At first, I followed the model I was hired to do and helped students complete their homework that would be due the next day. However, when the exam came, the scores reflected the fact that they did not fully understand the topics. As time passed, I shifted my technique. During the day, I helped students with their foundational knowledge of math. We practiced addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division so that basic algebra skills could be acquired. The problem with this approach, however, was that many of my students who were already seniors in high school needed to get their homework done to pass their class and graduate. It’s never too late to learn something new, but for them, it really felt like it.

As time passed with my new approach, my students grades began to drop. Though their understanding was improving for the first time in their academic career their grades were not reflecting this. My director called me in and sternly admonished me for not sticking to the framework we were supposed to be within. Our goal was to get our students to at least a C so that they could pass and graduate. I had a choice, either follow protocol or lose my job.

A year passed and I had my previous students now in college come visit me. Many of them were barely passing their college courses which were already at a remedial level. At least five of them had already dropped out of college because they were not prepared for the rigor nor had the basic knowledge to pass courses. I saw again the cycle of these students being pushed forward from grade to grade. In college however, this model could not work, and students who could not meet the academic level necessary were simply kicked out.

After two years of working at this school I was desperate to leave because the model was not sustainable. I transitioned into substitute teaching at the elementary level. Here my goal was simple: figure out what year the academics were failing these students. I started in the sixth grade, then went down each grade until I ended up at kindergarten. The differences were shocking. At the public school located in the suburbs, my kindergarteners were beginning to read. At the inner-city elementary, too many of my third graders could barely connect sentences.

But it wasn’t until my students were dropped off or picked up from school that I saw what really was where the root of the problem that needed to be bridged for success in education with my students. I couldn’t help but noticed who picked up my students in the inner-city—usually grandparents who did not speak English, or siblings who were either in elementary school with them or junior high. In the suburbs I normally saw moms or dads, often still in their work clothes, but picking up their children nonetheless. In the mornings, I watched students come to school who were obviously hungry, quickly eating the small snacks provided to the students while those students who were not hungry played in the playground, letting out steam before class. Those students who were fed and played had more focus in class always. During recess I asked students what they did the previous night, I could always tell the difference between those that did their homework with their parents who creatively found ways to make it exciting and those who worked on it themselves or simply did not do the work.

I realized that my mother being home with me every evening and reinforcing the lessons I learned in school, was the main source of my success in school, a source that too many of my students were missing. This void became bigger and bigger as the years passed and students got more behind in their academics.

To provide quality education for children that truly leaves none behind, we must first begin with replicating an academic home environment before and after school for children that do not have this experience. This means creating child centered care that primarily focuses on reinforces the topics that students learned in the day in a fun and engaging way. This means creating spaces filled with volunteers who will help young students strengthen understanding and older students catch up. After the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers were not allowed to fail students, however, simply moving them forward does not fill the academic gaps. The pushed forward child results in an adult college student left behind. The goal must be to prevent this outcome and before and after school is where it starts.