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| Study Skills Across the Curriculum. An interdisciplinary program with the goal of improving students' study skills, thereby enabling them to be more successful in their middle and junior high content subjects, to be active and organized learners, and to be better prepared for the learning independence expected in high school. |
Audience Approved by PEP for students in grades 5-8.
Description The Study Skills Across the Curriculum program is an interdisciplinary study skills program which provides a practical, effective vehicle for accomplishing school-wide improvement. The program model is firmly grounded in current educational research on effective middle school practices and is an excellent example of turning theory into practice. The program includes an alternative assessment package with guidelines for a study skills portfolio; a performance-based criterion-referenced test; and inventories for teachers, parents, and students to measure changes in study behaviors. The program also includes a parent component whereby parents are trained in the same strategies as their children so they can work with their children at home. The program's interdisciplinary model provides students with the consistency they need to reach their maximum potential as learners and to accomplish the national goal of student achievement and citizenship. Students cannot make a commitment to becoming a life-long learner, an important first step to productive employment in the Information Age, if they do not learn how to learn.
The curriculum is an interdisciplinary program consisting of a series of units, each with objectives and activities. Target skills include textbook format, time management and goal setting, learning from textbook materials, note taking from lectures and reading, test preparation, test taking, underlining/highlighting, listening, and library skills. A summary unit, "Becoming a Selective Viewer of TV," provides a model for the integration of the skills. Math activities have been added to each of the units in the notebook. These activities model for teachers lessons which require students to read, write, and speak mathematics. All the activities require students' active involvement, considerable modeling from teachers, homework, and writing assignments.
Materials are not workbook, fill-in-the-blank style; they are integrated into content area objectives and require the students to apply the target skills to their actual content course work. The materials can be used across disciplines in a particular grade or across several different grade levels within one building. The learning materials use sample lessons from social studies, science, and math textbooks to serve as models. The curricular materials include a pre- and postassessment for each skill, discussion questions, sample writing assignments, and transparency masters.
A team of teachers, an administrator, and, ideally, a parent attend the initial training. This team functions as a working committee to forge an implementation plan for a target grade level or building. The committee decides how best to integrate program goals into their local objectives and practices and how best to evaluate program implementation. After forging the building plan, the committee is expected to communicate regularly with staff colleagues and to maintain records of the implementation. A clearly delineated list of next steps, questions for consideration by the committee, and planning forms are included with the curricular materials. The program can be introduced intermittently throughout a quarter, semester, or school year in a variety of formats.
Evidence of Effectiveness Students who complete the program earn significantly greater gains on a program-produced and validated criterion-referenced study skills test, report greater gains in study skill behaviors, and demonstrate higher performance in their content courses.
Requirements Two days of training with an interdisciplinary team of teachers, an administrator, and, ideally, a parent from each building are required. Since ideally every teacher in a building plays one of two roles--the initial teacher of a strategy or the reinforcer--a day of follow-up is recommended consisting of a half-day inservice session on study skills for an entire faculty and a half-day follow-up meeting for committee members. Since the program requires an across-the-curriculum approach, more than one teacher from a building should attend training.
Costs The Study Skills Across the Curriculum manual costs $50 plus shipping. Each teacher who attends the initial training will need a copy of this manual. In addition a parent video and booklet, Study Skills: The Parent Connection, is available for $95 (booklet only for $7.50) and can be used in parent training sessions, on cable TV, or as a teacher training tool. The video and booklet are optional. Additional costs include travel expenses and consultant fee for the trainer. There are no recurring costs for the program.
Services In addition to training and materials, the program offers monitoring of the program's effectiveness and a newsletter for adopters. Awareness materials are available at no cost.
Developmental Funding: Local.
PEP No. 89-5R2 (2/13/90)
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