February 16, 2007
Speech by: Donna Blevins, Founder and CEO of Be Smart Kids
I wish to thank the Texas Public Education Reform Foundation
for inviting me to speak here today.
Why are we here? We're here because we are concerned
about the quality of education and the impact it will have on our children's
lives. Education is the gauge of progress for any civilization.
In an ever changing world market, we simply are not
measuring up. I've heard many quotes concerning our educational standing
with the rest of the world--20th, 23rd, 24th, 27th and even as high
as 29th. Choose your figure, it doesn't matter, we're behind. Bottom
line, we definitely have a crisis. Our children's future and the future
of this country are in a precarious situation. If America is to survive
as a nation and a world leader, we must do a better job of educating
our youth--one child at a time. To quote Aristotle "Fate of empires
depends on the education of youth."
I often hear people whining (I call it whining) and
resolving themselves to this substandard educational level by saying
"In America we have to educate everybody and in most countries
they don't have to do that." Let's stop the excuses; there is a
way. We must and can do a better job!
Today, I want to talk about one of the ways we can
definitely raise the bar and insure success in school and success in
life for America's future generations. The key is early intervention!
I'm a firm believer that we must prepare rather than repair.
This is one of my pet phrases and also one of my pet peeves. We must
prepare our children, not constantly repair their learning capabilities
and education.
How do children learn? Scientist tells us how children
learn and process information for the rest of their lives depends on
how we stimulate their brains in the early years, ages 0-6. When we
stimulate the brain of the young child and the neurons fire often enough,
a permanent connection is formed. The more connections, the more work
the brain can do. It is called hard-wiring the brain. It's the greatest
learning potential of a person's life and the foundation for all future
learning, a "window of opportunity." A perfect example is
Tiger Woods. Why is he so great? His dad had him on the golf course
while he was still in diapers. Educators and policy makers have just
begun to recognize this great "window of opportunity."
I'm an educator, a former classroom teacher. I've been
in the trenches. In 1991, I made a personal commitment to spend the
rest of my life trying to make a difference in our educational system.
Understanding what scientists were saying about the learning potential
of this marvelous "window of opportunity" and the advent of
technology on the scene, I thought there just might be a way of combining
the two with best teaching practices that would enable every child an
equal opportunity at a quality education.
Sixteen years later, we have arrived. With lots of
help from some very special people, we have in place a proven preschool
product that can deliver called Be Smart Kids. It's an interactive,
multi-sensory, fun, computerized, one-on-one learning system that takes
advantage of this "window of opportunity" and wires the brain
for life-long learning. It's one-on-one because we understood how very
important adult bonding is to a child's social and emotional development.
This process mirrors science and wires the brain for language, vocabulary,
math & logic, music, spatial/visual skills, fine motor skills, social
& emotional skills, character and a second language (Spanish). To
this mix, we added history (because we thought developing a love of
country was important), science, health and sign language. It was built
into lesson plans so that anyone who was literate could implement it.
After all, parents are a child's first teacher.
During these years, we made a couple of fantastic discoveries:
one, it would take only 30 minutes a week per child to implement and
two, the results would be and are phenomenal, no matter the background
of the child. This opened the door to provide a pathway of success to
all children since 70-80% of them are in some type of institutional
setting.
Over the last 16 years, thousands of children have
received the Be Smart Kids instruction: We've provided it to:
Private, public and corporate preschools and daycares
Public and private schools for kindergarten and as an enrichment
tool for children with learning challenges in 1-4
Learning Centers
Professional teachers who work with children in their home
Parents who teach their own children
Head Start Programs
ESL Programs
Kindergarten preparation programs
Foundations who work with children at risk
Programs in public libraries and family resource centers
So, what about those phenomenal results?
Dr. Robert McElrath, Former Tennessee Commissioner
of Education, administered the Terra Nova test to Be Smart Kids students
in the third month of their 1st grade year. The combined average score
for these first grade students was fourth grade, second month or three
grades above the national average. The average percentile ranking was
98.
Tusculum College's Education and Psychology Departments
have been researching at-risk versus non at-risk children, ages 2-4,
at Holston Home for Children. In the first 6 months, the at-risk children
using the Be Smart Kids Learning System increased their growth rate
over 11 points above the non at-risk. According to Tusculum's analysis
the Enrichment Environment using the Be Smart Kids Process was shown
to have made a significant difference in the two groups.
After doing a pilot program in 2006, Madison County
North Carolina School System was so pleased; they placed it throughout
the county. It has been implemented with disabilities, ESL, and Birth
through K programs and as an enrichment tool for grades 1 through 4.
Since Madison County is such a rural county, it was also placed in their
public libraries and family resource centers for parents to work with
their children.
A research project with at-risk kindergarteners at
West Pines Elementary School saw children's combined scores in reading
& math rise from 8 percentile to 82.5 percentile in a six month
period.
I'm often accused of creating little geniuses. I've
had children do Algebra by second grade, perform multiplication and
read a newspaper by kingergarten. This is not because we drilled them,
we only teach them 30 minutes a week, but because we have allowed them
to advance during this "window of opportunity." However, when
I think of children I've taught, it is not always the smartest that
come to mind. It's children like Eric. Eric had just turned 3 when he
came to me. He had no speech except for whining, had glazed over eyes
with no interaction to any other person, walked on his tiptoes bringing
his feet up very high when he walked and did lot of flapping with his
arms. Eric taught me more than I taught him. I would think time and
again that he would not be able to accomplish something but I kept going.
He proved me wrong in ever instance. Last year Eric won the reading
award at a very up scaled private school he attends. He is loving, communicates
with others, and functions in a classroom, although his speech is still
robotic. But, oh, what a recovery!
Another child is one that came to us between kindergarten
and his first grade year. The entire language portion of his brain had
been removed at St. Jude's Children's Hospital due to a tumor. At the
beginning of his 2nd grade year, an M Team Meeting was called. That's
where everyone involved with the child's education comes together. The
teacher told the parents that she was very sorry but she felt it would
be impossible for the child to learn to read because he would never
be able to hear or process the sounds. Our teacher raised her hand and
said, "I'm sorry! You're too late! We've already taught him."
Today, Matthew is a freshman in a public high school and works at grade
level. He works very hard; but oh, what a recovery.
Another memorable child that comes to mind is Wesley.
He was good at everything but he especially loved math. His mother insisted
that the school psychologist test him while in kindergarten. He was
reluctant; she was persistent; so, he finally agreed. After the test
the psychologist thinking the mother had drilled the child said to Wesley,
"Tell me son, how much is 6, 7's?" Wesley asked if he could
think about it. "Sure!" In a couple of minutes, Wesley said,
"I've got it. It's 42." Surprised the psychologist asked how
he got it. He replied, "Oh, I just counted 6 down and 7 across."
After 16 years I am very comfortable in saying, "Give
us any child, no matter the background, for two consecutive years, 30
minutes per week and that child WILL read, add and
subtract by the time he/she enters kindergarten. Even children with
learning challenges will dramatically improve in their learning capabilities.
Plus, they will develop a thirst for knowledge, strong confidence and
self-esteem and a love for learning.
We would never think of denying food to a baby or toddler.
So, why would we deny feeding the brain? After all, it will impact the
child's learning for rest of his/her life. Remember, this "window
of opportunity" is brief and once closed is lost forever.
Here are the questions:
Do we want children to be all they can be? Early intervention
is the answer.
Do we want to prepare rather than repair? Early intervention is
the answer.
Do we want to provide every child in America an equal opportunity
at a quality education? Early Intervention!
I'm going to end here with a video that was produced
by Greenforest Christian School in Decatur, GA, where the Be Smart Kids
program has been taught for 4 years. Greeneforest uses this video as
a recruitment tool for volunteers. Most institutions use paid staff.
These children do learn to read, add and subtract by kindergarten. They
are prepared! They will not have to be repaired! NO CHILD WILL BE LEFT
BEHIND!
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