Baltimore tech company giving city students a leg up for upcoming school year

The Baltimore-based tech-enabled services company helps fight chronic absences and remove barriers to student success. 11 news shows how they plan to make this school year a success.

As students prepare to head back to school, professional student advocates with Concentric Educational Solutions are preparing, too. They’re training and getting ready to help students reach their full potential.

“I just really believe in student wholeness, and there are a lot of environmental factors that end up hindering people from being whole, whether it is financial, educational, like there’s just so many things that we can change with a quick, ‘Here’s a flyer, call this phone number,'” said Raiana Davis, director of outreach and strategic initiative for Concentric Educational Solutions.

Davis was a professional student advocate at Renaissance Academy for two years, helping students with everything from mentoring, to tutoring, to issues outside of the classroom.

The program now helps equip PSAs who work in Baltimore City Public Schools, Anne Arundel County Public Schools and other districts.

“Some of the things we can see is students may be without electricity, so there are a lot of resources in the community where they will help pay the bill, so we will maybe share that with the family. There could be a situation with the student doesn’t have internet at home, and that is something that the school does support …so we will flag that with the school.”

It’s not just about preparing the PSAs to work in the schools. It’s about engaging students and families outside of schools through home visit. They hop inside a van and use this app to connect students with what they need to succeed.

“The month of August here in Maryland is a big time for home visits,” Karlo Young, president of Concentric Educational Solutions, said. “If you think about this nation and really globally, we are dealing with this issue of chronic absenteeism and student disengagement and how do we think about guiding them back into the classroom.”

Home visits help with everything from making sure enrollment forms and immunizations are complete to addressing any issue that could keep a student from attending school.

Concentric did over 20,000 of them last year alone, all to make sure students feel seen and supported so they can thrive in the community.

“We want to be able to connect with families in the community and make sure they are engaged in school and help send them on to great post-secondary outcomes,” Young said.

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