Stevenson Learning Skills

Readbability Levels and Other Numbers

When you are trying to evaluate students, numbers help. You need some objective ways to measure progress. You can’t run a class-room, a school or a school system on feelings and opinions. But numbers can also be misleading. Here are a couple of examples: Readability Measures If you go to Intervention Central and type a […]

Humor From a Large Child

A linguistics professor was lecturing his class: “In English a double negative forms a positive. In some languages, though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. However, there is no language in which a double positive can form a negative.” A voice from the back of the room replied, “Yeah. Right.”

Economics, Reading Intervention, and the Stevenson Program

Recent Article from Spring 2010 – Installment 2: Some Practical Points Some public school systems have suffered much more than others from our national economic problems. However, two things are clear: no school system is in better financial condition than it was two or three years ago; and even the ones who had relatively few […]

Starting Stevenson? Don’t Forget the oa Friends Online Y

You are starting a new school year, and many of you will be starting new students in the Stevenson Program. Some of you will be using the program for the first time. Do not forget to make use of the free animated online student activity on our web site. It is called “The oa Friends […]

Assessing the Situation – Again

Recent Article from Spring 2010 – Installment 1: Hints about Assessing Student Progress in the Stevenson Program If you Google the phrase “reading assessment,” you receive more than 43 million results. “Reading Test” produces about 105 million. (In contrast, “math assessment” yields about 12 million.) Unless you have been teaching in the jungles of New […]

More Stevenson-Specific Assessment Tools for Beginning Green Level

We recently posted a large group DIBELS-like assessments that use Stevenson stories.  They were created through the Intervention Central Website.  We are grateful to Sally Kovar from the NW Ohio Educational Service Center for producing these tools from Intervention Central and then turning them into pdf files to share with all of us.  We have mentioned […]

New Assessment Tool for Overlapping Strategy Now On Web Site

We recently posted a new, simple assessment tool that you can use with students who are following the Overlapping Strategy.  This strategy is an approach to starting the Stevenson Program.  It covers key information from the first level of the program and teaches it concurrently with the second level (thus “overlapping” the content of the two levels).  The Overlapping Strategy […]

Humor From a Small Child

A very active, five year old girl was often told by her parents that she was “full of beans.” One night her father told her it was time to go to bed, and she replied without hesitation, “But, Daddy, I still have some beans left.”

Wisdom from Students

– Never trust a dog to watch your food. – You can’t hide a piece of broccoli in a glass of milk. – Don’t pull dad’s finger when he tells you to. – When your mom is mad at your dad, don’t let her brush your hair. – If you want a kitten, start out […]

Comprehension Issue

Teacher: What are you reading? Pupil: I don’t know. Teacher: But you’re reading aloud! Pupil: But I’m not listening!