The Winter Olympics are only weeks away, bringing with it the excitement of medal counts and new household heroes. For these amazing athletes, Olympic gold will cement their legacies. But the competitors are so close in talent and skill that the difference between greatness and going home empty handed can be measured in tenths and hundredths of seconds. So what is it that sets the elite athlete apart from the competition? It turns out they are the same as those which separate top-tier students from the very good. Hard work and dedication certainly play a role but coaching, game-planning, and knowing what and how to train to maximize potential are what push students and athletes alike to the next level.

Creative Tutors founder, Jan Van Blarcum, Ph.D. explains what it takes to go from great to good in the academic arena. “Many times a C student can become a B student by putting in extra hours of study and a B student may become a B+ student by working even more diligently. But at a certain point the rate of return on simply working hard will plateau and additional study and stress will not help to break through that ceiling. This is when a student needs to work smart, and with the expertise and concentrated focus that a tutor brings, the sky is the limit.”

Read more »

Most of the money allocated to US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan from the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act may prove to be more difficult to access than the funds he has available to him through the No Child Left Behind Act. Why? It appears that most of the money will be allocated by formula instead of competition.

Advocates for education in our nations capital suggest that there will be four familiar themes from the upcoming re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act which will incorporate four assurances of improvement efforts that the ACT will demand from states hoping to tap economic-stimulus aid. School officials want to stabilize their budgets when tapping into the $4 billion in Race to the Top Funds grants.

Familiar Four Themes Are:

1) Turn around lowest-performing schools

2) Bolster state data systems in order to link K - 12 systems with early learning, high education, workforce, social services and other state data.

3) Improve teacher quality and the distribution of effective teachers.

4) Strengthen standards and assessments.

Mention teachers' reading aloud in class and more than likely your memory will recall an image of a cozy corner in your elementary school classroom where children sat on a rug surrounding a teacher sitting in a rocking chair reading Charlotte's Web. Am I Right?

Middle and High School English teachers are now reading classics such as the Odyssey to Mice and Men or Beowulf! You may also walk into a social studies class and hear the teacher voicing the words of the Declaration of Independence and letters home from U.S. Soldiers in the Vietnam War. Math and Science teachers are getting in on the reaching action as well and are reading to their adolescent students.

Read more »