A Future and a Hope

Hope for the Future 

 

Often I sit in meetings to hear educators bemoan the recent data.  They ask, "What can be done," but they ask it with a resignation that makes them powerless to bring about change. 

Fortunately, we know exactly what students need to find success.  It involves both rich content and holistic support.  When they find success, they stay in school.  When they stay in school, they graduate.

SCORE endorses a comprehensive, holistic approach to educational reform, based on the following plan of action:

1. •For students to be eligible for their chosen college or career by the time they graduate from high school, they must participate in a rich core curriculum leading to appropriate content mastery. SCORE students are placed in rigorous academic classes that enable them to enter the college or career of their choice upon high school graduation.  College and career eligibility involves being able to read, write, think and calculate at a level of content mastery; to be able to communicate effectively and work on a team toward a goal. 
2. •If students are to be successful in these classes, they need to learn effective study skills. SCORE students use powerful study skills. Study skills are both taught formally and reinforced across the curriculum and in tutorials.
3. •If students are to be successfully up-placed in the curriculum, they will need academic support. Academic support is available through SCORE classes, tutorials, and group study sessions.
4. •If high-risk students are to be successful in a rich common core curriculum, teachers must use whole-brain, state-of-the-art, multiple modality teaching techniques. SCORE teachers, with study skills as a basis, use strategies that empower students and state-of-the-art methodologies.
5. •If students are to be successful in a rich academic curriculum, they must eliminate negative factors in their lives that would detract from their success. SCORE programs mentor students and enlist appropriate support networks when a student has a need that is negatively impacting academics.
6. •In order to be successful academically, students need support at all levels: family, community, peer, and education. SCORE programs foster positive peer pressure, family communication, community support, and teacher mentorship.

If any of these elements are missing from a program, the end result will be diminished. When these elements support one another toward a common goal, the results in student achievement are dramatic.