Homeschooling Archives

Looking Beyond The Ivy League For Success

April 2, 2018 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Ten years after graduating from Princeton University, I continue to see my peers achieve success in a wide variety of fields whether they attended an equally prestigious Ivy League school, a small liberal arts college, or a large public university. Anecdotally, I find that a person’s drive and dedication determine their success, not just the name of their undergraduate institution. The data also bear this out. For this reason, I always encourage my students to apply to schools where they can become the happiest and most successful version of themselves, rather than limit themselves only to the schools they perceive as the most prestigious.

Many students see the most elite schools as the only certain conduit to financial success. However, this is just not true. Students accepted to elite colleges who chose “moderately selective” colleges do just as well salary-wise in the medium and long term as those at the most elite colleges. The Wall Street Journal reported data in 2016 showing “no statistically significant differences in average earnings for science majors from selective schools and mid-tier or less-selective schools.” While entry level pay is higher for social science majors from Harvard than those from Colgate University or Boston College, the mid-career median pay is actually higher for social science majors from BC and Colgate than from Harvard. What about humanities majors? Tufts graduates make more in both entry-level and mid-career roles than those with the same degrees from Ivy League institutions like the University of Pennsylvania or Columbia University.

So if putting together a college list isn’t solely about salary or some other stand-in measure of “success,” then what is it about? Four formative years of a student’s life are spent in college. For this reason, students should apply to colleges that are the best fit for them to thrive and be happy, where they can most further their interests and goals. For example, many larger public schools offer academic programs that many of the elite schools lack. Looking for a future job in the growing field of food science? The University of Maryland and Penn State have entire food science departments that provide the specific education, internships, and network that can transform a student into a superstar in this career path. I’m surprised by students who choose a certain college for its prestigious reputation rather than another school that would provide them with more opportunities to take classes and build a network in the field that interests them most.

Additionally, for many types of careers and graduate school admissions, strong grades and school involvement matter more than the college name on your diploma. When it comes to MDs, JDs, and MBAs, graduate school plays a much larger role in determining future success than undergrad does. A student from a large public school or small liberal arts school with stellar grades who really immersed themselves in student life will generally have a better shot at a prestigious graduate degree than a C-student from a Princeton, Harvard, or Yale who never really found themselves.

We advise students to choose universities, Ivy or otherwise, where they are likeliest to excel, to develop passions, and to be themselves. Sure, look at a school’s ranking and its name, but remember this is just a small part of your happiness equation.

Are you at your best in a hyper-competitive atmosphere or do you find success in a more collaborative environment? Do you thrive in a more nurturing community or do you prefer to be more independent? Do you feed off the energy of a big city or need to immerse yourself in a quiet college town? Is it time to experience life far from your family or are you at your best when you have your local support network a car ride away?

Talk to recent graduates and current students and find out why they loved their college. The New York Times has great advice on the importance of these conversations. Do your research. Create a college list that really fits you, not just a series of names you think sound impressive. For many, college is one of the most transformative experiences of a lifetime. Make it count. Find yourself.

By Jason Turetsky, Private Tutor and Academic Coach

Therapeutic School Planning

March 3, 2018 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

For years, Faya and I have worked with families needing to consider therapeutic school planning for their child. More often than not, these cases come forward when a family is in total crisis. These crises are typically in one of two categories: 1) the student is in crisis at school and the administration has raised serious red flags and imposed academic probation or has just counseled the student out of their program, or 2) the student holds it together well enough at school but then regularly engages in risky behavior, presents a safety to risk to self or others, or unleashes fury on mom, dad, and/or siblings after school and weekends. There are plenty of instances where both school professionals and parents share similar observations, but often the emotional dysregulation plays out differently at school and at home. Similarly, we work on this planning for young adults needing supportive services too.

It’s very common to see hints of stress sensitivity, frustration intolerance, rigidity, or anxiety at younger grade levels that escalate considerably during the 7th, 8th and/or 9th grade years. At these ages, social pressures have increased as well as academic expectations and extracurriculars. Hormones are shifting and adolescence takes over, which brings challenges under the best of circumstances. When clinically significant mood disorders, anxiety, substance use, phone or gaming addiction, learning disabilities, and/or social pragmatic challenges are added to the picture, it creates the “perfect storm” often leading to therapeutic school planning.

While New York City has a wealth of resources and many of the best mental health professionals in the world, it is surprisingly limited on therapeutic school options. We do have several great institutions, but space is limited, and they’re not designed for all student profiles. Fortunately, there are incredible programs across the country offering gold standard, residential, therapeutically immersive intervention, but consideration of them requires casting a wider net and keeping a more open mind. For parents suffering a crisis situation, the idea of considering a therapeutic program in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Virginia, North Carolina, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Hawaii or elsewhere seems unfathomable and terrifying. But for our families who have taken this brave step, it’s typically been the start to a positive and reparative family experience.

Annually, Faya and I consistently spend about 40% of our calendar year visiting and re-visiting programs across the country and attending professional conferences in addition to our local school visits. When we travel, we’re visiting a range of licensed and accredited programs from mainstream boarding schools to specialized boarding schools (for students with specific types of learning differences) to therapeutic environments. These therapeutic environments range from hospital settings to wilderness programs to residential treatment centers and therapeutic boarding schools. Our preferred programs have top-notch faculty, including Master’s level and PhD level clinicians, providing supervision and treatment. The treatment plan is informed by a thorough intake process, making use of comprehensive evaluations, and developed in collaboration with the stakeholders at home so that each student has an individualized plan. Like skillful educators are cross-trained in a variety of evidence-based instructional approaches, these faculties are cross-trained in a variety evidence based therapeutic modalities.

The lines can be a little blurry as you compare programs, and some outlier hybrid models exist, so it’s critical that families work with trusted educational consultants, which these programs strongly prefer. Ideally, your Educational Consultant should be a Professional Member of NATSAP and IECA with a therapeutic school placement designation. When parents attempt to find programs on their own they can be overwhelmed by the myriad beautiful websites all promising the same desired outcomes. The most effective Educational Consultants spend time visiting programs, connecting with clinical teams and school leadership, and learning about the finer points that differentiate each program. This “boots on the ground” approach puts us in a unique position to make a better match between program and student. In our case, we have professional designations for mainstream, specialized and therapeutic school planning, which is highly unusual and extremely advantageous for our families as they navigate different pathways and timelines for a specific child or siblings within a family.

In our experience, many families are perplexed about the location of these therapeutic programs and cannot imagine enrolling their child in a program so far away. But there’s good reason for these programs being located outside of New York City. First, there’s a history to consider within this industry that is deeply rooted in programming at Brigham Young University. As a result, many professionals in this space got their start in Utah or Idaho at groundbreaking, successful programs and then branched out from there. Second, a huge part of the therapeutic process makes use of the majestic scenery out west — and across our country — with easy access to nature for adventure and recreation therapy. Many children are better served in quieter parts of the country where they’re able to feel more grounded with less sensory stimulation and fewer transitions. Finally, it’s worth noting that New York City attracts a certain personality type that skews toward being more Type A and amped-up. When you spend time in quieter parts of the country, you can’t help but notice a considerable shift. It’s a stark contrast to New York City and the perfect opportunity for many students to access the time and space they need to find themselves, develop coping strategies, identify a purpose, and engage in goal-setting.

We appreciate that therapeutic residential settings are rarely a family’s first choice, and we support exhausting all local resources before making this sort of transition. But if it’s needed, we’re so fortunate to have such great options available. Enrolling a child in one of these programs is an incredible gift and can truly save a child’s life — a fact many students have explicitly shared with us as a result of their positive experiences. Choosing one of these programs isn’t about giving up on parenting or breaking up a family. Quite the opposite. When a family is bought into the process and a genuine partnership is established, the reparative experience and positive impact stands to be huge. So when is it time to consider therapeutic school planning? Here are several signs for parents:

• Your child is regularly engaged in school avoidance or refusal.
• You can’t seem to schedule enough time with your child’s therapeutic team in New York City (or your local area).
• You’re hemorrhaging resources (e.g. emotionally, financially, socially) on one child at the expense of other children in the family.
• You’re walking on eggshells to avoid triggering your child.
• You feel like you’re living with a Jekyll and Hyde personality.
• You do not feel like you can appropriately monitor your child’s safety.
• Your marriage or partnership is suffering.

If you’re concerned about your child’s trajectory and looking for therapeutic school planning support, please contact our office to discuss your family’s situation in more detail.

To access therapeutic program research, best practices, and historical detail, we suggest:

Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Council
Association for Experiential Education
NATSAP Research
Stories From The Field,by Will White
All Kinds of Therapy, by Jenney Wilder

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Educational Consultant, My Learning Springboard

When To Begin College Planning Efforts

December 2, 2017 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

College planning — it’s what keeps high school juniors and seniors (and their parents) up at night. But although college planning efforts reach their height in eleventh and twelfth grades, the buildup begins much earlier. Below is a guide to begin your college planning efforts at 7th grade and continue through senior year so that your child can enjoy a smooth and successful application process.

7th Grade

Maybe your child attends a school that ends after 8th grade, so you know that they will need to apply to high schools. Maybe your child attends a school that goes through 12th grade, but you think another school might be a better fit. Either way, 7th grade is the year to start thinking about high-school applications. You can draft a preliminary school list and help your child begin preparing to take the ISEE or other similar tests. Because the ISEE and SSAT are both designed as significantly above grade level measures, a longer runway for preparation is best. Therefore, we encourage families to organize ISEE diagnostic work in January of the 7th grade year. This 7th grade school year is also a really important one to organize a comprehensive evaluation if there are any concerns about inattention or learning challenges. Both ACT and College Board look for a documented history of challenges and accessing accommodations at school as part of their approval process. ADHD, for example, is best documented by age 12. High school planning and accommodations planning are both critical components of your college planning efforts.

8th Grade

Fall of 8th grade is high school application season. After open houses and other school visits, you and your child can narrow down the application list. As you help your child choose schools, the foremost guiding principle should be this: a happy student is a successful student — and vice-versa. Beyond core academics, does a given school offer electives that will engage your child? Are your child’s interests reflected in the extracurricular offerings? If your child has an exceptionality, what sorts of supports does the school have in place? If your child is already interested in certain colleges, has the school sent any graduates to that college recently? Fall of 8th grade is also admissions testing season, and you’ll want to schedule your child’s test dates strategically. For instance, students can take the ISEE up to three times a year, once in each of three four-month windows; most of our families have their child test once in November and once in December. This ISEE or SSAT preparation always serves to bolster high school readiness and is prerequisite content for the ACT or SAT.

9th Grade

Ninth grade is a crucial year; research has shown success in 9th grade to be a strong predictor of success in future grades. Your child’s grades should indicate that they are mastering the foundational skills necessary to thrive in higher level courses — especially in math and foreign language, which are heavily sequenced. Speaking of foreign language, many selective colleges require three years of a foreign language and prefer four, so it’s important that the language your child chooses in 9th grade is one that they will want to stick with. At the same time, 9th grade, which frequently offers a student’s first experience with electives, is a time for the student to explore which subjects and extracurriculars they find most exciting. Because of all of the standardized testing that’s underway beginning in high school, it’s an important school year to review any previous evaluations from elementary or middle school to determine if updated testing is needed. Psychologists often have wait lists, and it’s best to avoid an evaluation scramble.

10th Grade

10th grade should find your child building further on the skills from 9th grade. It’s also the first year that most students take the PSAT, which schools typically organize. Significant preparation for the PSAT is not necessary unless a student is trying to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. January to March of 10th grade is a good time to choose whether the ACT or SAT is right for your child (colleges accept either) and to start preparing for that test. For students taking Advanced Placement classes, May of 10th grade is their first encounter with a heavy testing schedule that simulates college exams; students should start preparing for AP tests months ahead of time. The summer after 10th grade is a great time for at least one “practice” college visit, or a few preliminary college visits as part of your college planning efforts. It’s also worth considering possible tours for the fall of junior year. Moreover, January of 10th grade is the time to be seriously considering and beginning to apply for pre-college summer programs.

11th Grade

Many students will begin taking the ACT or SAT in fall of junior year; the goal should be to finish SAT and ACT testing by the end of 11th grade. Most of our students test officially two to three times. 11th grade is also the second PSAT year. Again, significant preparation for the PSAT is not necessary unless there’s a goal to qualify for a National Merit Scholarship. Midway through 11th grade is a good time to formulate a preliminary college list and to schedule visits over school breaks if not already underway. Your child will want to put particular effort into studying for AP tests in the winter and spring terms, if applicable. Spring term of 11th grade is the time to start the main Common Application essay, which typically undergoes several drafts (essay prompts are typically released in February or March for the following year). Summer is also the time to finish up college visits and finalize your child’s school list, which should include a few “very likely” schools, several “just-right” schools, and a few reach schools. The Common App opens in early August, and your child can start filling in forms and writing responses to the supplemental essay prompts listed under individual schools’ pages in the application. All of this hard work over the summer allows your child to enjoy a senior year that is not entirely consumed by college applications. Moreover, January of 11th grade is the time to be seriously considering and beginning to apply for pre-college summer programs.

12th Grade

Early September is the point to make any last decisions about Early Action or Early Decision schools, as some colleges’ deadline is as early as November 1. After that, with deadlines for each of your child’s schools written down, you and your child should sit down with a calendar and work out a schedule for doing the rest of their application work. If your child is interested in applying to arts or conservatory programs — for instance, in theater or visual art — they also must look up those application requirements early in September, as those programs sometimes have earlier deadlines than the rest of the college. Early September also is the time to recruit teachers to write recommendations; many teachers get multiple requests, and it’s best to give them as much time as possible to compose their letters. Later in September, as applications progress, can be a time to interview with representatives from each college that offers them. Application deadlines will stretch from November to February; after that, the waiting is the hardest part. By May, your child will have some difficult but happy decisions to make as a result of your college planning efforts.

If you’re starting to think about college planning for your family, our team can help to organize a customized plan.

Please contact Brad Hoffman or Faya Hoffman by using this contact form.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Educational Consultant, and Elizabeth Walters, Private Tutor and Writing Coach.

Do You Know Where Your Child’s IEP Data Is?

May 1, 2017 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

It surprising in this environment of data-driven education that teachers are still sometimes surprised to find out when their students are doing poorly at the end of the term, or that many IEP goals remain with little progress made. How can that be? What are we doing with all this collected data?

Surprisingly, the answer is sometimes we aren’t doing anything. We give a quiz, get frustrated the student isn’t doing well. It doesn’t really change anything. At most, there are times when the information is reviewed, but in the same fashion it was already taught. If our students didn’t get it the first time we taught something, chances are we need to do more than repeat it, we need to research it using different methods and engaging different senses.

I have spent time working in strict ABA environments and if there is one thing an ABA therapist does it is collect data! What is amazing is how sometimes this data is collected and no changes are made when it shows weeks of stagnation! Whether you administer quizzes or have more informal checks, you are collecting data about your students’ learning but that is meaningless if you don’t use it to change your approach.

It might take more than a small change too. It is not always enough to just cover a topic again, change what is motivating learning, etc. You may actually need to try a play perspective, an approach that is multisensory or moving away from the table to the natural environment.

You also need to make sure you taught all the precursors first. Think about it, if you were trying to teach a student calculus right after Algebra 1, chances are your data would show failure over and over no matter what approaches you apply! If you skip important steps your student will need to go back. If your data is showing a consistent failure to have success with new material, it is important to consider if your student needs to go back before they go forward.

Finally, it is important to look at data from more than one source. Data can be taken wrong.

I worked with a student with a lot of aggression. We were supposed to record every instance of aggression, while trying to manage the behaviors, teach targets and record progress on those targets. Even though as a team we kept reporting that this was impossible, and that instances of aggression were being underrepresented, the case supervisor still felt aggression was decreasing and would site our faulty data to prove it. Of course speech and OT reported seeing aggression at the same levels and this should have been a red flag for everyone to check their data and perceptions.

We all want to make sure what we are doing is working. There are many ways to measure progress. One way is test scores. Another is to look at student output (like essays) over time (like a semester) and see how they improve in structure, topicality, specific ness, grammar etc. No matter how we collect our data, or what measure we are interested in, we need to assure the data is accurately and fairly collected and that we do something or make modifications based off the results. Since students need new approaches and methods NOW, not after they don’t succeed, we owe it to our data to put it to use and not just leaving it collected and lying in a drawer! Our data is as useful as we utilize it to be!

Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Developing Executive Function Skills Authentically

February 27, 2017 Brad Hoffman Leave a Comment

Students trying to go from good to great in their school work will benefit from employing strong executive function skills. Developing these skills authentically happens over time and inherently includes behavior modification. Therefore, these skills, which include the ability to plan and organize time and work; the ability to initiate and complete a task; the ability to shift gears/sets depending on the situation; the ability to organize or impose order on work and play storage spaces; and the ability to self-monitor performance and attention are best taught in contextualized, meaningful, and authentic situations. There is no scripted curriculum. Developing executive function skills is all about developing situational intelligence and planning with the end in mind. Students need opportunities to develop lots of different strategies, much like tools in a toolbox, so that they can customize their approach, or “fix”, as each situation presents itself. Our most successful students ultimately demonstrate reflective, strategic thinking that develops along with a student’s increased metacognitve awareness. This work is facilitated by a skillful team with expertise in pedagogy, psychology and executive function coaching, and it progresses through modeling, guided instruction, and independent practice.

Our faculty at My Learning Springboard believes strongly in meeting students where they are and building on their strengths in order to develop or strengthen their executive function skills. It is this approach that puts our students ahead of the rest. Many students struggle for reasons that go beyond the content itself, which includes not being able to manage the meta-work of being a student. They struggle to maintain their train of thought when they don’t have their materials clearly organized and easily available and have to expend time and energy looking for them. Students are often technically aware they have a big test coming up on Thursday, but, while it seems too far away to begin studying on Monday, it looms as an unapproachable, discouraging impossibility on Wednesday night. These students could master their subject content if they could better master time management, work prioritization, their physical or digital workspace, and their ability to plan into the future and sub-task.

The goal of an executive function coach is to help students to identify inefficiencies or pitfalls in their strategic planning and to cooperatively develop and implement systems that mitigate these challenges. For example, a student who struggles with implementing quotations in his essays will be coached throughout the writing process on developing organizational skills, not only for him/herself, but for the essay as well. We might try keeping a quote journal for future reading so the process of analyzing quotes in writing can be both practiced and streamlined. Another student may need to schedule regular meetings with a teacher for support before, during or after school, but making that happen could be an overwhelming process. An executive function coach might cooperatively review the student’s calendar/schedule and help identify when the meetings could occur, as well as guide the student to respectfully initiate the request. We help our students develop their executive function skills by ‘seeing’ into the future and using that information to inform their current and future actions. And while many students are technologically savvy, they aren’t necessarily technologically strategic or digitally organized. Optimizing applications so that they’re assistive and identifying new technologies to facilitate effectiveness is often a huge part of our approach to executive function coaching.

Developing executive function skills authentically through strategic use of school work, extracurricular activities, and responsibilities at home is the best and most meaningful approach for students. Our goal is for strategic and timely practices to become internalized for each student, which happens over time. Once internalized, the student should be able to independently determine, for example, when teacher meetings are necessary, know how to budget time effectively and know how to attack the metacognitive challenges of learning. An executive function coach can help set clearly communicated expectations to both the student and his or her family as well as to form a culture of accountability over time.

By Brad Hoffman, Board Certified Educational Planner and Learning Specialist, and Laurie Gross, Educational Consultant and Reading Specialist.