Mental Health in Urban Schools

Mental Health in Urban Schools

When it comes to the issue of mental health, urban schools have a lot of untapped strengths and assets which reside within the students and their families, the school staff and the community resources. Urban schools are ripe for exploration as we understand the importance of promoting a healthy emotional development and also because of the critical issues faced by students during the school year. Some of the students misbehave, some go through physical or sexual abuse, some of them are emotionally upset and others have difficulty getting along with their peers or adjusting to the school requirements. The central question behind any mental health approach should be – How can the schools engage these challenges?

What is it all about?

A lot of people think “mental illness” when they hear the term “mental health”. Others think it is all about counseling and therapy. But that isn’t the whole picture. Mental health is also about:

·      Instituting programs to promote emotional-social development, preventing the occurrence of psychological problems and enhancing the protective buffers and resiliency of students.

·      Providing services and programs to intervene as soon as behavior, learning and emotional problems are detected.

·      Supporting and nourishing the mental health of school staff and families.

·      Engaging in capacity building so that school staff can address the barriers encountered in learning.

·      Addressing the systemic issues which affect mental health, like high stakes testing and practices which lead to bullying, alienation and disengagement from any form of classroom learning.

·      Drawing on the empirical evidence to develop a multifaceted, cohesive and comprehensive continuum of community-school interventions to address the barriers to learning and promote a more holistic development.

What does the urban school system currently provide?

Most of the urban schools have some programs in place to address mental health and psychosocial concerns, like school adjustment, problems with attendance, dropouts, sexual and physical abuse, substance abuse, emotional upset, relationship difficulties, violence and delinquency. Some of them are funded by the schools themselves while others are a result of links with youth development agencies and community service. Some of the programs are district-wide while others are linked to specific schools. The intervention might be offered to all the students or those recognized as “at risk”. The recommended activities might be implemented in either regular or special-ed classrooms or even as a pull out program. They are designed either for an entire class, individuals or groups.

The personnel who assist with mental health concerns include “support services” or “pupil services” specialists, like counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers as well as a number of paraprofessionals. Most of them focus on the student as a problem or as having a problem.

The students and the staff who work in schools are a diverse bunch, They vary in gender, ethnicity, race, national origin, migration and refugee status and experiences, spirituality, religion, disability, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, language, communication modality, group identity, levels of assimilation/acculturation, developmental stages, workplace culture, lifestyle and family, and popular culture.

Interventions must consider the significant group and individual differences. The personnel must be competent enough to deal with diversity in their daily practice. Despite the range of activities, few schools have actually come close to having the adequate resources to deal with the complex mental health and psychosocial problems through the traditional responses.

What are the emerging trends?

The central problem is that activities that are related to mental health and psychosocial concerns are not given a high priority in schools. They gain visibility in the case of an event, like a student suicide, shooting on campus or an increase in the bullying of students. The efforts that are undertaken are developed in a piecemeal, ad hoc, and marginalized way. This has led to redundancy, fragmented approaches, and inadequate results.

Modern approaches focus on much more than the one-on-one interaction of the older models. It advocates a more comprehensive approach that strengthens the families, schools, students and the neighborhoods in ways that can maximize caring, learning and well-being. We need to fully integrate an agenda for mental health into the urban school framework.

Although one-on-one interactions with troubled students are effective and must be appreciated for the amount of clinical work put in by the counselors and psychologists, we need to focus on building better bridges so that we avoid problems even before they occur. However, many people still believe that education must be the primary concern of schools and mental health is not their business.

How can schools use the natural opportunities to improve the mental health of their students?  

We can group the natural opportunities available at schools for countering mental health and psychosocial problems into two major categories:

1.     Daily opportunities – Schools are a vibrant and active social milieu. Students get to interact with many of their peers and adults during the day. All the school staff, especially the teachers, must be trained in ways to make use of the encounters and minimize transactions which work against positive growth. Are students being instructed in ways that strengthen the development of interpersonal skills? Is their understanding of themselves and others getting better? Is sharing and cooperative learning promoted? Is the climate supportive, safe and caring? Are the interpersonal conflicts suppressed when they happen, or are they used as learning opportunities? Is every student given a role to be a positive helper in the school and the community at large? How safe do the staff and students feel when they are at school? Having metrics to answer each of these questions will be the right way to go forward.

2.     Yearly patterns – The beginning of a school year is a period of hope. As time progresses, a number of stressors emerge, from increasingly difficult homework assignments, interpersonal conflicts, and grading and testing pressures. Holidays, sports, social events, grade promotions and graduations give rise to additional stressors with their own developmental experiences. Having monthly themes to reduce the stress would be a great way to go.

a.     September – Get off to a good start.

b.     October – Enable adjustment to the school.

c.     November – Respond to referrals in a way that can actually stem the tide.

d.     December – Re-engage the students and use their time off in a way that will pay off.

e.     January – A time for a new start for everybody.

f.      February – The mid-point of the year accompanied by conferences and report cards. It presents another challenging opportunity.

g.     March – Reduce the stress and prevent burnouts.

h.    April – Springtime can be a period of high risk for the students.

i.      May – This is the time to help families and students plan for a successful transition to a new school/grade.

j.      June – Summer can be a great time for the kids to get a taste of the world of adults and learn to be independent by getting some seasonal work.

k.    July – Use the down time to plan for better ways in which everyone can work together to provide a better learning support.

l.      August – Develop ways by which you can avoid burnouts.

How can schools provide a mentally healthy living environment to their students?

Schools should be more proactive in developing a positive atmosphere for their students and staff. Literature advocates:

·      Providing a caring, welcoming and a more hopeful atmosphere.

·      Social support mechanisms for the staff and students.

·      Offering an array of options so that students can pursue their goals.

·      Meaningful participation by both the staff and students in decision making.

·      Changing the infrastructure of the classroom from a bigger set into a number of smaller units that are organized to maximize the intrinsic motivation of students for learning.

·      Providing instruction and responding to the problems in a more personalized way.

·      Using a number of strategies for addressing the problems as soon as they arise.

·      An attractive and healthy physical environment which is conducive to teaching and learning.

Every school needs a welcoming induction and continued support for creating a more positive sense of community. It will facilitate student and staff adjustment and performance. The strategies must be school-wide and must enable the students, staff, and families to positively interact with each other and identify with the school and its goals. 

References:

1.     https://www.epa.gov/schools/implementing-coordinated-school-health-guidelines

2.     http://www.maine.gov/education/mainecshp/tools/advocacy/practices.doc

3.     http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec09/vol67/num04/Coordinated-School-Health@-Getting-It-All-Together.aspx

4.     http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15326985ep3304_1

5.     http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-and-learning/promoting-student-success-through-collaboration/

6.     http://www.ocde.us/PBIS/Documents/Articles/Addressing%20Barriers%20to%20Learning.pdf

7.     http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/schoolsupport.htm

Poverty and Brain Development

How Does Growing up in Poverty Affect the Development of a Child's Brain

It wasn't long ago that scientists believed that the brain was a predictable organ with rigid confines, not that different from the liver or the lungs. They postulated that genetics pre-determine the learning ability, baseline intelligence and problem-solving capabilities of an individual.

However, with the latest research shedding more light on the neuroplasticity of the brain, scientists are beginning to acknowledge that the brain is highly responsive and constantly evolving, with the innate ability to change at large-scale and cellular levels due to experiences and environmental influences. Already, this research has gone a long way into explaining certain phenomena, like how people whose vision is impaired can re-allocate areas of their brain meant to process sights for analyzing sound.

The brain of children is particularly vulnerable to changes – research has demonstrated how growing up in a poor household under strained conditions can impair a child's cognitive abilities that last their entire lives. Let us take a look at some of the ways poverty can affect brain development in children:

·       A recent study employed fMRI (to detect the flow of blood in different areas of the brain) to study how emotions are regulated in young adults. They were part of a long-running study on the effects of poverty. The study showed that the participants who grew up in dire circumstances showed more brain activity in their amygdala (associated with fear, anxiety and other emotional disorders) as well as a marked drop in their prefrontal cortex activity (which plays a key role in restricting the amygdala and prioritizing long-term decisions over impulsive reactions) when they were shown disturbing images. Researchers postulated that chronic stressors, like noise, crowding, separation or family turmoil could affect the brain's development and explain the observed correlation.

·       Another study examined the relationship between childhood nurturing and brain tissue growth in a controlled age group (6-12). Children whose parents were known to have poor nurturing abilities showed slowed growth in gray matter, white matter as well as reduced volumes in parts of the brain involved in coping with external stress and learning skills. The children were similar in all other aspects except the nurturing skills of their parents, which practically retarded their mental development at least by two years. The study also found that impoverished parents had poorer nurturing skills. To an objective observer, it might seem heavy handed to judge the parenting style, but the researchers took into account chronic stressors as well – children who were brought up in a poor household, but did not have as many stressful events (the frequency of which was determined by annual assessments) showed smaller reductions in their neural development.

·       Some studies have looked at more specific effects. A recent study conducted by the Northwestern University found a correlation between children who came from disadvantaged backgrounds had less efficient auditory processing skills – the part of the brain that was responsible for processing daily sounds responded to distracting noises more than the main activity compared to control participants. According to the researchers, it could be explained by the well understood correlation between noise exposure in more urban areas and low income households. However, it is not yet established as to whether the observed effects are temporary or permanent.

·       Dishearteningly enough, a recent study published in Science showed that being preoccupied with the concerns of poverty – struggle to pay the bills, for example – taxed the brain and left less bandwidth to make long-term decisions and solve complicated cognitive problems. It was observed that just getting the volunteers in the study to think about their economic problems led to a much poorer performance on the IQ and impulse control test.

Although the problem of less bandwidth is a temporary one, it does go a long way in explaining how making decisions can be considerably harder for someone who is mired in poverty. Parents should make sure that they don't inadvertently contribute to an environment which keeps their kids from overcoming their difficult circumstances.

How to Solve Systemic Racism

 Although racism has been largely banned in America since many decades now, it is still a reality faced by hundreds of thousands of colored people across the country. It is silent, and it may not be apparent at first, but careful observation of various social systems reveals the fact that is, unfortunately, a part of every aspect of our society. Boys and young men of color are denied many opportunities due to systemic racism, and there is very little that the oppressed individuals can do to help themselves.

Interconnection of the education system with other parts of society

Our society is held up by the contribution of various pillars apart from education, including health systems, criminal justice systems, housing system, employment system, and even the community. Educational institutions, over time, have become more and more sensitive towards boys and young men of color, and have become one of the primary drivers towards providing equal opportunity. However, leaving racialization untouched in all the other parts of the society does not provide enough of a foundation to allow these boys and young men to gain a foothold in the society.

The problems of race-neutral policies

The most basic attempt towards fighting racism is to put “race-neutral” policies in place, with the hopes that it will create a level playing field for all the people of this nation. However, by observing who has benefited the most from this kind of reforms, it becomes clear that “race-neutral” policies are not very helpful towards the colored youth. For instance, government programs such as Social Security, 30-year mortgages and the GI Bill contributed heavily towards the benefit of the white middle class, but were not very effective in supporting African Americans. Such policies have ignored the difference in starting points for people of color and the possibility of racial segregation within the system, leading to limited success in execution.

How a proper policy system should be developed

Instead of simply releasing a general policy for people of all races, it is important to acknowledge the fact that it needs to target communities of color so as to have the desired outcome. Presently, there are significant disparities in income, education, and healthcare amongst colored people and the whites in America, and this leads to problems like lower life expectancy, lower accumulated wealth and higher rates of incarceration. The policies that allow the prevalence of structural racism generally shows the following characteristics:

Consideration of legacy: Although this can be used to correct historical injustices, many policies that consider the legacy of a person has a high chance of allowing systemic racism. 

Segregation of risk and available resources: Distributing the available resources according to the associated risk, such as redlining, zoning policies, and so on.

Differential valuation of races: Propagation of certain histories that provide a lopsided view of colored people.

To reduce systemic racism, we need to involve colored people in the development of policies and target incentives towards colored boys and young men to help increase their civic participation. It also should address the disparities in the financial situation of people of color and reduce the barriers towards resources. With proper policy planning, racism can be removed from the systems that support our society.

Why We Need To Move Towards Standards-Based Learning

As of last year, there were an estimated 50 million students in the United States who were attending public elementary and secondary schools. Within the next few years, these children will be having full time jobs and contributing towards the growth of the nation. It is no secret that good education has an effect on progress of a people, which is why it is important to ensure that education systems are constantly evolving. In this spirit, the grading system that is employed by majority of the schools in the USA is observed to give rise to many problems, and it will have to be changed if we want the children of the future to be competent.

The present scenario

The present system makes a student sit through a class for an entire year and allows progression to a higher grade once they prove their proficiency at the end of the year. This kind of a system assumes that students have gained expertise in their subjects before they are made to sit through more advanced classes. But empirical evidence shows that students can progress to higher grades even when they are not competent enough to grasp advanced concepts.

The grading system has, for many years, been the subject of criticism as many people become acutely aware of the effect it has on children. One of the primary issues is that the grading system focuses on achieving marks, instead of learning the concept thoroughly. The intrinsic motivation for students in such a system is to get good grades, and this forces them to take lesser risks in their learning process, instead of exploring topics that lie beyond their current skill set.

The very approach to learning is corrupted when the message given by an educational institution is “grades matter more than learning”. As the students study a book with the intention of memorizing facts, their quality of understanding the essence of the text is diminished, and this effect is magnified as the students progress through higher levels of the education system.

Why improvement would not really help

Many people are of the opinion that an improvement in the education system is a necessity, but they may not be very open to completely doing away with the grading system. Several schools around the country try to augment the grading system by introducing innovative policies, yet these methods do not stand the test of time. The reason that superficial improvements to the grading system do not work is because it is psychologically flawed.

Experts of pedagogy agree that the learning process inherently motivates students, not because they stand to gain good grades, but because the subject matter interests them. The grading system, instead of acknowledging this quality, forces a structure of rewards and punishments in the hopes of spurring young minds to work harder. Studies conducted by educational psychologists reveal that simply focusing on the assessment process can undermine the quality of learning, as the students monitor their performance instead of trying to grasp the nuances of the subject matter.

How to move towards standards-based learning

The process of change towards standards-based learning is arduous and it will require the combined efforts of school administrators and teachers, if a school hopes to use such a system in the long run. To make a gradual move away from the grading system, a school administrator needs to first have extensive discussions with teachers, parents and even students about the effects of the present system. The main rebuttal people have against changing the grading system is that it becomes nearly impossible to collect data about a student's performance. But there are far better methods of assessing mastery which involves gathering information about the capability of students.

Once a considerable number of people are in support of the idea of moving away from the grading system, a school can start to eliminate the traditional system for the youngest students, so that the system can be continued as they progress through their education. Instead of completely eliminating grades, an educational institution may choose to reduce the focus on academic success to show students that learning is more important that scoring well.

Teachers will have a major role to play in the efforts of an educational institution, as they will need to adapt to new methods of assessment. There will also be considerable resistance from parents and students alike, who will argue that excellence needs to be documented with data. When faced with such situations, remember that the goal of a school is not to grade students competitively, but to increase knowledge within each student. With persistence and skill, it is possible to eliminate the grading system and move towards a competency based learning system in the long term.

The Need of the Hour - To Educate Boys and Young Men of Color

A nation is formed by the contribution of every single one of its citizens. It grows, flourishes, progresses alongside its people. In the same measure, it fails to achieve its optimal development when a section of the citizenry is denied the ability to give their best to their homeland. In the U.S., where the fabric of society comprises of many hues and textures, it is indeed surprising, even shocking, that young men of color are yet to receive their due, their fair share of the resources that the country has to give. This is most evident in the skewed educational landscape we witness. The facts about young men of color that are commonly known are:

• Young men of color enrolled in America’s urban schools do not demonstrate the academic excellence that paves way for successful higher education or lucrative career

• A disproportionate number of young men of color have low attendance at school and high dropout rates when compared with their counterparts

The Big Picture that is often Hidden

However, the big picture that emerges when you start exploring why this situation exists is not quite as well known or well publicized:

• Due to a variety of historic, cultural, social reasons, the families of these young men have been kept out of the more upscale, prosperous neighborhood, thus limiting their ability to enroll at the best urban schools in the country.

• Studies reveal that young men of color are far more likely than their peers to attend schools where the quality of teaching is below par, with fewer experienced teachers available and accessible.

• These young men are also far more likely to attend schools where educational resources are heavily limited and restricted, thus restricting their ability to take initiative for their own education in the absence of high quality teaching. These resources include science labs, libraries, athletic programs and so on.

• The schools they attend may also typically have a dearth of qualified, experienced counselors meaning that these young men of color have no one to turn to for guidance and support in making the right career choices. This is especially a huge challenge for first generation school students who come from a family where no one else has had an opportunity to study.

• A host of factors, including these prevent these young men of color from graduating from school with the necessary preparation to take up higher education at a quality institution. This means that the cycle is repeated, restricting the student’s ability to hone his inherent skills into professional qualifications that will get him a job where his full potential is utilized.

Young men of color are denied the chance to give their best to America

The situation is a very unfortunate one because it is not only these young men of color who are at the losing end. It is, in fact, the country that is losing out and quite significantly. Unfortunately, this is one aspect that does not receive the attention it deserves. The reality is that no country can progress as well as it should unless every section of the population is given the opportunity to explore their own talents and skills to the maximum. No country can flourish unless every such section has access to resources that let them discover their inherent skills and develop them. And no country can optimally develop and succeed unless every such section is integrated into its workforce in areas where their skills can be leveraged to the maximum. 

In an ideal society, every single student is given equal educational opportunities, has access to teachers and learning resources to identify the ways in which they can excel in life. This is a first step that lets students achieve personal success and position themselves as an integral part of society. It also puts a full stop to the vicious cycle of poorly educated adults failing to recognize the need to get their children educated, thus fostering yet another generation of young men of color unable to contribute to society and nation.

Education is Key to Safeguarding the Nation’s Resources

Young men of color face several prejudices, most common among them being that they are aggressive and more likely to engage in criminal activities. The statistics that show the immense number of young men of color engaged in unlawful activities only add fuel to this fire. However, explore the facts with a closer look at the causative factors and a very different picture emerges. If we are able to equip these young men with the education they need to succeed in a constructive career, we can effectively channelize their energies in the right way. These students can become the men who stand first in our line of defense, who build the businesses that will take America to new heights, who come up with innovative ideas that will position the country as a world leader. 

If we ignore that the country is failing these young men who have untapped potential, we also close our eyes to the fact that we are committing to reserve many, many resources to an unproductive cause. This is because the lack of education will force many of these current generation youngsters into the wrong path, prompting them to engage in anti-social activities. In later life, many of these young men may ‘graduate’ into more serious crimes, requiring the investment of state and national resources into identifying them, controlling them and incarcerating them to keep them isolated from society. 

The Great City Schools of America have already recognized that the roots of the problem lie in the formative years of young men of color. The 60 urban school systems have pledged to invest efforts into eliminating the inequities that hamper the growth of these students. It is up to every one of us to accept our share of the responsibility in ensuring that young men of color are given the impetus, the tools to become society’s most respected, most valuable assets instead of forcing on them a life that can only take them and the country, with them,

How To Use Socratic Discussion In Today's Classroom To Promote Student Engagement

The Socratic method is a student-centric teaching method that actively enhances the student’s comprehension and ability to learn. Socrates firmly believed that effective teaching could not be achieved by mere one-sided lecturing. He understood that students have their own individual stores of knowledge as well as learning and when they are encouraged to build upon these, they can learn more efficiently. He also realized that effective teaching happens when the students are engaged deeply in the classroom activities because they can be inspired to analyze the lesson, evaluate, discuss it and develop their own view point upon it.

The Socratic method of teaching is an universally applicable method that can be applied to students of any age, with any subject matter, to achieve the most effective teaching - learning process. To apply the method in your classroom, there are a few key aspects to understand.

The importance of asking the right questions

The Socratic method draws students deeper into the subject matter by encouraging them to take an active part in the learning process. One way in which it is done is by asking questions that prompt them to consider the problem or subject from different perspectives. In effect, questions that require generative answers are important so that the answers become starting points for further discussion or analysis. So a deep understanding of the subject or problem is achieved.

Encouraging collaborative dialogues

The teacher should encourage students to communicate their ideas with each other, collaborate to find answers that satisfy all and to engage in dialogues to reconcile opposing points of view. It is possible only when students are given topics for discussion that require them to revisit their rationale for their arguments and evaluate if their arguments are more sound than that of others.

The process of collaborative dialogue and analysis ensures that all the varying viewpoints upon one topic are brought into the open and all students are exposed to them. It also encourages students to pay heed to varying perspectives, to understand that the view of another may be more logical and more appropriate than their own. The ability to accept other views is very critical for effective learning and growth.

Discussing questions that have more than one correct answer

The Socratic method is heavily reliant on getting the students to share their views upon a specific topic or question. However, in contrast to conventional teaching styles, the questions asked do not have just one simple, direct solution. During the process of getting students to share their views about solutions, the teacher should skillfully highlight the fact that many equally viable solutions exist for the same question.

Further, the students should be asked to justify their responses and demonstrate how and why their solution is appropriate for the question. It enhances the student’s analytical abilities, presentation skills and communication while also ensuring that the classroom is exposed to various answers that are all convincing and true. It promotes their ability to think innovatively about problems and come up with unique solutions rather than remaining limited to traditional ones. 

Making a Difference to Underachievers

Making a Difference to Underachievers Using the Feuerstein Method

 

In today’s educational landscape, it is quite common to see students categorized as ‘intelligent’, ‘average’, ‘unintelligent’, ‘underperformers’ and so on. The view that students have a pre-determined, pre-set ‘level’ of intelligence and ability to learn is quite prevalent and this is a widely accepted view as well. Academicians and educators across the country, even the world, really believe that not all students can achieve the same academic goals because of the differential intelligence levels that they are endowed with. This gives credence to the belief that intellect or intelligence is an inborn ‘skill’, with each person being gifted with a specific limit of it. This also means that there are only a select few who can truly excel even when the best teachers are employed and they are leveraging the most modern, most effective teaching techniques to impart knowledge.

This view is flawed in more than one way because there is reason to believe that the so called ‘underperforming’ student does not have the same intelligence or ability to grasp complex academic concepts as the so- called ‘intelligent’ student. Further, there is no scientific basis for the assumption that everyone is born with different intelligence levels, which cannot be enhanced or drawn out in any way as they progress through life and through different educational experiences. As Nobel Prize nominee, clinical, developmental and cognitive psychologist Ruevin Feurestein explained, ‘intelligence is not fixed but modifiable’. It is the responsibility of the teacher or academician to devise a teaching system or strategy that helps every student achieve higher levels of intelligence by drawing upon his or her own hidden reserves.

An overview of the Feuerstein Method

After fleeing the Nazi invasion, Feurestein leveraged his psychology degree to teach young survivors of the Holocaust in his new home in Palestine. The needs of these children prompted him to take up a career that would address both psychological and educational needs of refugee children. In the 1950s, Feurestein was involved in working with children from Moroccan, Berber and Jewish families and he found that those who initially scored low on IQ tests showed remarkable improvement when they were given special psychological and academic attention.

This encouraged him to start viewing intelligence as a modifiable characteristics rather than a fixed one, as the traditional view point held. He started researching various ways in which too ‘teach’ intelligence even as he expounded the theory that the students who excelled and who were believed to be intelligent were actually leveraging their ability to learn more effectively than others.

The prevailing means and tools for measuring intelligence were flawed and inadequate, in his view, because they failed to indicate that all students could be elevated to the same level of intelligence provided they were taught how to do it. As a new, more effective and more accurate method of evaluation, Feurestein came up with the dynamic assessment method, as it is known today. His focus was on identifying and evaluating the inherent cognitive flexibility in the child that represents the ability to learn. Once this evaluation is done, teaching methodologies can be tweaked so that these abilities are used optimally.   This view was dramatically different from what was commonly accepted then and it transformed the way people looked at ‘intelligence’ and its impact on academic performance.

Taking his study further, Feurestein began to devise methodologies to help children who were not performing well academically and work on their weaknesses, putting them on track for dramatic improvements. ‘Mediated relationship’, he discovered, lay at the foundation of meaningful teaching strategies. These methodologies have brought a ray of hope into the lives of not just poorly performing children but also children with special needs such as those affected by Down’s Syndrome, palsy, stroke or other conditions. 

The journey from ‘poor performer’ to ‘gifted’ status 

Feuerstien’s methods can be used with amazing success in every academic field to teach and engage urban students most effectively. The success of the methods hinge on our ability to understand and accept that intelligence is limitless. Most urban schools tend to look at students as deficits; they believe that the students can only advance so far. However, this is far from the truth that Feuerstien has proven beyond doubt. In my personal experience, wherever I have implemented Feuerstien’s method, the results have been simply dramatic and uniformly impressive.   I have taught several boys and young men of color with these tools and witnessed the improved academic performance from close quarters.

One important contributing factor for this impressive change is that a growth oriented mindset is essential. A tremendous amount of growth is possible when this correct approach is adopted to take a low performing student and turn them into a “gifted” student. This growth mind set is often lacking in academic environments where ‘underachievement’ is the expected outcome. Sadly, this is true of many schools where children of color are automatically tagged with the ‘underperformer’ label. The teachers may, inadvertently, believe that these students are incapable of improving their academic excellence and thus feel that investing more attention or time on them will not yield results. In reality, it is the opposite that is true.

The teacher has to actively believe that the students can excel and this belief should be evident every single day in the teaching strategy, technique and tools utilized.  This positive mindset, that the underperforming student is no different from their academically proficient peers, is the foundation block on which the students builds their new skills to learn more effectively and efficiently.

Another critical understanding for both teacher and student is that learning and intelligence are not two different aspects. Intelligence is the knowledge of identifying where knowledge can and should be applied, i.e.: a meta knowledge of sorts. This knowledge comes when the learner is actively involved in the learning process- understanding why they are studying something and where they might apply it. When the students make these connections, they can apply the knowledge intelligently to various situations. This is not all- they can also learn more advanced concepts easily because the grounding of knowing why they need it and how to use it is already present in them. This is how the transformation from poor performers to exceptional students takes place with the right teaching methodologies being implemented.