SPEAK UP FOR THE STUDENTS, GIVE THEM WHAT THEY NEED
Secondary schools and colleges are not giving students what they want and need to be successful and achieve their full academic potential. Administrators need to require research-based SQ3R Study Skills training for every student a major priority. This will immediately raise the level of academic performance for all students, close achievement gaps, and help students develop strong cognitive learning foundation skills they need for better planning and time management, critical thinking and problem solving. To better understand how it will transform students’ lives click on this link to my website and read what students are saying about 21st Century Study Skills: http://www.21stcenturystudyskills.com/testimonials.html
Schools are not teaching students how to study effectively from textbooks and get good marks on tests. This is absolutely key. It’s a very competitive world and every student needs this kind of training. Teachers need to be trained how to teach SQ3R-based learning techniques and provide ample opportunities to practice throughout the year. This will boost all-time low reading comprehension scores and increase college graduation rates which are pathetic. According to The Chronicles of Higher Education, less than 8% of all students attending 2-year colleges graduate in 2 years and less than 50% graduate from 4-year colleges in 4 years. The major reason for dropping out is ‘Academic Failure’ which means students do not know how to study and pass tests. This is a very costly situation for parents, students and society.
Too many students are reading textbooks the same way they read novels and that is a big mistake. They do not know how to take clear and concise notes to prepare for tests. They’ve never been taught how to extract important information from textual information and store it in their long-term memory for recall during a test. The average high school student takes almost 300 high-stakes tests during grades 9-12 which is very stressful. Their performance on those tests determines their course grades, GPA, which college or institution they attend and how well they perform.
With so much depending on test scores you would think every school district would adopt a rock-solid proven SQ3R-based teaching and learning strategy for grades 7-12 and publish it as part of their Program of Studies on their school district’s website. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Check out the Program of Studies for your local school district and see if it lists a course on SQ3R-based Study Skills. For 80 years, SQ3R has been considered the ‘father of all how-to-study strategies’ and it’s the only learning strategy recommended by collegeboard.com and most of the Top 100 Best Colleges in the nation. If it’s not there it’s not a priority in your district and it should be. To learn more about SQ3R please visit my website and contact me: http://www.21stcenturystudyskills.com/sq4r.html
