The newly released 2022 NAEP data confirms everyone’s worst suspicions about student achievement: Students in ALL geographic and demographic categories lost ground during the pandemic Students fell behind in both math and ELA, though moreso in math The achievement gap worsened, as lower performing and lower incomes students had bigger declines SpED departments are near…
Despite what social media might have you believe, the academic Three R’s, Reading, (w)Riting and (a)Rithmetic, are still the foundation for all learning. Without these essential skills, students will not have the building blocks for the higher-order thinking that drives 21st century skills like computation, communication and collaboration. This back-to-school, students of all ages might struggle…
When done right, testing is incredibly valuable We’ve all heard more about the value of accurate, reliable testing in the last four weeks than at any point in our collective lifetimes. The crystal clear message from trusted scientists: Testing is essential to evaluate and address current conditions. The only thing worse than not testing is…
We’ve been flooded with emails about Mindprint over the last few weeks How is this different from academic testing? Is my school doing this or should I be doing this at home? What are the benefits? We greatly appreciate your interest and decided to write a new “Dr. Fauci-inspired” Q & A to answer the most common questions…
The following is a brief summary of the learning traits that drive most academic learning. Everyone has their own unique combination of these traits, just as we all have our own unique fingerprint. It’s what makes each of us special but can also make learning confusing or challenging at times. The 10 skills are organized in four…
What is the NASA Twins Study? Identical twin astronauts, Mark and Scott Kelly, agreed to be studied for two years. NASA tracked changes to their genes, cognitive skills and physical and mental health to understand the impact of long duration space flight on the human body and brain. Mark stayed on Earth throughout. Scott spent a full year at…
Successful learners use metacognition to facilitate their problem solving. This is one of the key findings of the National Academy of Sciences’ synthesis of decades of research on the science of learning explained in How People Learn: Mind, Brain, Experience and School Below we explain metacognition and provide the vocabulary to teach it. In part two of this…
Attention is the skill that enables students to follow through even when the work gets challenging or boring. Note: This is one of a 10 blog series on learning traits. Read about all 10 learning traits here. What is Attention? Attention is your ability to sustain focus, even for tasks or classes that you might not find interesting. Attention difficulties can affect students in all subjects and activities, but it…
Visual memory is a key skill for STEM. Mathematicians, scientists and artists all rely heavily on this trait to be efficient in their work. Note: This is one of a 10 blog series on learning traits. Read about all 10 learning traits here. What is Visual Memory? Visual memory is the ability to remember what you see, including images, patterns, colors or what’s in “the mind’s eye”. Why is it…
Verbal memory is the skill that makes students most efficient in school and with homework, particularly in elementary school. Note: This is one of a 10 blog series on learning traits. Read about all 10 learning traits here. What is Verbal Memory? Verbal memory is the ability to remember what you read or hear. It includes your ability to hear or read a word, sentence or paragraph…