Triad nonprofit helps students get back on track

Kabrina Shamburger on February 19, 2026

Even the best students need a little extra support, and a nonprofit in the Piedmont Triad makes sure students get the help they need.

“Children that leave school, they decide to do that probably in elementary school. They are feeling unsuccessful, and they finally decide about 16 or 17, ‘I’m done, I’m quitting.’ So that decision is made because they don’t feel successful,” said Norma Noble.

That’s where On Track Education comes in. The nonprofit provides academic coaching one-on-one with tutors as well as in small groups. Noble founded the organization in 2019 after spending 17 years in Guilford County Schools.

“One thing that I did notice is that when children got behind, even as early as kindergarten, if they got behind and no one helped them to get caught up, they stayed behind, and I would see those same children in fifth grade who were still behind,” says Noble.

She developed a program to help get children back on track. She focuses on elementary-age students to make sure they don’t get left behind.

“We are foundational educators; we want to make sure that children have a good foundation. When you consider the math, all the math that students would need all the way up through high school, if they don’t have a good foundation, it’s almost like building a house on a bad foundation,” says Noble. “Pretty soon the house is going to topple over. So we want to make sure that they have those good math skills down when they first start so that they can build on to those good math skills, those good literacy skills.”

A $3,500 grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro helps provide tutoring services. On Track Education also offers a summer reading and enrichment program so students don’t slide during the summer break. Volunteers work with paid staff to make sure each child gets the individual attention they need to be successful in school, so they don’t fall behind.

“Please don’t think that they’ll catch on later on, they may not, and you may be looking at a child who’s already decided in first grade, ‘as soon as I’m able to get out of this, I’m getting out of this’ because it doesn’t feel good not to know. It doesn’t feel good to not be successful,” said Noble.

Category: In the News