Branching Out Teaches, Nurtures Kids at Oaks on Briarcliff

The clubhouse of the Oaks on Briarcliff apartment complex, perched in front of a promising-looking swimming pool and backed by an area often used for pick-up soccer games, plays host twice a week to hectic, rewarding tutoring sessions called Branching Out. On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4pm, after all the kids from are back home, Oaks residents in the third, fourth and fifth grades gather in the clubhouse for lessons, snacks and good times, all led by Sagamore Hills Elementary teacher Joyce Patterson.

Patterson, a former college basketball player and coach of Georgia State and Georgia Tech’s basketball teams, started the tutoring program in October 2010 after getting permission from Sagamore Hills Elementary Principal Julie Martin and the parents. It was the first year the school failed to make the Adequate Yearly Progress required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which Patterson saw as a bonus incentive–but not the primary reason–to begin the program.

“I saw that a lot of these kids were struggling academically. Some of them had been in other places before and needed exposure to more English, which is a very difficult language,” Patterson said. “We’re just trying to start with the basics so they are able to read better and comprehend what they’re reading.”

About 30 kids show up on any given Tuesday or Thursday. Lessons focus on English, vocabulary, reading comprehension and math but often include discussion of social studies and history as well. Patterson groups students by grade level and tries to keep kids with the same few tutors to build familiarity.

Sometimes, so many tutors show up that they can work with the kids on a ratio as low as one to one. Patterson said the program has 23 tutors in total, including current teachers, retired teachers and community members like high school and college students. Kids often request a favorite tutor. None of the tutors are negative or harsh, which helps the kids feel confident.

Patterson said that before the tutoring program began, kids would go into the office of the property manager seeking homework help. Often, they are the strongest English speakers in their families, so while their parents can try to help with homework, sometimes they cannot.

“Bottom line, they have homework, and if there’s not anybody to help them with their homework, then it’s hard for them to get it done,” Patterson said.

The tutors identify specific things students need help with and focus on those concepts. One tutor, Ron Stein, creates games for different lessons.

The tutors also help kids with school projects, providing materials like posterboard and art supplies and sometimes holding special sessions just for project work.

DeKalb County has been giving the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests, or CRCTs, recently and Patterson feels that, while students’ gains on those tests may take time to show up, they are still making gains.

“I don’t know that we’re going to see huge drastic changes yet with the CRCT. ... You may not be able to measure it yet in terms of how they did on the CRCT because that’s going to take time. But, there’s no doubt in my mind that these kids know a lot more than they did and they’re confident. They feel good about themselves and they want to come,” she said.

Patterson has plans to expand the program. She wants to include second graders eventually and apply for grant money to set up a dedicated computer workstation in the clubhouse because many students do not have home Internet access. While Sagamore Hills Elementary has a computer lab, oftentimes the students need more time to do what they need to do, and right now Patterson will sometimes print things for the kids from her own computer.

Next year, Patterson has a plan for marking attendance at Branching Out. One of the students drew an intricate tree that she hopes to use not only as a logo, but as an attendance sheet: each student’s name will be written on a leaf and taken off the tree when they attend, then put back on the tree when tutoring ends. Each student will be represented as a part of something bigger than themselves.

“It’s rewarding not just for the kids but for all of us. I’ve always had a thing for the underdog, [working with] kids that don’t have the step up,” Patterson said.

For more information about Branching Out, contact Joyce Patterson at joycepatterson@mindspring.com.