Answers to Questions About Learning and School
Parents send their children to school and trust that the "magic" of learning happens. Parents often think they know about school because they went to school. People who have worked in school know it is quite different from what they remember from childhood.
When children have no problems in school, parents don't think to ask questions. When children have difficulties, parents often don't understand the situation and try to deal with the consequences of the problems. This page attempts to simply answer common questions that many parents have about school and how their children learn.
Questions about:
- School
- Why don't my child's teachers teach what my child needs to know?
- Who decides what my child will learn?
- What is taught in each level of school?
- What does it mean that my child's school is in crisis?
- Is this a good system of grading schools?
- What are educators doing?
- What is the difference between remediation and intervention?
- Educators
- School Safety
- Learning
- Cognitive Development
- Language
- School Readiness
- Reading
- Math
Information about:
What educators talk about...
- How can I get teachers to explain so I can understand?
- Why is school attendance so important?
- What do teachers teach?
School instruction assumes that students have school readiness skills. Primary teachers (grades K-3) work on learning how to read, write, and do math. Elementary teachers (grades 4-5/6) teach information from textbooks and require students to read, write and do basic math. Middle school teachers (grades 5 or 6 - 8) expand on what was learned in 3rd - 6th grades. High school teachers work with complicated, abstract content. They must assume that students learned everything in middle and elementary school.
- Why do teachers and administrators complain about student behavior?
- Why are work assignments so important?
- What is the difference between instruction and review?
Click here to listen to recordings of Dr. Jennifer Little discussing various topics relating to education.
