Organization, planning, time management continue to turn up in the latest research on preparing students for college. It is also part of the Life & Career skills listed in the 21st Century Learning Skills framework http://is.gd/J3qC .

It goes beyond college prep. For many kids, just graduating with the skills necessary to be successful in a vocation is a mountain to climb. For these kids, making it to the next year can seems impossible.

I’d add one more to the list. Study Skills.

Teach a student how to study…teach them how to LEARN new information as early as you can and keep teaching them…over and over…systematically and repeatedly and then watch them take wings and fly. Give them a fish…feed them for a day, teach them to fish, feed them for a life time.

We are overlooking this most fundamental aspect of learning. A student has to know their learning style and then how to deploy study strategies that use study tactics that work for them. This takes time and practice. We have to start them early, preferably in 5th grade and continue until they graduate.

Another reason for the end of the day assessment is to create a bookend to the day with the planner.  We want them to start the day with the planner and a thought about study skills and their own personal motivations and to end the day with the planner and a recap of how it went.

Some schools have found the value in getting parent and teacher initials as a way to engage parents in the process of using the planner. With the inclusion of real planning tools including chores, parents have even more reason to encourage their children to use the planner both in school and out of school.

We have a beta test site that uses a “Student Planner Assessment Sheet” to help the teacher to assess the use of the planner and to give the student feedback on improvement.

Student Planner Assessment Sheet
Student Name: ___________________

Date: __________________

5—Monthly calendar, daily planning section, and overall quality of student planner is neatly and thoroughly completed.  Each day has the date properly and prominently labeled on the appropriate pages.  It is evident that the student is applying the student planner to academic life and is using it as a tool for time management in academic, extracurricular, and family activities.

3—Only parts of the monthly calendar and daily planning section are complete.  The overall quality and neatness of the planner indicates that the student is not taking care in managing and completing the required pages.  It is evident that the student is only somewhat applying the planner to everyday life and they are not fully using it as a tool for time management in academic, extracurricular, and family activities.

1—Few, if any, parts of the monthly calendar and daily planning section are complete.  The planner is sloppily maintained and is not being used as a tool for time management.  The student should seek further instruction from a parent or teacher on planner expectations.

Score: ___________

I can’t keep quite any longer.   I may be yelling into the void of cyberspace but at least I feel better when I’m done.

I’ve been watching the education business since I first started working at a local Sylvan Learning Franchise back in the early 90’s.  I’ve watched in amazement here in Texas how TEKS and the measuring stick TAKS test were implemented with the best of intention only to dump an inappropriate burden on both the schools and many of the students that just don’t test well (I was one of those kids).

What I didn’t have and what all student’s deserve is access to solid study skills.  If you check the Research page of our website, you will see that of the 5 skills that impact course achievement in college, only Organization and Planning skills and Study Skills are subject areas that can actually be taught in school.  This means that of all the things educators can do to help students be successful it’s teaching them organization and planning and study skills.

In most cases, that job is left up to individual teachers to do as part of their instructional duties.  Teachers are more than capable of doing this but what if they don’t?  What better way to impact the entire school than to roll out a campus wide, common study skills solution that gives lift to every student at the same time?   This gives the school the power to actually measure the results and determine if the solution is working or not.

Learning Study Skills is more than a one time event, these skills are developed over time and reinforced by repeative use.  In other words, they are learned through practice.  The AgenDUH by AgendaWorks and Study Smarts is the most effective, inexpensive and effective way to start building study skills in a school.

More to come on how the AgenDUH does this.