Learning and Life Skills

How parents can put to use scores from the Otis Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) (1)

Whether a child gains access to gifted and talented programs or not, results from the OLSAT (Otis-Lennon School Ability Test) assessment provide parents with a wealth of information they can use for the benefit of their children...if they are willing to engage.

The OLSAT helps us understand student learning abilities

Pearson Education, in their pamphlet - OLSAT - Assessing the Abilities That Relate To Success In School -  states: “... these tests have enabled educators to understand better the attributes that students bring to the task of learning.” 

 

Engaged parents can make a difference

So, what about us parents?  Couldn’t parents also gain some understanding about the unique potential of children by understanding the test results?  Is it possible that parents could engage thier children in activities that enhance a child’s cognitive abilities said to: “..relate to a student’s ability to learn in school.”  And, wouldn’t that be a good thing?  I say ‘yes’, emphatically!

The first step is  to request a detailed report of the test results from your child’s teacher or school test administrator.  Request results reporting scores by cluster and item type.  Then, ask lots of questions and be sure to read the rest of this series.  

Reasoning skills can be taught... even by parents!

Again, quoting from the OLSAT pamphlet: “Tasks such as detecting likenesses and differences, recalling words and numbers, defining words, following directions, classifying, establishing sequence, solving arithmetic problems, and completing analogies are included in OLSAT since they have been shown to be valid measures of an individual's ability to reason logically.”

Can parents make a difference in improving a child’s ability in these areas?  Yes.  Look at the Building Thinking Skills resources matched to your child's grade.

Does it make a difference in school success?  Yes.  

Would you like to understand more about your child and then take action based on this information?   

Next post - breaking it down - what are the cognitive skills on the OLSAT?

Then... how can parents work with their children to improve specific skills?

 

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In the meantime, be sure to check out these related posts about the OLSAT - Otis-Lennon School Ability Test:

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Resources to help your child with the OLSAT:

Find resources on our website: ThinkingToLearn.com

Or, use the information we have made available about the OLSAT assessment and resources for use by parents, tutors and teachers. 

Questions, suggestions?  Be sure to share your comments...

 

Thinking To Learn. com - announces web update with quick link access

 We've just completed an update to our home page at ThinkingToLearn.com to provide quick links to the most frequently requested information on our site.  

Drop by and let us know what you think, or what we should add.  Join our newsletter for access to parent tips and special offers - exclusive to members of our list. 

Think well today!

via www.thinkingtolearn.com

Recognizing Spatial Intelligence a necessity for talent assessment

 
Ninety years ago, Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman began an ambitious search for the brightest kids in California, administering IQ tests to several thousand of children across the state. Those scoring above an IQ of 135 (approximately the top 1 percent of scores) were tracked for further study. There were two young boys, Luis Alvarez and William Shockley, who were among the many who took Terman’s tests but missed the cutoff score. Despite their exclusion from a study of young “geniuses,” both went on to study physics, earn PhDs, and win the Nobel prize. 

via www.scientificamerican.com

Just as many young people who have grown up on farms, handling equipment and solving various and sundry problems that arise as they complete their chores, have gone on to be successful engineers.  Their abilities were developed and enhanced through their daily work with objects and the mechanics of equipment used on the farm.  These skills, while not included in 'gifted' testing, are spot on in terms of 21 century skills and science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).   Another testament to the futility of determining the futures of our children based on a 'one-point-in-time' assessment. 

Parents must take the bull by the horns and engage their children in learning and developing skills that will serve them for a lifetime - regardless of the specialized programs the school systems will permit or not permit them to participate in.

Find resources for developing creativity, problem solving, critical reading and reasoning skills through my website: ThinkingToLearn.com. 

 

 

 

 

Thousands of school teachers 'lack subject expertise' - what's a parent to do?

    “It is very concerning that a lot of our young people are not being introduced to subjects by teachers with the necessary expertise in them,” he said.

via www.telegraph.co.uk

I found this quite interesting given that the frequent objection raised by teachers to parents who homeschool is, "Do you have a teaching certificate?"  They hold the belief that in order to teach your own children a parent needs special training and a piece of paper 'certifying' the ability to do so.  Seems, though, that the school systems are quilty of committing the same offense - utilizing non-subject experts to teach.   Knowing that this is occurring both in the UK and US education system, how do parent who have students in the system, deal with this? 

Based on my conversations with parents I advise as they search for supplemental and core academic resources, parents have taken to schooling in the after-school hours.  While not formally recognized as 'homeschooling', because the child is counted on the public school's roster, my impression is that this is an increasingly common occurrence.  I'd love to see research that accumulates the number of hours parents spend teaching or re-teaching content their child is supposed to be mastering at school.  Anyone know of research that looks into this?  

What concerns me is that the children never seem to come first.   Shouldn't parents be encouraged and taught how to be effective in supporting and, yes - even teaching - academic content?  What if we trained parents in techniques for tutoring their own?  Granted, many take the position that they are paying for the school system to educate their child, so why should they need to?  Those are not the parents I'm thinking of.  I work daily with parents who are desperate to find ways to help their child, and because the 'system' carries a belief that the parent isn't 'qualified' to teach, they don't engage them in the education process involved with the transfer of academic knowledge.  Yet, that same system staffs math and science classes with individuals who have no more, and frequenly less, education in those subjects than the parents.

If you are a parent interested in learning more about how to support your child's academic success, including identifying worthwhile resources for use at home, contact me directly if you'd like to begin to benefit by being coached by a 15 yr veteran homeschooler and parenting coach.  Visit our Thinking To Learn website to explore educational resources in use by parents at home and homeschoolers.

Post a comment to share links to other websites that you've identified as carrying good resources for your children and why you think they are good.

Let me know whether you are a parent who schools in the afterhours, how many hours you do so, and what subjects you teach.   I look forward to hearing from you.