Educational Myths

2.  Myth/ students do not know the subject matter until we 'teach' them, therefore, all students should begin at the same place.  Action/ This results in no pretesting of material and all students receive the same instruction.

3.  Myth/ Treating all students the same is fair. Action/  Individual needs are not addressed.

4.  Myth/  Students learn at the same pace.  Action/ The pace at which students progress through the material is determined by the teacher or book publisher.

5.  Myth/ Schools effectively monitor student progress.  Action/ Students are tested every week or two and report cards are sent home every semester.

6.  Myth/ Knowledge of the material is shown when a student demonstrates 90% or higher accuracy.  Action/  Students move into new material before they have mastered current material.

7.  Myth/  Long term learning is best achieved through reviews each year.  Action/  Students repeat the same material year after year.

8. Myth/  Some mainstream students will never achieve functional mastery of math and spelling.  Action/ These students can rely on the use of calculators and spell checkers as coping devices.

2.  Because children are not all alike some will know the material before it is taught. These children are also being taught how to waste time.

3.  Treating students the same is grossly UNFAIR.  Students have different life experiences and unique ways of learning.  It is the differences among students that make treating them the same unfair.

4.  The pace at which students can proceed through lessons is highly varied because students learn differently.  Monitoring each student's progress is essential for making appropriate adjustments.  The information provided by the student's progress should set the pace, not a book publisher or teacher.

5.  To be sensitive, monitoring must be more frequent than weekly.  Systematic daily monitoring is sensitive.

6.  Fluency is the key to mastery.  For example, If two students are given the same paragraph to read,  they both may read it with 100% accuracy.  However, one may take 15 minutes to complete the paragraph and the other may take 15 seconds.  Both are accurate, but only the second student is fluent and has mastered the paragraph.

7. Repetition of material year after year will lead to mastery, but this is tedious and not the BEST approach.  When students are fluent, being able to respond quickly and accurately, they will not need this tedious repetition each year.

8.  This myth suggests the student is the cause of a failure to learn.  When correct interventions are used students learn.