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Absolutely not!

About the author: Jean Schumaker is associate director of the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. This article originally appeared in the March 1998 issue of Stratenotes, a newsletter for SIM Professional Developers.

Over the last year, the staff members at the Center for Research on Learning have received several inquiries centering on the same question: Are we discarding strategies instruction and embracing content enhancement methods? The answer to this question is the title and focus of this piece. The simple answer is "Absolutely NOT!" The complex answer really has several parts.

First, we recognize that over the past few years, with the emphasis on inclusion, students with disabilities are receiving their educational experiences more and more in the general education classroom. We have seen, in some areas, special education teachers no longer having the venue to teach learning strategies to their students because their students no longer come to their room, and they (the teachers) are expected to be in general education classes for part or all of the school day. Nevertheless, this does NOT mean that we are giving up on strategies instruction. In fact, this is the farthest thing from our minds because we are convinced more and more each week that

• Students with disabilities and other at-risk students can become independent learners.
• Learning strategy instruction is a key intervention in helping students with disabilities become independent learners.
• Intensive instruction in learning strategies is required if students with disabilities are to make the kinds of gains in information-processing skills needed to become independent learners.

We are convinced about these points because we have now conducted more than twenty-five research studies focused on learning strategy instruction and the conditions under which it produces mastery. The bottom line is this: Regardless of the setting in which the strategic instruction occurs, if students with disabilities do not receive instruction that includes multiple and frequent opportunities for practice of the strategy combined with appropriate and individual feedback, they do not learn new skills. On the other hand, if they are provided with the necessary opportunities for practice and appropriate feedback, they make steady gains and reach mastery. Additionally, we have not seen these kinds of gains made by secondary students with disabilities in any other way with any other intervention.

Thus, we are committed to learning strategy instruction and ensuring that it rides through the latest "storm" engulfing the nation. We are committed to working with you and the educators in our schools to find venues in which intensive learning strategy instruction can take place. Through your help and creativity, we have all seen that intensive and effective learning strategy instruction can take place in a variety of places and programs. We've seen it work in general education English classes, in summer-school programs, in short-term pull-out arrangements (see article on page 3 and the lead article in Strategram Volume 10, Number 2), in strategies courses, in ESL classes (see Strategram, Volume 8, Number 3), and in subject-area classes, as well as resource rooms. We are committed to protecting and expanding these venues for strategy instruction as we see the pendulum swinging back in favor of more intensive and individualized instruction for at-risk learners.

So where do the Content Enhancement Routines fit in? We see Content Enhancement methods fitting in everywhere as a partner with strategy instruction. In fact, Content Enhancement methods can be used to teach learning strategies. That is, learning strategy teachers are using Content Enhancement methods to jazz up their learning strategy instruction. For example, they are using Course and Unit Organizers to explain to students where they are going. They are using Simple Enhancers to make each day's lesson meaningful and exciting.

We also see Content Enhancement methods being used by the general education teachers who teach at-risk students subject-area courses. The use of these methods makes subject-matter content more "friendly" for students. Thus, they are able to understand and remember it better.

We all need to keep in perspective what learning strategy instruction and content enhancement methods contribute to the overall goal of producing independent learners. Content Enhancement methods enable students to improve their grades on tests about 10 to 15 percentage points, on average. In essence, they are methods that can boost a student up about one letter grade on classroom tests. A student who is within spitting distance of a passing grade can pass; a student who is receiving grades below 45 percent might not. Content Enhancement methods have not been shown to produce better reading achievement or better writing achievement. They have not been shown to turn at-risk learners into independent learners or learners who are better able to approach learning tasks on their own.

In contrast, the learning strategy interventions have been shown to produce independent learning activity on the part of at-risk learners. High school students who were reading at the fourth-grade level can learn to read materials written at the ninth-grade level and above. Students who could not write complete sentences can progress to writing themes and research papers. Students who could not study for tests and who were failing their tests can learn how to study large quantities of information and earn As and Bs in content courses. Granted, these kinds of gains take time and require considerable effort on the part of teachers and students. They are certainly well worth the work, however, when we consider the quality of life these students will encounter if they do not make such gains and if they do not progress to advanced types of training and education.

To conclude, CRL staff members are ABSOLUTELY NOT giving up on learning strategy instruction. In fact, we are working every day to determine how to make it more efficient and effective and how to teach teachers to implement it better. We see evidence all the time that educators who are seriously implementing learning strategy instruction are getting the kinds of gains that are translating into higher quality life experiences for their students, and that's a very gratifying experience for all of us.

We hope that you will join us in ensuring that learning strategy instruction is a vibrant force in helping at-risk learners reach their potential as contributing members of our society.

We know that becoming experts about learning strategy instruction plus Content Enhancement methods is a big task. We urge you to emphasize both in your training sequences because, when used hand-in-hand, they can produce large payoffs for students. If you cannot emphasize both, we urge you to choose to emphasize those interventions that produce the greatest gains and long-term payoffs for students and teachers.