The Fall of Education As We Know It by Dannielle Fritz-MacDuff

So may of our schools are under pressure to perform on standardized state test in order to continue to be funded. Our teachers have the very difficult job of trying to balance teaching our children useful information and getting them prepared to take these standardized test and score well. I often wonder why it is that so much emphasis is placed on these tests. Has an employer ever asked you to provide a copy of your standardized test scores with your resume? No one has ever asked me for those scores. What about your banker? Ever been asked to fill your proficiency test scores on a loan application? Me neither. So why so much emphasis on these test scores? It all comes down to money. Our schools funding is dictated by the percentage of passing scores in a given district and in some cases a given school. So the end result is a school system where more importance is placed on test scores than is placed on really helping the child reach his or her full potential.
My daughter has struggled with reading for a long time. We took her to after school programs, put her in summer tutoring programs and had her tested in the schools for dyslexia and other learning challenges. She was found to have no learning disabilities as defined by the school psychologist and placed in an IEP (Individual Education Program). I agreed to this program with the hope that she would receive the help she needed to boost her confidence level and help her excel. Did that happen? To a small degree, yes, but year after year I am presented with the question " do you want her to have a scribe and assisted reading when taking test?" What the school is really asking ... "we have people who will sit with your daughter and read the test to her and write the answers for her, will you let us do this?" This experience has really opened my eyes to how our school system is letting our children down. How is reading and writing for them helping them to learn and reach their potential? This also explains how a college student can come into my office to apply for a job and not have a firm grasp on the English language or lack basic writing skill that I learned by the time I left the 5th grade. Each year I attend a similar meeting with the IEP director, Principal, Guidance Counselor and School Psychologist where, after four years of the same answer I am still asked this question. As a parent I want my child to be challenged and really learn, not get shuffled through the school system and push out the door with no usable and relevant skill or knowledge.
I once said that our children learn the basic skills they need to know how to function in society by the time they finish the 5th grade. Today I have to retract that statement. Many of our college graduates are not prepared to write a simple resume or small article even though most publications are written on an 8th grade reading level. Our education system is focused far more on irrelevant test scores than the real learning of our children.
So what do we do? Here are 3 things that you can do to encourage your child's genius and help to boost his/her learning experience.

• Learn about your child's learning style. (Learn about your own while you're at it)
  Howard Gardner's theory on multiple learning styles is very helpful. The link is below. Also check out Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Kid Smart Kid for more on our school system's origins and pit falls

www.businessballs.com/howardgardnermultipleintelligences.htm

www.richdad.com

• Encourage your child to participate in activities and projects that teach to your child's particular learning style. Teaching to the learning style of a child enhances the learning experience and boosts the child's self confidence.
• Reinforce the child's learning with everyday activities. this kind of reinforcement show the child how to apply the new knowledge and again, boosts confidence.