| April 2011 Student Spotlight
Daniel Pearson
Escambia Christian School
Pensacola
At Pensacola's Escambia Christian School, third-grader Daniel Pearson is known as the 500,000-word student.
That's because just five months into the school year, this honor student's read so many books, a software system that's used to keep track of his progress calculates the total number of words he's read at a half million.
Daniel's success is refreshing for his mother Jennifer. That's because just a year ago, Daniel was struggling in school. Daniel's report card was littered with Cs, Ds and Fs, with an occasional A or B and his citizenship among his peers was poor. Jennifer reluctantly agreed to put Daniel on medication to control his behavior.
"I struggled with it for months," she said. "I didn't think that was what was wrong."
Jennifer was right. The medication didn't work and things only worsened for Daniel at school, she said.
Jennifer knew the root of Daniel's problems were the large classes at his neighborhood school. And teachers weren't able to give Daniel, who has a learning disability, the individual attention he needed, she said.
"He wasn't purposely being disruptive," Jennifer said. "He was bored."
Jennifer feared that Daniel's academic and social performance would continue to spiral downward if his school environment didn't change. Jennifer considered her options, but the best one – enrolling Daniel in a private school with a smaller environment – was out of reach.
Then Jennifer remembered reading about the Step Up For Students scholarship program from years earlier and applied. She was accepted and considered several different private schools before enrolling Daniel at Escambia, where he is one of 70 Step Up For Students scholarship recipients. Jennifer was convinced that its smaller school setting was just perfect for her son.
Again, Jennifer was right. At Escambia, Daniel – who wants to be a scientist – now earns As and Bs and recently made the honor roll. His behavior problems, as well as the medication, are gone.
Daniel no longer acts out in class and has good relationships with his classmates. He's sure his turnaround would not have been possible if he'd stayed at his old school.
"I would just continue to get bad grades," he said.
Daniel's teacher, Andrea Genton, said she's constantly ordering new books to satisfy Daniel's seemingly insatiable appetite for books.
Science fiction is his favorite genre, she said.
"He just loves it," said Genton, who keeps track of the books Daniel's read using a special computer software. "He's very engaged."
Daniel's improved grades and behavior wouldn't have been possible without Step Up For Students, Jennifer said.
"He seems to really enjoy school and he has friends now," she said.
About Escambia Christian School
Founded in 1964, Escambia Christian School employs a traditional education with emphasizes character development, time-honored values, reading comprehension, communication, and mathematics. The school serves 144 students in early childhood education through eighth grade pk-3 through 8th grade. Tuition is $4450 for all students. Escambia administers the Stanford 10 standardized achievement test.
s the A-Beka curriculum and its programs are aligned with the Sunshine State Standards and include accelerated reading and math programs, virtual school, college dual-enrollment classes and after-school tutoring. The school also administers the TerraNova CAT Complete Battery Test. Tuition is $3,200 a year, not including books.
Step Up For Students Scholarships are funded by corporations that redirect up to 75 percent of their corporate state income tax liability to a qualified Scholarship Funding Organization in exchange for a dollar-for-dollar tax credit. For more information or to learn how your corporation can participate in the program, visit http://www.stepupforstudents.org/investment_in_children.php, or call 1-800 782-9140 for more information.
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