Much better. DaQuan showed an improvement of .52 (on a 4.0 scale).

Eriq has been one of our most consistent tutors. Always quiet, Eriq simply shows up on time and immediately gets to work. He's clearly been bringing that same workman's quality to his academic coursework. From 1st quarter to 2nd quarter, Eriq's GPA showed an improvement of .87.

Romello has really come on strong recently. He has really grown as a tutor during recent weeks, and his academic progress has mirrored his program success. Romello's improvement - a whopping .90! - leads the class.

Thus far, I've collected report cards from 13 of our 16 active tutors. 8 of 13 showed improvement in academic performance (it should be noted that a number of those whose GPA did not rise had very strong performances during the 1st quarter), and I look forward to receiving report cards from the three remaining tutors. The other tutors that showed improvement deserve recognition as well: Brandon, DaJohn, Jonathan, Chynna, and Cawahn.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Responding to Feedback

In recent weeks, I've been asking the tutors for feedback regarding training sessions. Our tutors have reported that training sessions can be a little boring, so I've been experimenting with some different formats to engage and excite our high school students. Today, after a brief vocabulary activity, I introduced A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson. My goal was to model comprehension-building strategies using this crown of sonnets. What developed was much more exciting.

...If trees could speak, it could describe, in words beyond words, make us see the strange fruit that still ghosts the reverie, misty companion of its solitude...

The tutors, using context clues, learned the meaning of "strange fruit." Their eyes moved to me; you could almost feel them engage. They heard about Billie Holliday ("I thought that was a dude!") and began to think about the horrific reality of men hanging from trees.

...my heartwood has been scarred for fifty years by what I heard, with hundreds of green ears...Two hundred years of deaths I understood. Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night, shivering the deep silence of the stars...

Can we tell, I asked, from whose perspective this particular sonnet is written? Romello answered quickly, "the trees." And when asked for evidence, a number of tutors cited the green ears and the two hundred year lifespan. A lesson in perspective hidden in a much larger lesson.

...Surely you didn't know you would devote the rest of your changed life to dignified public remembrance of how Emmett Died, innocence slaughtered by the hands of hate...would you say no to your destiny, mother of a boy martyr, if you could?

DaQuan pulled out the real question: Knowing that her son's death became a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement, would Mrs. Till change history? Opinions were shared with each tutor offering solid reasoning.

...For the lynchers feared the lynchee, what he might do, being of another race, a great unknown...

Asked to explain what was really feared, the tutors explained that it was the unknown. So, knowledge is fear's enemy. As teachers, I told the tutors assembled, you give your students the ultimate freedom. As tutors, I told them, I expect you to lead conversations about literature - conversations like the one we had today. Can you do that? They nodded.

As the tutors gathered their belongings, I asked for feedback. With one being boring and three being great, they held up fingers to tell me how they thought today's session went. One student extended a single finger; one put up two. The rest of them extended three fingers into the air. Today, kids got excited about what they read. Today, tutors saw a connection between their own lives and the words on the pages. Today, we brought a book to life.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Meet Our Tutor: Chynna

Recently, I had the honor to nominate one of Reach's tutors for DC Lawyers for Youth's Young Achievers Program. Read the nomination below:

Taylor enters the room each day with the same two words, “Where’s Chynna?” Chynna generally enter moments later, and Taylor’s face breaks into a big smile.

Chynna, a Deanwood resident and 9^th grade student at Hyde Leadership Public Charter School, is a tutor with Reach Incorporated. Reach improves literacy skills, across ages, by hiring and training adolescents to tutor in DC elementary schools. Two days each week, Chynna receives training to provide instruction in the five core components of literacy development: fluency, phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and text comprehension. On two alternating days, Chynna works with Taylor, an energetic second grade student.

Chynna pushes Taylor to give her best. Though Taylor, like many young learners, works hard to avoid hard work, Chynna continually pushes Taylor to do more. Together, they work on journal entries, read stories, and complete book reports. Chynna finds creative ways to motivate Taylor each day – sometimes, for example, Taylor will quickly begin her work once Chynna lets her write in multi-colored markers.

While Chynna’s performance in Reach’s after-school program is impressive, she handles her in-class responsibilities with equal devotion. In addition to her nearly perfect attendance, Chynna is an honor roll student currently carrying a grade point average of 3.43. Her well-developed social skills and impressive record of achievement predict success in her efforts to become a forensic scientist.

While Chynna must sometimes be reminded to smile, the same can never be said of Taylor. With Chynna’s continued hard work, both she and Taylor will continue to thrive.

Whether or not Chynna is recognized by DCLY, we were so pleased to be able to recognize her work to this point. Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Dreaming of the Future

This weekend, many passionate people will arrive in DC to attend Teach for America's 20th Anniversary Summit. Once, like Reach, TFA was a young nonprofit trying to create impact. We have all seen the organization explode in recent years, becoming one of the premier employers of recent college graduates. For me, it's impossible to hear about such an event without stopping to consider a fascinating question: Where do we want Reach to be in 20 years?

That question begets a thousand others, which is why organizations rarely create a 20-year strategic plan. It is, however, still interesting to consider a couple of the big ones.

How many students will Reach be serving? Right now, we hope Reach becomes a leading nonprofit in Washington DC. We have no intention of becoming a large-scale national nonprofit. In twenty years, it would be wonderful to say that Reach was present in all of the city's public high schools serving over 2,500 students.

What will our programs look like? We will continue to attack DC's significant adolescent literacy crisis while ensuring that elementary school students are given the support necessary to achieve proficiency in reading by the end of 3rd grade. We also may be able to explore other opportunities to engage struggling adolescent learners through employment - summer camps, child development centers, a theater company, etc.

Where will we get funding? Once Reach establishes the efficacy of our program model, we will leverage success to develop cost sharing agreements with program sites. Additionally, we will continue to secure funding through individual donors, foundations, and corporations. Finally, we will generate revenue by providing training to other jurisdictions interested in implementing our unique literacy intervention.

What impact will we make? This is the place where I struggle with TFA's popularity, since the teacher shortage continues to be at crisis levels 20 years after the organization's founding. In 20 years, Reach will have significantly impacted the number of students leaving 9th grade with grade-level reading capabilities. Additionally, while we target those students who enter 9th grade in the bottom quartile, we will produce high school graduation rates and college matriculation rates equal to those of the public school population as a whole.

20 years seems like a long time, but I have no doubt it will move quickly. We will continue to work with urgency to address the needs of our students - only through a tireless dedication to high-quality programming will we be able to look back with pride on our first two decades.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

One Decision, Four Frames

As a student in the School Leadership Program at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, Bolman and Deal's Four Frames Framework was often used to analyze organizational decisions. The framework suggests looking at strategic decisions through four different lenses: structural, symbolic, political, and human resources. Through this approach, one can analyze decisions and predict resistance. During last week's board meeting, Reach made the decision to add a second program site in the fall. Using the four frames allows a full understanding of the factors that led to this decision.

Structural: One of my board members dropped a wonderful pearl of wisdom when he said, "duplication is easy, but expansion is really hard." The comment, while simple, really drives home the idea that we must focus on learning before we focus on scaling. Growing an organization while solidifying a program model necessitates constant expansion efforts. However, if we create the strongest possible program now, we will have the ability to focus largely on duplication in the future. This means we should proceed slowly during this learning stage.

Symbolic: As a new organization, every decision largely influences the way Reach is perceived in the community. As we begin investigating expansion opportunities, we must keep this in mind. Our first site, Hyde Leadership, is a charter school. This means that we must be very cautious about selecting a charter school as our second site. The decision to partner with another charter might lead those in the community to begin thinking of Reach as an organization that serves only charter schools.

Political: Nonprofit organizations deal with political realities on a number of levels. For Reach, political considerations involve remaining committed to our students despite sometimes challenging relationships with partner schools - we want to be seen as an organization that weathers storms. Additionally, serving specific communities carries significant political weight in the funding community. For Reach, these political considerations, and our desire to serve the students that face the most significant obstacles, drive us to aggressively explore relationships in Wards 5, 6, 7, and 8.

Human Resources: Perhaps the most obvious challenge for next year will be one of staffing. At our first site, I was able to handle all aspects of program planning and execution. As we expand to a second site, we will have to design the systems necessary to achieve success at multiple schools. Developing these systems will not be easy, which is one of the reasons that we are satisfied to add one more site for the coming academic year. By doing so, we will ensure that appropriate supervision structures are created so we continue to succeed with our students.

Above all, our board decided that our current focus should be placed squarely on program quality. We will not consider ourselves successful if we effectively scale an organization that provides mediocre services. While we want to provide high-quality services to every one of DC's struggling adolescent readers, we recognize that we must focus on becoming great before we can focus on addressing the problem's significant scale.

This year, we're serving approximately 45 students. There are thousands in need of our services. Next year, let's focus on providing the highest quality services to about a hundred of those kids. Only by taking these careful first steps will we be able to make an even more significant impact in the future.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Meet Our Student: Aaron

At the beginning of each session, Aaron needs a little guidance to get focused. Once that energy is harnessed, Aaron is a constantly-improving reader.

Recently, tutors have been focusing on providing direct feedback to students. Additionally, program instructors have worked to provide appropriate comprehension tools to our tutors. This way, tutors can more explicitly focus on comprehension strategies rather than simply improving student fluency.

Seeing a book report in front of him, Aaron began immediately trying to answer the questions - he missed an important step: actually reading the story! Aaron showed his book report to his tutor. The tutor's response: "I don't think you tried very hard." Aaron came running to me asking what grade I would give it. Seeing me write a big C- on his paper, Aaron looked shocked.

Walking back to the tutor, I offered a suggestion. Have Aaron read you the story out loud. That way, you can make sure he doesn't skip anything. Once he does that, you can help him work on his book report. "I have to do it again?" Aaron asked. I laughed. "Buddy, you never did it the first time."

A few minutes later, I visited Aaron and his tutor once again. He had now determined the story's setting, and he had identified the conflict - "both kids wanted to have their birthday party on the same day!" Unfortunately, our session was coming to an end. Aaron, disappointed, wanted to finish the task. When told he could finish it next time, his answer was quite insightful. "I could have finished it this time if I did it right the first time." It was, perhaps, the most important lesson of the day.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Board Planning

This weekend, Reach's Board of Directors will meet to discuss the organization's plan for future growth. While not a formal strategic planning session, this will be the board's first opportunity to develop a shared vision for the future.

First, the board will receive an update based on the following outline:

Fundraising Report (Fiscal Year To Date, as of January 27, 2011):

Individual Donors: $63,899.98

Foundations: $40,000.00

Corporations: $21,456.00

Special Events: $ 4,952.85

Total Collected: $130,308.83

Foundation Pledges: $ 5,000.00

Individual Pledges: $16,000.00

Total Pledges: $ 21,000.00

Total Raised: $151,308.83

Fundraising Update:

• Additional $32,500 challenge grant from the Snave Foundation – expected December 2011.
• Continued conversation with ARPC re: dinner to build corporate donor base.
• 3 funding opportunities pending:
• Crowell & Moring Foundation: $10,000 – Decision Expected in April
• George Preston Marshall Foundation: $5,000 - $10,000 – Due in March
• Echoing Green: $60,000 over two years – Finalist Decision in March

Program Update:

• Currently serving 42 students at Hyde Leadership.
• Learning from a number of challenges:
• Teacher Turnover
• Collection of Personal Information
• Student Attrition
• Scheduling Conflicts
• Early conversations with Eastern Senior High and Cesar Chavez re: possible expansion opportunities.
• Very popular and successful Books for Break campaign.
• Pending application for FairChance DC.
• Speaking engagement at NYU School of Social Work – February 26^th.

After going through a program update, we'll look at the growth strategies of four highly-successful nonprofit organizations: Life Pieces to Masterpieces, Urban Alliance, Higher Achievement Program, and Breakthrough Collaborative. By looking at the choices made by these more established organizations, we can explore the strengths and weaknesses of each organization's growth strategy before determining our best way forward.

It's because of the wonderful support from so many of you that we can have a discussion about the best strategy for growth - a discussion that is not driven entirely by financial considerations.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Today's Plan

A lack of routine begets a lack of consistency. After having such a wonderful tutoring day on Thursday, Monday's training session was entirely disappointing. For the first time, I dismissed my tutors early - letting them know that I thought everyone's time was being wasted. Today, they'll hear from me - something like this:

Yesterday was disappointing. Not because you spoke when I was speaking. Not because you were making negative comments to others. Not because you all ran late. Not even because I - your teacher and your boss - was called petty. My feelings about myself and this program extend beyond a single day. No one day will change what I feel about each of you and about the power that this model holds. Yesterday was disappointing because you made clear the low expectations you hold for yourselves - or, at least did yesterday. I hope that's not an indication of how you generally feel about yourselves.

The day I accept, without comment, you showing up late - I've indicated my belief that you can't be a good employee. The day I accept, without comment, you talking over your boss - I've indicated my belief that you can't show respect to others. The day I accept, without comment, your negative comments to each other - I indicate my belief that you can't be nice. The day I accept, without comment, any didn't or won't - I indicate my belief that you can't. And it's not true - I believe in can.

Every time a teacher gives you an A for a mediocre effort, they insult you. Every time an elder looks the other way when you're actin' a fool, they make a statement that you can't be a better version of yourself. If you think redirection or advice from adults is offensive, imagine what it means when it stops. It means they've given up - that they expect nothing else from you.

For that reason, I promise you this. What happened yesterday will continue to be unacceptable. I will be on your ass even harder than I was previously. The day that I expect behavior like you demonstrated yesterday is the day that I owe it to you to quit, to walk away. But, I can promise you three things. 1) I will maintain high standards. 2) I will let you know when you meet or exceed those standards. And 3) You will have earned it.

Yesterday was disappointing. Luckily, you get another opportunity tomorrow. See you at 4.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

When It Works.

Since returning from Winter Break, it's been somewhat challenging to settle back into Reach's routine. Since returning from break, weather has caused Reach to be canceled twice, and we missed an additional day due to Dr. King's day. Kids thrive on routine, so January has been tough. But today, some great things started happening.

Jaylin (right), not always the easiest student, had his best day of the year. He worked well with his tutor and continually sought additional challenges. First, by writing a comprehensive answer to the day's journaling prompt, then by starting work on a book report about the story he finished reading. I was so impressed with Jaylin today, and his tutor, Romello, deserves a lot of the credit.

Eddie, whose energy was highlighted in a previous blog entry, worked with a new tutor today. Cawahn's student was absent, and Eddie's tutor was absent, so they worked together. It couldn't have gone better. After reading for a little while, Eddie's teacher suggested that he might need some assistance with the week's spelling words. Cawahn created a game that harnessed Eddie's energy - they played a game of catch, but each time Eddie wanted the ball back, he had to spell another word. Everyone was smiling, and our supervising teachers were appropriately impressed.

It was Willie (right), however, that made my day. Willie's been having trouble getting started recently. Did he want to journal? No. Did he want to read? No. Was he willing to do anything we asked of him? No. As we were beginning to grow frustrated with Willie, he spoke softly, "I want to read my book."

"Your book?" I asked. "You have your own book with you?"

With that, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a compilation of eight Curious George stories - a book that Willie had received through Reach's Books For Break program. He had been carrying this book (a big hardback book, being carried around by a tiny kid) since he got back to school. He wanted to read it with his tutor, DaJohn. Willie simply said, "I've only read the first one. I got seven more."

Today was awesome.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

If Reach fails...?

The Echoing Green Semi-Finalist application is no small exercise. Among the challenging questions asked, one was particularly challenging: "What might you wind up doing if this organization doesn’t work out as planned?"

Part of me wanted to respond by simply saying, "We won't fail." Or, even better, "Reach will survive and thrive." I truly believe that social entrepreneurship requires a start-up leader to be slightly cocky and entirely crazy. I rarely consider failure; it seems counterproductive.

I ended up answering the question like this:

Reach’s early success in programming and fundraising make it unlikely that the organization will meet an early demise. We are extremely proud of the level of organizational stability that has been achieved so early. I do, however, recognize the challenges inherent in nonprofit management. If Reach were to go out of business, I would remain actively involved in providing better opportunities for adolescents in the District of Columbia in a position of school leadership or nonprofit management.

Writing the answer became a reflective process. Social enterprises develop in stages. While the names and models vary, the themes are similar. First, there's a start-up phase - idea, initial funding, planning, piloting, and establishing a reputation. Soon after, these new enterprises enter the growth phase. We have now entered this second stage - our immediate future is no longer in question. I'm so proud to be able to say that. While we know we will face challenges, we stand firmly on a strong foundation.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

PS - On this day of remembrance, I chose not to write about Dr. King's legacy. It is my hope that his beliefs - especially those of non violence, equal rights, and economic justice - stay with us 365 days a year. While we pause to think of him today, it's my hope that we will all wake tomorrow with a continued commitment to the ideals he voiced.

The Last 24

Occasionally, people ask what my days are like - it's not always easy to know what goes into launching a start-up. So, as I've done in the past, I want to share a bit about the last 24 hours.

January 12th:

12pm: Assembled storage cabinet for use as classroom library at Hyde Leadership.

1pm: Scanned tax documents to make electronic copies available to potential funding partners.

2pm: Secured pickup truck to transport storage cabinet to Hyde Leadership.

3:30pm: With tutors, set up classroom library at Hyde Leadership. Labeled, leveled, and shelved books. Prepared individual folders for elementary school students.

5:30pm: Prepared final draft of partnership application for Fair Chance DC.

6:30pm: Confirmed speaking engagement at NYU Silver School of Social Work - discussed potential lecture topics.

January 13th:

8am: Met with Rachel Skerritt, new principal of Eastern Senior High School, about potential expansion to Eastern in the fall of 2011.

10am: Submitted final proposal to Fair Chance DC.

11am: Secured invitation to apply for funding from the George Preston Marshall Foundation.

11:30am: Began work on semi-final application for the Echoing Green Fellowship.

12pm: Wrote blog.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

The Surprising Science of Motivation

Learning is an iterative process. Reach's youth allows a high degree of malleability - when we recognize something needs to be changed, we change it. As organizations get larger and organizational norms become established, this becomes more challenging. For this reason, I feel a significant amount of pressure to get things right. While I know we will never stop learning, I want to use this first year to solidify our model as we move toward expansion.

When looking at the components of our program model, there is no aspect that gives me greater pause than the use of financial incentives. To be clear, I believe that our financial incentives have played a great role in recruiting tutors that will benefit from program participation; however, I question whether the bonus structure has had, or will have, an impact. At this point, we don't have the data to tell, but my current reading is forcing me to ask questions.

I'm currently reading Drive by Dan Pink. In his book (and this TED Talk), Pink tells us that there is little correlation between contemporary incentive structures and the scientific research regarding human motivation. If a task involves even some cognitive skill, then pay-for-performance incentives actually have been proven - again and again - to be harmful. Rather than provide financial incentives, it seems that we should be focusing on providing our tutors with three more intrinsic sources of motivation: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. While there is work to be done around the idea of mastery, I feel that much of our early success with tutors can be linked to the ways we already promote autonomy and purpose.

So, what does that mean about the financial incentives we're currently using? In my mind, paying our tutors is still an important part of our program model. They remain at school for additional hours and provide an important service. Additionally, many of our tutors would not normally volunteer for such a program - in part, because many have not previously experienced success at school. We need something to get them in the door.

I do, however, see potential for significant changes in our bonus structure. Nothing in the research outlined by Pink indicates that we will create academic improvement by providing financial incentives - in fact, research indicates that these incentives might actually hurt academic performance. While the research may confuse us, it is abundantly clear.

There are many decisions ahead of us. Will Reach continue to offer bonuses, or should we move to a simple stipend model? If we do offer bonuses of any kind, what behaviors should we incentivize? The answers have large financial implications, but more important, they will strongly impact the efficacy of our work.

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Mark

Exciting News

Reach is again a semi-finalist in the Echoing Green Fellowship Competition. Of 2,854 applications, only 224 organizations - about 8% - were selected to move forward!