Making the Grade
Twin sisters Tina and Trina Fletcher are not from the Arkansas Delta, but they are intensely focused on addressing the academic disparities of students and teachers from the southeastern corner of their home state.
“If we can lift the academic performance of Black students in these counties, not only do we help Black students, we help rural students, and we also help teachers,” Tina Fletcher said.
The Fletcher sisters are passionate about education and being part of the solution. Thanks to their own hard work and their consulting business, Fletcher Education Solutions, they are already changing the lives of students and teachers in rural Arkansas counties. As Trina Fletcher says, “We’re trying to save the education system.”
No Excuses
The twins grew up in the rural town of Morrilton, and their mother worked at a school bus factory in the neighboring city of Conway. From an early age, both girls recalled the long hours their mother would put in at work and the scarce free time she had as a result. “Mom couldn’t help us with homework,” Tina said. “But we saw her work hard, so we practiced those same principles every day. We knew it was possible to work 60 hours a week and still stand,” she said, noting that her mom would wake up at 4 AM each morning to get ready for work. “My mom had one of the strongest work ethics,” Trina added. “She did not make excuses – she got things done, she went to work, she did what she had to do.”
That work ethic made an impression on both girls and carried them through their own studies – that and the idea that there could be more opportunities in the world within their grasp.
“When we’d visit her at the factory, we were reminded that we didn’t want blue collar opportunities to be our only opportunities,” Tina said. “We knew in our minds that we had to go to college.”
Trailblazers
Go to college they did, and while most people might have expected the twins to attend the same university, Trina and Tina had other plans. Both were interested in attending a Historically Black College or University, or HBCU, but when Tina’s guidance counselor encouraged her to apply for a Silas Hunt Scholarship at the University of Arkansas, she tentatively began to picture herself at the state’s flagship.
“I remember getting the scholarship and thinking, ‘They’re giving me $5,000. I have to do it for Silas Hunt,’” she said with a laugh.
Receiving that scholarship and being embraced by the community was “extremely helpful and powerful” for Tina. During her time on the Hill, she interacted with professors who fundamentally changed the way she felt about her own thinking and what she was capable of learning. She also had the opportunity to study abroad in Tanzania.
“The U of A moved mountains to make sure I got to go to Africa,” she said, noting it was only her second time to be on a plane. “I’ve gone six more times since then. The U of A is at the heart of everything I’ve done.”
Tina Fletcher says there are several professors who made an impact on her during
her time at the U of A, including Janine Parry, Gordon Morgan, Calvin White, Todd
Shields, Margaret Reid and Charles Robinson.
After she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science and African American studies in 2008, two professors encouraged her to apply to Harvard University for a master’s degree in secondary teacher education. That was followed by a PhD in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Trina Fletcher carved her own path at another public state university – the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Like her sister, Trina was drawn to the experience an HBCU could offer her.
“I wanted to be at an institution where I felt like I could be supported,” she said, noting that UAPB provided that crucial network. In Pine Bluff, Trina earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology, interned every summer and had multiple job offers waiting for her by the time she graduated. When she chose to earn a master’s degree, she finished not one – but two – programs: master’s degrees in both operations management at the U of A and engineering management at George Washington University. Like Tina, Trina also earned a PhD – in engineering education from Purdue University – where she studied the recruitment and retention of minorities and women in the S.T.E.M. fields.
Trina Fletcher is an assistant professor of engineering and computing education at
Florida International University.
Trina and Tina were the first in their family to attend college, and as Tina notes, “Even when we were both at different schools in undergrad, we would visit each other.” This allowed the sisters to make connections in multiple parts of the state, as Tina was mentored by some of Trina’s professors in Pine Bluff, and Trina made connections with professors who taught Tina in Fayetteville.
“We didn’t know how challenging college was going to be, but we had each other,” Tina said. Trina agreed: “There is something to be said about being twins and having someone your age going through similar experiences. Even though we went to separate colleges, we had each other.”
They also had the support of their family. “They were always our biggest cheerleaders,” Tina said. “You don’t need to have a college degree to support your child through college.”
In 2021, Tina and Trina were featured in a Forbes article, noting that only 4.4% of doctoral degrees are earned by Black women.
Homeward Bound
The work ethic modeled by the twins’ mother, the support of their family and the eye-opening opportunities provided in college all proved to be inspirational for the twins as they set out into the workforce.
In 2014-2015, as Tina was transitioning from working on a political campaign to working for the Washington, D.C. public school district central office, she came across an article about Arkansas ACT scores.
“I was floored,” she said. “I was like, ‘How is the average ACT score an 18? How are the Black students scoring a 17?’ That means we’re sending the majority of our Black students from Arkansas to college straight into remedial courses. That blew my mind.”
It was then that she knew she wanted to be a part of the solution. “I thought, ‘I love D.C. I love my neighborhood. But what am I adding to the world if I’m here, and the kids who look like me – and not just Black kids in Arkansas but kids from rural communities in Arkansas – are not being served? Arkansas gave me everything I needed, and I can’t just take it and go to D.C.’”
Tina told her sister she was ready to take action and enlisted her help. She spent the next six months building a consulting company while she worked full-time, knowing she was going to focus on her home state. Trina was able to contribute greatly, having spent time researching the disparities in S.T.E.M. education and inequities in different school systems.
Over the next couple years, Tina traveled to Arkansas each month to work in the communities of Crossett and Marianna. She noticed their declining populations and, after researching the problem further, found that many other counties in the Delta were losing residents as well.
“That really motivated us to focus on the Delta specifically,” she said. “It’s where the majority of Black students are and where the majority of Black teachers are. We now know Arkansas doesn’t have a teacher shortage area – the Arkansas Delta has a teacher shortage. If the Arkansas Delta improves in education, the entire state improves. That’s been our philosophy around this work.”
Fletcher Education Solutions is a consulting firm that specializes in licensure exam support for current and pre-service teachers by offering a test prep institute and program development and evaluation. The test prep institute, in particular, helps student teachers and current teachers improve their current Praxis scores, which measure the knowledge and skills acquired during teacher preparation.
Tina and Trina have a younger sister, Tai, who they describe as “profoundly instrumental”
to the work they do with teachers and forthcoming projects in the Delta.
Ala’handro Harris knew he always wanted to work in education, but the Praxis test was the only hurdle standing in his way. After meeting Tina and Trina at UAPB, he utilized their test prep services to ensure he was ready.
“The resources they provided me were dynamic and thorough,” he said. “They put together a strategic plan to help me pass the exam.”
The plan worked. Harris followed their guidance, passed his exam and says he’s now living his dream as a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Believe Memphis Academy.
“It’s truly a remarkable experience to witness a teacher persevere through the licensure exam process and its challenges to becoming certified,” Tina said. “A feat that may seem easy or common to many is extremely difficult for others. I am honored to play even a small role in assisting teachers on their paths to becoming certified, high-quality educators – especially in my home state.”