Mentor
Educate
Reinforce

At least 20 percent of children ages 7-12 in Cayman’s government public schools – one in every five students –have been “red flagged” by their school as struggling with learning challenges, foundational deficits such as dyslexia, and ADD, or other disabilities.
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The majority of these children come from impoverished homes.
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BACKGROUND

ARK implemented the Mentor-Educate-Reinforce (MER) program in the 2019-20 school year at George Town Primary. It is a close collaboration between charity, the public and private sectors. The MER program would not exist without the generosity of numerous private sector and individual donors - and we are hoping to raise funds for many more students to join the program. Education opens a world of opportunities, and with intensive learning remediation at a key stage in these children’s development, we can significantly change their life prospects for the better. Ultimately the goal of MER is to reverse the tragic cycle of poverty in which so many children are trapped as they mature into adulthood - and in parallel, to build Cayman's future human capital.

ARK’s MER (Mentor-Educate-Reinforce) Program is designed to improve the life prospects of underserved children, ages 6-13, falling significantly behind in the government school system as a result of learning disabilities, extreme financial hardship, and intergenerational trauma. Many of the homes these children come from are characterized by heightened stress, unemployment, single parents, and shockingly below acceptable living conditions. During the school week, the students receive daily 1-on-1 sessions of specialized, intensive literacy intervention. After school these same students engage in various fun and creative learning activities to further social development. This takes place in the ARK HUB, located next to Sir John A Cumber primary school. This program has a generational impact by enabling them to read, instilling confidence and equipping the children with the tools necessary for growth and success.
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AN IN-DEPTH LOOK

 

Children living in poverty in the Cayman Islands fall behind age-appropriate learning standards. Acts of Random Kindness has developed the “Mentor-Educate-Reinforce” (MER) programme to offer a holistic approach to educational, social and emotional intervention for at-risk students living in poverty – many of whom have learning disabilities such as ADHD, dyslexia/dysgraphia, and trauma.

 

MER is designed to embrace children in government primary schools at a pivotal stage in their growth and development. The programme is delivered by dedicated special education teachers for individualized reading and literacy intervention. These students are referred to ARK by the Sir John A Cumber learning support team. The students have been identified as being significantly behind in their literacy (and other areas) and the school cannot provide the 1 on 1 tutoring required to enable the students to succeed. This is combined with ARK’s support for the students in their extracurricular and home lives. ARK has offered MER since 2017, with iterative improvements and scaling each year. Between 2021 and 2024, we have had three highly successful school years of partnership with Sir John A Cumber Primary School in West Bay.

 

BACKGROUND & RATIONALE

 

Mentor-Educate-Reinforce (MER) is underpinned by ARK’s commitment to influence and improve the overall life prospects of children living in impoverished circumstances. It originated through ARK’s interactions with families in the community, as a long term solution towards ending the vicious cycle of poverty. With an investment up front in the form of early intervention, we hope to improve the life prospects for children from these families. MER specifically targets at-risk children in government primary schools at Key Stage 2 (ages 7- 11). While highly capable, they are struggling or failing at school, with negative impacts on their social and emotional wellbeing.

 

The programme’s underlying framework

 

Mentor: Fostering positive, healthy relationships with adults who take an interest in each individual child, helping to develop better social interactions with peers, honing the life skills required for success in education, and serving as inspirational role models.

 

Educate: Educating each child with specialized literacy intervention that targets individual learning goals, develops reading skills and promotes a growth mindset.

 

Reinforce: Goal setting and other strategies are used to change the students’ attitudes and behaviors in order to achieve transformation in the areas that have been challenging. This includes targeted home improvements, learning outcomes, building life skills, emotional wellness, and resilience through continuous mentoring.

 

PROGRAMME DELIVERY

 

MER is offered to students and families who fit ARK’s assessment criteria; they mutually agree to our rigorous standards with regular check-ins and monitoring throughout the school year. 

 

Prior to the beginning of the school year, the government school identifies potential ‘red flag’ students. ARK conducts a home visit and assessment to evaluate the family/home situation. Consistently, the MER students in West Bay are from families characterized by intergenerational trauma, unemployment or under-employment, single mothers, and living in homes which are barely habitable.

 

During the school year, ARK pays for two dedicated teachers, working in a dedicated space outside their normal classroom to support MER students with specialized, intensive literacy intervention (using the Wilson Literacy Intervention Programme, five one-on-one sessions per week, during the school day). The teacher’s nurturing approach also seeks to foster a “growth mindset” through encouragement and emotional connection.

 

Outside of school, ARK supports the home lives of MER students with mentoring through extracurricular activities, food and utilities support, doctors visits, eye glasses, hearing aids and when needed medication and psychoeducational reports, home repairs & improvements, and crisis interventions when needed.

 

ARK HUB

 

We now have the ARK HUB building (completed in early 2023) which is conveniently located adjacent to the students’ government school. The ARK HUB serves as a dedicated space outside the student’s normal classroom where they can receive this specialized tutoring in a safe environment, and provide them with the consistency needed for positive growth. The HUB also serves as a ‘home away from home’ happy space for the Afterschool Club, where volunteers can visit and share knowledge or activities like robotics, tech, dance, art, exercise and mindfulness to name a few.

 

The HUB provides a place for specific interventions with family members (such as unemployed mothers) and allows ARK to leverage relationships with other nonprofits, such as LIFE (Literacy is For Everyone) and volunteers. The completion of the ARK HUB has enabled ARK to double the number of students in the MER Program and ultimately transform more lives, for the better. Our aspiration is to continue increasing the number of students enrolled in MER and duplicate this program across all government schools on the island.

 

RESULTS

 

As featured in several articles in the Cayman Compass, it has been an entirely successful partnership, delivering tangible, measurable results during the entire school year. Faculty members observed overall improvements in class engagement, behavior and confidence of the MER students.

 

The end of year evaluations of MER students who were enrolled for the full school year (because some students begin during Term 2 or Term 3) all demonstrate significant progress in literacy and attainment.
 

  
MER is an investment in Cayman’s future human capital, one that we earnestly believe will help to break the cycle of poverty. We appreciate your support!