A two-part media pitch for the Kayne-Eras Center,
a school for learning-disabled children.

 

Dear [Education/Metro Editor]:

Imagine this: One morning you come to your office and everything has changed. Instead of your private office or cubicle, you've been assigned to a room with 30 desks lined up in rows, and your boss is at the front of the room, giving instructions. Even though you're a journalist, you'll be required to spend one hour each day doing payroll in the accounting department, and another hour doing plumbing and carpentry around the building. You get 20 minutes for lunch, and can only go to the bathroom with permission. Every evening you must take home an hour's worth of work, and every six months you'll be evaluated by your boss according to a standard set by your co-workers. You'll excel in English and literature, but you'll do badly in accounting and carpentry, and your family will let you know how disappointed they are with your performance. You'll grow more and more frustrated with life in this environment, but alternatives will be hard to find.

That's what life in the public school system is like for most children, particularly children with special needs. Barbara Cull, founder and director of the Kayne-Eras Center in Culver City is a tireless advocate for at-risk children whose unique abilities are overlooked because of bureaucratic red tape and a public school system that's based on 100 year-old models. Barbara operates Kayne-Eras as a haven of hope for the 60 percent of "at risk" public school students. Since its humble beginnings in 1980, the Kayne-Eras center has helped more than 100,000 families.

"Research proves that intense intervention is needed as soon as a child starts to exhibit problems," Barbara explains. "But our school system is in a state of paralysis. The thinking needs to be completely transformed, so that educators allow each individual to learn differently. The old model of every student functioning as an identical cog in the wheel has to be reconstructed."

Barbara proposes progressive and controversial ideas for education reform (see attached), and her work has been recognized worldwide. This year, a $4 million gift from the Jerry Kayne family of West Los Angeles helped make it possible for a new 38,000 square-foot facility to be built in Culver City's media district, which more than doubles the center's capacity. The new campus houses a pre-school, elementary, middle and high schools, an educational, diagnostic, therapeutic and arts enrichment center, library, auditorium, cafeteria, student store, recreation areas and a specialized lab. 160 children attend the day school, with another 75 coming in for after-school programs, and a group residence houses 12 adults who work at jobs in the community while developing independent living skills.

In addition to the on-site services, members of the staff volunteer their time to provide in-home education, speech therapy, behavioral intervention and other free services to families in need.

Barbara's approach to education is unconventional and thought provoking, and would make a fascinating feature. I have attached a summary of her methods, as well as a Fact Sheet on the Kayne-Eras Center and a list of 7 steps to better education. We can arrange for you to interview Barbara, her students (current and former) and their families, as well as Kayne-Eras graduates who've gone on to become successful adults working in fields such as education, psychology, business and the arts.

(more... not excerpted here)

 

 

A WAKE UP CALL FOR EDUCATORS

Eight Ways to Make Education Work for Everyone

1. All children need special education, not just the ones with learning disabilities. Every human being learns differently, and those differences have to be respected and cultivated without judgment. Aiming for conformity is the reason why so many kids fail.

2. Get out of the classroom and into the world. Spend at least half the time on field trips, in alternative classroom sites (i.e. businesses, art galleries) and in outdoor classrooms. Find ways to provide hands-on experience with everything from farming to flying. Apply all basic skills to real life demands. Observe other cultures. Work in the community (the Kayne-Eras Center operates its own restaurant in Culver City, where students work in one-hour shifts to gain real-world work experience. The restaurant also serves as a financial model for students studying business management and economics and marketing).

3. Follow the "Smorgasbord Plan." Provide a variety of activities for all children, so they can explore and discover their unique interests and abilities. Some kids don't like outdoor games and sports. Some don't have the patience for art or music. One might excel at acting, and another at cooking. Make it possible for each child to find a niche. Then develop it.

4. Present different career and lifestyle choices. For example, a hyperactive kid who can't stay in his seat has the perfect disposition to work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. A child who daydreams may be the next great film visionary. These qualities are not faults. They just don't fit traditional ideals of success. The curriculum should be as broad-based as the real world is.

5. Train all teachers to teach all kids. The segregation between children who learn differently and those who fit the mold begins when teachers are still in college. They can choose to specialize in either special education or "regular education." But all children need "special" education, and all teachers should be trained to provide a unique learning experience for every child.

6. Test children more frequently, and adapt curriculum as needed. Why insist that all students write a paper on a particular subject, when one student might excel at building a model of the subject, another acting out a skit, and another expressing the lesson in visual art? Encourage individuality. In the real world, employers don't care how you do the work as long as the work gets done. Use that model to educate children and build self-esteem.

7. Re-think homework. Homework should be for the purpose of practicing something that's already been learned. If a child cannot manage homework independently, if it's causing stress for child and family, then it's not doing anybody any good.

8. Provide professional educators with the opportunity to work in teams honing collaborative skills and compensate them fairly for all the time they invest.

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