Whether your child is beginning kindergarten, struggling with reading or math, or struggling because he or she cannot read the high school texts because the current method of reading instruction did not teach the child to become a proficient reader and learner, there is help at this site, the Organization for Quality Education.
What is there is based on research and also offers parents a list of books for teaching reading, for examle, that will help the parent who wishes to help his child. Teaching a child to read is not brain science but it is common sense. The one thing I would reiterate that I read on the OQE site is: listen to your child read to you every day so you can find out what errors the child makes and help or get help at the first sign of a problem. The ability to read well determines the child's success in every other subject and thus, determines the success of the child's education. Here is an excerpt but go to the site for all of it.
Will Existing Kindergarten Programs Help Poor Kids?
Disadvantaged students need structured, academically-intensive schools which use proven methods.
Why?
A disproportionate number of disadvantaged students go into the non-academic levels, and many drop out before graduating. But their problems do not suddenly begin in grade nine or ten; the die has been cast for these students long before they reach high school.
The dominant approach to education in most Ontario publicly-funded elementary schools is called 'child-centred learning.' Because the intent of child-centred learning is to encourage children to be active, motivated, life-long learners, the emphasis is on helping the students discover (as opposed to be taught) the necessary skills and knowledge. Most good research has shown that this approach discriminates against disadvantaged children, particularly in the early grades. The reason is quite simple: disadvantaged children are far less liable to have the resources to fill the gaps which child-centred learning often leaves. Children from enriched homes are more likely to have already picked up the missing skills and knowledge and, failing that, they can receive them at home as the need arises.
There is no reason to believe that an extra year of child-centred learning in junior kindergarten is going to help disadvantaged children. What the research does say, very plainly, is that disadvantaged children can learn via direct instruction (teach, practise, correct, apply, test, review). During the 60's and 70's, the U.S. Government sponsored Project Follow-Through, a massive comparison of different approaches to teaching disadvantaged children. Project Follow-Through clearly and strongly showed that direct instruction methods not only helped disadvantaged students learn more academics but also gave them better self-esteem.
