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Summer learning loss is a significant problem, particularly for students who are already falling behind. According to Ron Fairchild, executive director of the John Hopkins University Center for Summer Learning, all students experience learning losses when they do not engage in educational activities during the summer.
A synthesis of 39 research studies conducted by Cooper et. al. found that summer learning loss equals at least one month of instruction---when children return to school after summer break they test at least one month lower than when they left school in the spring.
Learning loss in math is the most serious. On average, students lose approximately 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in math computation skills during the summer months. Research shows that when school starts back in the Fall, teachers typically spend between 4 to 6 weeks reteaching material that students have forgotten over the summer.
Parents may think that their children want summer to be free of learning. But research shows that a majority of students, 56%, actually do want to be involved in a summer program that helps them keep up with schoolwork or prepare for the next grade.
Reading enrichment or improvement over the summer can be accomplished through reading programs. Arranging for math tutoring over the summer can help children fill gaps, retain what they have learned, and return to school with a strength in math that makes them ready to learn what comes next. The best effects are when remedial teaching is individualized to the needs and learning style of the child.
Summer provides three months that can be the valuable time a child needs to strengthen past learning, fill learning gaps, build confidence and be ready to excel in the next grade. Using tutors for the summer is a good option, especially for math learning, which is particularly vulnerable over the summer months if it is not practiced regularly.
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Mastery Learning is a process of building strength on strength, using the power of 100%. When we build a building, we understand that each block must be solid and strong before another block is laid on top of it. We build a strong foundation before we add the solid framing. Then we build strong walls before we add a solid roof. Mastery Learning is the same. By fully mastering each concept before moving on to the next, each new block is firmly supported by the solid blocks beneath it.
The opposite is also true. When full mastery of a concept is not achieved before moving on to the next, new blocks are added to shaky foundations, and what follows makes less and less sense. When mastery gaps develop and are not filled --- in math for example--- that subject becomes more and more overwhelming.
People can achieve mastery, but only at their own speed and only by using their own learning style. When they are forced to move at a speed that is wrong for them, or when they do not make the learning their own through their own learning style, gaps develop that impact everything they attempt to learn from that point on.
Research has shown that more than 90% of all people can master a subject (85% or above) when mastery learning methods are used. Yet many people have never experienced mastery. This is not because they are incapable of mastery. It is because there has been a mismatch between their personal learning style and time needs, and what they have experienced so far.
When a student’s time and learning style needs are met, they can and will achieve mastery—85% or above. And this will impact everything that follows. Building from strength, they will continue to excel. And by excelling, they will experience the boost in self-esteem that comes with knowing that they have done so.
We have made the error of viewing excellence as a goal-line where only a selected few will win. In fact, it is a pathway, where each is at a different place along the road, but all can arrive.
Learning is an active process that takes place in the mind of the child. How information gets into the child’s mind, and what happens to it once it gets there, is a function of the child’s learning style. There are no “right” learning styles. What is right for one, can be wrong for another. But the only way that works for a particular child is to learn THEIR way.
A one-on-one tutor can work with a child's individual learning style, adapting to it to ensure that the child does learn, and learns completely. Building on learning success, a tutor can build the child's confidence in his/her own abilities. Equally important, a tutor can help the child understand his or her own learning style in order to carry forward his learning success into the future by knowing HOW to learn.
Two key and distinctive elements of learning style are the style for taking in information and the style for processing it once it has been taken in. To input new information using their senses, some children learn by hearing. These are the auditory learners. Some learn by seeing. These are the visual learners. Others learn through action. These are the kinesthetic learners.
Assessments (also called "tests"----shhhhh!) are feared and dreaded. But there is a very good “why” for the use of assessment. That reason is to discover what has or has not happened yet in terms of learning---to find the edge. An experienced tutor can put assessment results to work to guide the future learning plans for each student.
For an assessment to be useful to guide a tutoring plan, it needs to be flexible. It also needs to be low threat, low stress. It needs to take into account the complexities of individual needs and learning styles. And it needs to point to “what happens next”.
Mastery Tutors Learning Assessments are created child-by-child, and adjusted to fit the child and the situation through a one-on-one in-home interview. The value to be gained from an in-home assessment is:
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