3 steps aim to help students

Raising your child's test scores just might be as easy as one, two, three:

One — Teach study skills.

Two — Teach organizational skills.

Three — Teach social skills.

That's the premise behind a new educational program that's all the rage in Utah classrooms — this semester, at least. The program is called Achievement Synchrony, and, in addition to raising test scores by an average of 5 percent, developers say it successfully bridges the communication gap between children, parents and teachers.

"Our society has become fragmented, and that's one of the reasons kids are not benefiting as much as they could from our educational system," said Lynn Scoresby, the brains behind Achievement Synchrony. "Parents are busy. Teachers are busy. Kids are so busy cramming for tests that they aren't learning the basic skills they need to succeed."

Scoresby got the idea for Achievement Synchrony from his research as a educational psychology professor at Brigham Young University, where he taught until 2005. His nonprofit organization, the Legacy Foundation, backs the project.

The approach is simple.

Parents pull the family together weekly for a short lesson detailing one of the three core skill sets — learning methods, achievement skills and character traits. In the classroom, the teacher gives a similar lesson. Parents and teachers keep each other updated on a class Web site.

"The key is getting the parents and the classroom teachers close together, teaching similar concepts at the same time," Scoresby said. "When we do that, the children actually internalize these success principles and their ability to succeed in the classroom becomes greater."

None of the concepts behind Achievement Synchrony were new to Shauna Rasmussen, a fifth-grade teacher at Highland Elementary School, when she started implementing the program this year. But, she said, breaking things down into "bite-sized" chunks really produced results.

"As a teacher, I have always assumed that because these kids are 10 years old they know how to study and they know how to be respectful," she said. "But I think sometimes they need to hear it again."

Talking about basic things like saying "please" and "thank you," sitting up straight in class and taking the initiative to help your neighbor if he or she is struggling with an assignment, really helped Rasmussen's class bond, she said.

"The kids really took ownership of their classroom experience," Rasmussen said. "They made the connection that if they came to class unprepared, it would hold the whole class up."

Michelle Ririe, a Highland mother of four, noticed a change in her children's behavior at home, too. If they were fighting, throwing a fit or avoiding their chores, all she had to do was remind them of one of Achievement Synchrony's key phrases, "Is that helping or hurting?" "Because they have these meetings every week at home and at school, my children know they're accountable for what we are teaching them," she said.

The Legacy Foundation will host free seminars about implementing Achievement Synchrony on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and on Saturday at 9 a.m. Meetings will take place at 703 S. State St., in Orem. For more information, visit teachr.org.

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E-mail: estuart@desnews.com