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Mainstream Boarding Schools

November 6, 2022 Leave a Comment

Boarding schools guide students in becoming independent, broad-minded, and responsible young adults. They offer environments that promote strong academic and social communities and provide rigorous support in ways that day schools cannot. Boarding schools enable students to take responsibility for their learning and growth while also ensuring that students have access to support systems that dynamically meet their needs. In this blog post, admissions directors from elite New England boarding schools share their insights on what boarding schools can offer to students and their families.

Intentional Academic Community

Boarding schools are places where students are immersed in thoughtful, collaborative environments throughout their entire day. The rich combination of academics, extra-curriculars, and residential spaces allows for learning and teaching to extend beyond the classroom walls. “Boarding school communities are uniquely and intentionally designed to foster these opportunities for our students; as 24/7 living and learning environments, we embrace teaching and learning that extends beyond the limitations of a classroom and an academic schedule,” says Allison Letourneau, Director of Admission at The Berkshire School in Massachusetts.

Given the breadth of boarding school offerings and the unique experiences that they afford their students, parents might be unsure where to begin in their search for their child’s boarding school. “I think a great starting point for parents is the school’s Mission Statement,” advises Rich Ryerson, Associate Director of Admissions at Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire. “This will tell you a great deal about a school’s culture and identity.” Ryerson also suggests consideration of programmatic offerings, “for example, if my child loves engineering and ‘hands-on’ projects, I will be able to see if the school has a strong STEM program, perhaps offering courses in engineering or fabrication.” Ryerson points out that a school’s size and location are important qualities to consider, alongside a child’s learning style. “Does your child want an intense academic setting surrounded by other highly competitive students or perhaps a setting with more of a range of abilities. Perhaps a setting with academic support services is needed to help bolster a student’s success when mild learning challenges are part of the learner’s profile.” Ryerson also discussed the consideration of geography in connection with school programming. “If your child enjoys the outdoors–activities such as mountain biking, kayaking, hiking or being part of an environmental club–then a school with an emphasis on “place-based” education might be appropriate.”

Advisory

Alongside traditional faculty instruction, boarding schools typically provide each student with an advisor to help them grow and thrive. Students meet regularly with advisors and receive ongoing, individualized mentorship and guidance. Faculty advisors become trusted adults with whom students can share their aspirations and their challenges.

“Faculty advisers take primary responsibility for shepherding students through their time at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire and serve as a liaison between the student, their teachers and their family or guardian,” explains Admissions Director Dana Anselmi. “Advisers strive to cultivate an atmosphere of trust so that students can openly discuss their hopes, dreams, and goals – they assist students in their academic programs and course selections, keep abreast of students’ athletic commitments and community activities, and provide the friendly support, trust, and understanding that undergird adolescent growth and development.” At many schools, advisors and students may also meet for meals or gatherings that further support strong community bonds.

Independence

Boarding schools help prepare students for life in college and beyond by allowing students to take responsibility for their own spaces and schedules. Students are able to experience the freedom of having greater ownership of their day-to-day decisions. They learn to advocate for themselves, choose the activities that they want to be a part of, and stay organized, while receiving ongoing support and structure from their school.

“We have lots of student leadership opportunities as well as experiences for students to try on new things and have new experiences,” explains David Tutle, Admissions Director emeritus of Westover School in Connecticut and current president of the Small Boarding School Association. “As a small school, we can offer more of these opportunities and the kids can take academic and social risks that they may not in larger systems. Of course, there are systems around boarding life that help as well. Having the ability to go into town, being responsible for your own space, managing your schedule, and making sure you utilize the resources available to you when you stumble, and there are times you will.” Boarding schools can be safe, nurturing spaces for students to explore beyond the bounds of their respective families and learn who they are on a deeper level.

Social and Emotional Wellbeing

As boarding schools provide holistic support for students, they have robust offerings and services to meet students’ social and emotional needs. These schools provide many layers of care, from advisors to dorm parents to social events and nutritional programs. Boarding schools recognize the significant challenges that young people face and have designed programming and structures to help their students grow as full people. “The world is fraught with conflict, and there are a lot of challenges to a teenager’s emotional, social and psychological well-being,” says Maureen Smith, Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Marvelwood School in Connecticut. “Student health and wellness is a priority. Our faculty are well trained and well-versed in teaching and modeling what it means to have a healthy lifestyle. Marvelwood’s approach to supporting doesn’t stop when students walk out of the classroom or during a tutoring session, rather, it is incorporated into all that we do. In every aspect of our school culture, we prioritize healthy choices. We emphasize the importance of the student/faculty relationship, improve students’ self-confidence and self-advocacy skills, encourage healthy choice-making, and provide the social and emotional support our students need to become their best selves.” Boarding schools are poised to offer students extensive pathways to develop and nurture their mental health and social development, from counseling and nutrition to events and community-building.

Is Boarding School the Right Choice?

It is common for parents or caregivers to wonder if boarding school is the right fit for their child and their family. The prospect of less contact with their children can bring up concern or worry. Meghan Grover, Director of Admission of The Milbrook School in New York points out that less than one percent of American high schoolers attend boarding schools, so it is easy to understand parents’ lack of familiarity with this option. “The key to understanding the experience is to experience it for yourself,” Grover says. “Once you get on campus and speak to boarding school students, families, and faculty, you will quickly see and hear the meaning and value of the boarding school experience.” Additionally, boarding schools have structures in place to intentionally facilitate quality time between students and their families. Boarding schools have established longer breaks to provide families with more time to spend together over holidays. During vacations, the homework load is reduced so that students can focus on their time with loved ones. Families are welcome to visit campus and take part in performances and sporting events. Students are welcome to use their technology to stay in touch with their families and make sure they know what is going on in their lives.

If you’re interested in learning more about boarding schools for your student, please contact our office for assistance.

By Brad Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, Faya Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, and Laurie Gross, Reading Specialist and Special Educator.

Junior Boarding Schools

November 5, 2022 Leave a Comment

While many parents may already be familiar with secondary boarding schools, they may be less aware of junior boarding schools, which offer a supportive, structured setting for their younger students to learn and thrive. Junior boarding schools are specifically designed for students in upper elementary and middle school and provide a nurturing, age-appropriate space for academic and personal development. From a close-knit community to robust extracurriculars and weekend excursions, students at junior boarding schools experience all of the offerings of a secondary boarding school in an environment tailored to upper elementary and middle school youth. In this post, we talk to admissions directors and other administrators at five renowned New England junior boarding schools to hear about the unique benefits of these schools for younger learners.

An Immersive, Connective Experience

Junior boarding schools offer a continuous, enriching experience geared for younger students. Days are structured with intentional programming, meals, and extracurricular activities. Weekends are designed so that students have a chance to explore, play, and learn in a more experiential way. One of the benefits of a junior boarding school is that students enter into a stimulating environment that most young people do not experience until they reach secondary school. As Christopher Loftus, Director of Admissions of Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts, explains, “The JBS experience is unique because students get an immersive experience of what they can expect their lives to be like at the secondary level. They get a peek at small classroom sizes, close-knit communities, strong student-teacher relationships, lifelong peer bonds, and high-level academics, athletics and extracurricular activities.”

Advisory

While younger students will generally be living away from home for the first time at junior boarding schools, they are surrounded by supportive adults and necessary structure. Lesley G. Gibbs, Director of Enrollment at The Rectory School in Connecticut explains, “Because it is often the first time students are away from home for an extended period of time, the most important aspect of a junior boarding school is the people who will be teaching and caring for their children.” At The Fessenden School in Massachusetts, boys are provided with an advisor with whom they check in at least once a day. Boys are matched with advisors who are deemed good fits based on their academic, social, and athletic profile. As Caleb Thomson, Enrollment Manager at The Fessenden School states, “There is constant communication between teachers, residential faculty, and the advisor to ensure that each boy is reaching his potential in all areas. Advisors are also in communication with parents about all matters.” The channels of communication are open between students, advisors, and parents, making sure that everyone is supporting younger students from all directions.

Independence and Agency

Students at junior boarding school are able to establish a level of autonomy in these surroundings, which boosts self-confidence. As Christopher Loftus of Eaglebrook School explains, “Throughout the year, students will find themselves learning that they have the power to affect an outcome. They learn the difference between short-term and long-term gratification by making choices between leisure activities, catching up on work, going to extra-help with a teacher, community outreach and other ways to spend their free time. They have control over their room, their performance in sports, academics, and can make choices to excel in any area because they have the freedom to make that choice.” Students are given the tools to manage their responsibilities and their schedule and are able to gain a sense of empowerment and accountability that may not be possible in a day school setting.

Social and Emotional Wellbeing

One of the most important elements of junior boarding schools is the care and attention that they devote to social and emotional skills and wellbeing. With younger learners, there is a rigorous focus on age-appropriate development and support. Kimberly Caldwell Loughlin, Assistant Head of School and Director of Admission at The Bement School in Massachusetts explains, “Research has shown that ‘an education that promotes social-emotional learning has a positive impact on a range of outcomes, including academic performance and mental wellness’ among others. To this end, The Bement School provides support and guidance for our students to be healthy, confident, and competent in their social relationships and emotional capacity.” Junior boarding schools provide learning opportunities for students to enhance their own emotional and social skills alongside their traditional studies. This integrated approach can lead to optimum growth and wellness. Junior boarding schools also help students to hone their unique perspectives and community identity. As Jennifer Kolpak, Director of Enrollment Management at Rumsey Hall in Connecticut states, “Through the pillars of relationship-building, awareness-forming, courage-seeking, and value-modeling, we teach students how to develop and assert their standpoints. We strive to activate and expand the power of a child’s inner voice through social-emotional learning programs, community events, and overall school culture.”

Is Junior Boarding School the Right Choice?

Parents of younger students might wonder if a junior boarding school is appropriate for their children. Junior boarding school administrators understand parental concern and reflect that the benefits soon become apparent to many families. “They forge friendships that last a lifetime, advocate for themselves with ease, become global citizens, they try and fail and try and excel, they discover their passions and hone the skills they arrived with in a place that’s warm, encouraging and supportive,” says Christopher Loftus, Director of Admissions of Eaglebrook School. Junior boarding schools provide students with mentors who will help them during challenging times, explains Jennifer Kolpak, Director of Enrollment Management at Rumsey Hall. “To send a child to a junior boarding school means you intentionally surround them with solid role models who embrace and understand the sometimes tricky middle school years,” she states. In addition to the strong support that junior boarding schools provide, they also welcome parental involvement and maintain open lines of communication with parents. Families have the opportunity to visit during the school year and holiday time is extended so that students are able to spend more quality time with their families.

If you’re interested in learning more about junior boarding schools for your student, please contact our office for assistance.

By Brad Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, Faya Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, and Laurie Gross, Reading Specialist and Special Educator.

Specialized Boarding Schools

November 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

Specialized boarding schools offer students flexible, individual and small group instruction tailored to their unique learning needs. For students with ADHD, executive function issues, dyslexia, or other learning differences, a specialized boarding school not only offers students differentiated and targeted instruction as well as seamless access to accommodations, but acceptance into a community. With smaller faculty to student ratios and skillful instructors working collaboratively with learning specialists and related service professionals guided by evidence-based research, specialized boarding schools offer a comprehensive level of support that cannot be matched at other programs. But just like the students themselves, no two specialized boarding schools are exactly alike. In this blog post, we hear from the experts at four top programs in New England to learn how families can select the right school and make the most of the experience once a student gets there.

Individualized Learning

Specialized boarding schools occupy a unique niche in the independent school world, designed to help students who may have been struggling in more traditional academic settings or students needing continued support from a specialized middle school experience. Instead of pulling students out of class for special instruction and creating stigma around their differences, specialized boarding schools develop individualized learning plans in close consultation with students, parents, and faculty. These learning plans are implemented throughout the day by classroom teachers, residential faculty, and related service professionals.

“The very classes in which a student studies are often created collaboratively by students and teachers, and a student’s individual goals and needs provide the direction,” says Dana Harbert, Director of Admissions at Eagle Hill School in Massachusetts. “Our nine-term academic schedule provides nearly infinite possibilities for students to customize their educational experiences.” Students are able to follow their passions, receive extra help in the areas they struggle with, and go at their own pace–with constant communication between faculty, parents, and advisors.

Libby Parker, Admissions Director at The Landmark School in Massachusetts points out that, “a child’s learning style or difference continues beyond the school day. A specialized boarding school works on strategies and teaches skills on the playing field, in the dorm, in the art studio–all of the places our students frequent after school. They continue to learn skills that take them forward to success in college or the postgraduate world.”

Reinforcement Outside the Classroom

Many students with learning differences struggle to manage their time and turn in assignments. The best specialized boarding schools understand that executive functions are essential for success in any academic environment and intentionally integrate this skillbuilding into students’ daily routines. Students should expect to receive extra supervision outside the classroom in the form of study halls, resident dorm advising, and regular meetings with counselors who specialize in developing students’ executive function skills.

David Hodgson, Director of Admissions at The Greenwood School in Vermont says that structure and accountability are the key to student success. “All our 9th and 10th grade students spend the majority of the year in a nightly hour-long structured study hall proctored by adults. This structure helps students get in the habit of dedicating time to their studies,” he explains. However, Greenwood does not require 11th and 12th graders to attend study hall, “as we want them to be independent enough to find the time to complete assignments, but we do assign individual students to attend if they miss an assignment.”

To this end, the Forman School in Connecticut focuses specifically on executive function coaching because according to Director of Admissions Jamie Feinman, this approach “provides non-judgmental structure and support as students gain a deeper understanding of themselves and develop personalized approaches.” But this coaching doesn’t end when the session is over–with students required to hold up their end of the bargain. “A critical component of coaching is accountability, used as a measuring tool for action and support as a student moves forward with a plan outside of the session.”

Preparing for College

Most of our families hope to eventually send their children to college and may opt for a specialized boarding school that will allow their child to overcome academic difficulties. Because most universities are not as accommodating as specialized boarding schools, it is essential that students be able apply knowledge and skills they have learned in high school in a potentially more challenging environment. Beyond help with standardized test preparation and college essays, schools like The Landmark School work with juniors and seniors on “skills for success in college, such as getting to know their professors, going to office hours, managing time, and breaking up long-term assignments,” says Admissions Director Libby Parker.

When it comes to applications, it’s essential that students and schools work together on finding the right universities that will meet their students’ needs and allow them to thrive as they enter adulthood. “We guide students to delineate their own personal set of criteria by taking into account each student’s personal strengths, talents, and lifelong dreams,” says Jamie Feinman of the Forman School. Such personalized advising requires collaboration and trust.

In order to prepare students for university life, it’s also important that students reflect on their personal and academic journey before taking the next step. At the Greenwood School, students in the spring of their senior year present a self-curated collection of their academic and personal work with accompanying reflections to a panel of faculty, a peer, administrators, and a community member, says David Hodgson. “We believe that by reflecting on their work, students learn more deeply and are more likely to apply their skills as they move beyond Greenwood.”

Finding the Right Fit

When faced with so many choices, it can be difficult for families to determine which specialized boarding school is best for their child. There’s no single criterion, but according to the experts we spoke with, families should consider how schools integrate learning strategies, assistive technology and teacher support into your child’s program. Take a look at the student-to-faculty ratio as well as the way the school helps students internalize study skills and ultimately manage themselves. Make sure to experience the school firsthand by scheduling an in-person tour to see how the reality lines up with the admissions website.

Finally, though specialized boarding schools are designed to accommodate students with learning differences, they also seek to appropriately challenge each student. “Those who think specialized boarding schools don’t offer the same level of education or academic challenge as a mainstream school are mistaken,” says Dana Harbert of the Eagle Hill School. “Specialized boarding schools prepare students for college and for life as much if not more than mainstream schools.”

If you’re interested in learning more about specialized boarding schools for your student, please contact our office for assistance.

By Brad Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, Faya Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, and Laurie Gross, Reading Specialist and Special Educator.

Therapeutic Boarding Schools

November 3, 2022 Leave a Comment

For students who are experiencing mental health challenges that require specialized care in a residential school environment, therapeutic boarding schools can provide the more intensive and integrated support that they need. At therapeutic boarding schools, students are provided with tools to help them navigate difficult emotional experiences, build resilience, work with their families, and prepare for the next steps in their lives. These schools offer individualized programming and clinically-based treatment options to meet students’ needs in a holistic manner. For students who experience clinically significant anxiety, depression, PTSD, attachment disorder, and other mental health challenges where treatment from home with local providers has not been enough, therapeutic boarding schools can be a critical stepping stone on the path to recovery where educators, residential faculty, and clinicians – including psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists – work collaboratively as a multidisciplinary team in partnership with families. In this blog post, we talk to several administrators from therapeutic boarding schools across the United States to hear more about the specialized support these schools offer to students and their families.

Immersive Mental Healthcare

Therapeutic boarding schools allow for students to enter a rarified space that centers their healing. “Unlike traditional outpatient, a therapeutic boarding school or residential treatment center enables a young person to completely change their environment,” Tony Mosier, COO and Co-Founder of Telos Academy in Utah, explains, “For some, getting distance from toxic friends, strained family systems, and access to substances is key to healing. Families should consider a therapeutic program when outpatient efforts haven’t been enough, or when their child’s behavior has become too dangerous to risk continued treatment efforts in an unstructured setting.” In addition, therapeutic boarding schools can also be “stepping stones” for students who are finishing up a wilderness program or residential treatment program, advises Lisa Kimball, Admissions Director of The Grove School in Connecticut. “Therapeutic boarding schools create safe, intentional settings for students to receive a high level of support while also maintaining important aspects of their independence.”

Student Profiles

Therapeutic boarding schools generally specialize in certain areas of student need. Many schools work with students who experience anxiety, depression, ADHD, learning challenges, and issues with confidence. Schools may provide specialized support for students with high-functioning autism and substance issues. At Telos Academy, students who are most successful are generally those who are academically inclined but struggle in more traditional school settings. Mr. Mosier notes that students who are actively addicted to substances and working with aggression do not fit their profile. For students to succeed in the therapeutic boarding school setting, they need to invest in their own growth. As Ms. Kimball states, “Students need to come to Grove willingly with some level of investment in their continued work.”

Parental Involvement

While students live for most of the year at a therapeutic boarding school, parental involvement is key to their healing process. Therapeutic boarding schools require parents or caregivers to attend family therapy and trainings, and to be open to their own growth process. Both students and parents need to be engaged in the healing process while students are at therapeutic boarding schools and once they return. Jill McIntyre of Alpine Academy in Utah says, “Research shows that the key predictor of success for a student after leaving Alpine Academy is their parents’ willingness and ability to make personal, parenting, and family system changes.” Due to the relational nature of the therapeutic process, family dynamics and commitment have a tremendous impact on students in recovery. As Ms. Kimball explains, “We make it clear at the onset that the whole family is in treatment during their time at Grove.”

Social and Emotional Support

Therapeutic boarding schools design and implement specific, research-based practices to address students’ challenges. Their therapeutic modalities are employed in order to help students become more confident, self-regulated, and resilient. Mr. Mosier describes how, “Telos Academy has a deeply relational approach. Using an attachment-based model, we believe treating students with dignity and respect is fundamental to creating an environment safe enough to explore personal change.” Alpine Academy’s approach is based on individually applying the Teaching-Family Model alongside clinical work to help students work on their emotional and cognitive processes. Families can expect their students to engage in various therapies that are designed for their growth and wellbeing. Notably, therapeutic boarding schools will often make use of DBT strategies, but all of the excellent programs employ clinicians who are cross-trained in a variety of treatments, and they intentionally make use of more than one treatment approach.

Executive Functioning Skills

Many therapeutic boarding school students struggle with executive functioning, or mastering the skills necessary to plan and follow-through with their goals, tasks, and responsibilities. For this reason, therapeutic boarding schools offer extensive support and accountability with executive function skill building. Many therapeutic boarding schools offer 1:1 coaching with expert learning specialists or clinicians. At Telos Academy, students also learn executive functioning skills in “an adventure-based space simulator where they work as teams to solve problems as the “crew” of a spaceship,” says Mr. Mosier. This experience provides a vehicle for skill building that becomes generalized in other situations. As students build their executive functioning skills, they increase their metacognition, or, understanding of their own thought processes. With these tools and awareness, they are increasingly able to take responsibility for their daily tasks and to achieve their long-term goals.

College Readiness

Therapeutic boarding schools ensure that students are ready to both apply to and succeed in higher education, if that is their aim. Programs are designed to help students prepare for college both academically and emotionally, and some schools even offer high school students the chance to receive college credit at local universities. Therapeutic boarding schools offer structured support to help students achieve their educational goals. Ms. Rainer of Shortridge Academy in New Hampshire says that, “The students who fit our cognitive profile have typically been tracked as students who are headed for college, and our teachers have that in mind as they seek to build academic skills. The goal for all students academically is effective self-advocacy and cognitive proficiency in developing strong independent learning skills.” In effect, therapeutic boarding schools ready their students for the academic, emotional, and social elements of the college experience.

Life after Therapeutic Boarding Schools

Therapeutic boarding schools offer support so that students can generally resume their studies in more traditional learning spaces. These schools position themselves as transitional spaces for students to hone and develop important social, emotional, and academic skills before moving on to the next stage of their lives. Students will leave a therapeutic boarding school and move on to a traditional private or public school, boarding school, or higher education institution. Ms. Rainier of Shortridge Academy explains, “Our mission is to prepare students to return to traditional school environments, and academically we do that by building on strengths, and developing strong executive functioning and self-advocacy skills.”

Parental Concerns

Given their children’s emotional distress, parents may be hesitant to send their child away from home to a therapeutic boarding school. However, therapeutic boarding schools can be a necessary intervention. Mr. Mosier of Telos Academy states that, “Sometimes, paradoxically, true closeness can only come through a period of separation in which family members can discover who they are and what they value. Out-of-home placement is an extreme step, but it is well worth it if a child’s struggles are so acute their life is in danger.” The removal of students from their habitual lives can help facilitate their recovery. Furthermore, parents and students alike often come to a conclusion that additional support is necessary. Ms. Kimball of the Grove School reflects that, “Parents and students often say that while there may be fear, reluctance and sadness around this transition, there is also a shared sense of relief. Our students are looking to get back on their path and have goals that they want to work towards.” Though the transition may take work on the part of parents and their children, attending a therapeutic boarding school allows students to get the level of support that they need, so that they can continue on in their lives in a safe, connected, and healthy way.

If you’re interested in learning more about therapeutic boarding schools for your student, please contact our office for assistance.

By Brad Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, Faya Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner, and Laurie Gross, Special Educator and Family Advocate.

Stages of Learning

October 18, 2022 Leave a Comment

As students set out to acquire new skills, understanding the stages of learning and how and where to recognize progress towards mastery can be difficult. The beginning and end of a particular learning process are generally quite clear, but learners often lack vocabulary for all of the micro-steps that occur between “not knowing” and “knowing.” Students regularly articulate thoughts like “I’m not good at this” or “this is easy for me,” but less commonly note nuances like “I’m getting the hang of this concept, though I’m still not able to work fluently” or “I can solve simple problems, but it’s difficult for me to apply this concept in unfamiliar settings.”

Without understanding learning as a continuum, students can be quick to judge themselves as either capable or incapable, and often do so inaccurately. The underconfident learner views mistakes as proof of ineptitude (and consequently give up), while the overconfident learner concludes mastery too early (and stops studying too soon). The truth, of course, usually lies somewhere in the middle, and expanding awareness about how learning works can center students in healthy non-judgement, motivate them to “stick with it,” and empower them to learn more efficiently in the future.

One useful framework to discuss is “The Four Stages of Learning” model, originally posited by Noel Burch in the 1970s during his work at Gordon Training International. Burch lays out steps that highlight two factors, awareness (consciousness) and skill level (competence):

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence. [Wrong Intuition]

In the first stage, students don’t yet know what they don’t know. They are unaware of the areas in which they are falling short, and they have not identified what they need to work on. It can be helpful to acknowledge this stage before any sort of diagnostic test; standardized assessments like the ISEE frequently test above grade level content, and providing a simple disclaimer about encountering unfamiliar material can often help mitigate testing anxiety. In this setting, when students normalize “not knowing” as a natural first stage of the learning process, coming across advanced concepts on the exam becomes less intimidating. Students are more likely to take challenges in stride, skip strategically, and better allocate their time towards the questions they do understand.

Teachers can assist in developing awareness of this stage by asking students to keep a log of their errors. When learners can track for themselves which questions were missed due to not yet knowing completely unfamiliar material – versus misapplying familiar concepts– they are gently guided to take initiative in their own learning process and also practice formulating stronger, more specific questions.

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence. [Wrong Analysis]

Eventually, learners recognize what they do not know, and enter the “Conscious Incompetence” stage. This 2nd stage of the stages of learning model can be a particularly discouraging experience, as weaknesses have been identified but not yet remedied. During this time, it is important to remind students that there is a difference between lacking competence and being incapable; just because they cannot perform a task now doesn’t mean they will always fail at it in the future. Teachers and parents can also help learners reframe knowledge gaps as opportunities for improvement by embracing the word “yet.”

Progressing through Conscious Incompetence often requires a significant amount of trying and failing. As mistakes occur, mentors should encourage students to recognize errors as a natural and essential part of learning (in teaching sessions, a useful response to “Oh wait, I did that wrong” is “No problem, that’s what we’re here for!”). Getting even one or two questions correct is a concrete step forward from not knowing.

Stage 3: Conscious Competence. [Right Analysis]

Slowly but surely, the percentage of successful attempts will increase, and learners reach “Conscious Competence.” At this 3rd stage of the stages of learning model, students have gathered the tools they need to perform effectively, but exercising their new skill still takes significant effort and attention. Moving from Conscious Incompetence to Conscious Competence usually looks like inconsistently being able to implement the desired skill, and progress may even appear nonlinear.

It can be helpful to recognize how students compensate (counting out on their fingers, looking back at formula sheets or study guides, etc.) and track as students use those methods of compensation less often. Other progress signs include working through problems more quickly, occasionally applying the concept unprompted, or actively recognizing related question types. In some cases, a student’s willingness to practice may even be considered a progress sign; the more confident a student feels in a particular area, the less resistant they will be towards homework or additional skill-building exercises. Completing focused practice – and any step towards establishing a system for consistent review – also counts as a step forward, helping students advance towards working more fluently.

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence. [Right Intuition]

Finally, in the 4th stage of the stages of learning model, learners have effectively mastered their new skill and apply it easily, perhaps even automatically. They feel confident implementing the desired action over a wide range of scenarios and can execute their expertise in congruence with other tasks. Depending on the skill, Unconscious Competence may sometimes be achieved permanently, but more often it requires habitual upkeep in the form of regular use or review.

Considering the difference between Conscious Competence and Unconscious Competence can be a useful point of reference for students, especially in a standardized testing setting. For example, when there is a significant disconnect between a student’s grades and their performance on standardized assessments, it is possible that Conscious Competence was achieved in time for the classroom test, but then never progressed forward into Unconscious Competence. Additionally, standardized exams like the ISEE, SAT, or ACT require students to work not only accurately but quickly, applying multiple concepts at once. The sheer length of these multi-hour assessments also requires significant mental stamina, and students without Unconscious Competence in multiple skill sets will experience overbearing testing fatigue. Successfully distinguishing between stages three and four helps to explain these opportunities for improvement and motivates students to self monitor for deeper understanding.

Armed with the “Four Stages of Learning” framework, students and families can recognize progress in all forms. Thinking more about how learning occurs and becoming more knowledgeable about steps of the learning process can help to remind us that with consistent effort, growth and development are inevitable.

By Ali Stoner, Private Tutor, Brad Hoffman, MS.Ed. and Board Certified Educational Planner, and Faya Hoffman, M.A. and Board Certified Educational Planner.

Mainstream Boarding Schools

Intentional Academic Community

Advisory

Independence

Social and Emotional Wellbeing

Is Boarding School the Right Choice?

Junior Boarding Schools

An Immersive, Connective Experience

Advisory

Independence and Agency

Social and Emotional Wellbeing

Is Junior Boarding School the Right Choice?

Specialized Boarding Schools

Individualized Learning

Reinforcement Outside the Classroom

Preparing for College

Finding the Right Fit

Therapeutic Boarding Schools

Immersive Mental Healthcare

Student Profiles

Parental Involvement

Social and Emotional Support

Executive Functioning Skills

College Readiness

Life after Therapeutic Boarding Schools

Parental Concerns

Stages of Learning

Stage 1: Unconscious Incompetence. [Wrong Intuition]

Stage 2: Conscious Incompetence. [Wrong Analysis]

Stage 3: Conscious Competence. [Right Analysis]

Stage 4: Unconscious Competence. [Right Intuition]

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation