Education   

Education That Works:
The Child is Always Right, Part Seven
The “Morningside Model”

Edward L. Anderson, Ph.D.

Established in 1980, Morningside Academy in Seattle combines PT with DI while incorporating all seven research results. The math program has the very small steps that I mentioned earlier. During the past eleven years, Morningside has taught well over 300 children, most diagnosed as learning disabled, who had never gained more than half a grade in an academic year. Many had behavior problems as well. They gained an average of two to three grade levels per year in each of reading, math and language.(18) (Parents get their money back if this goal is not met. There has never been a refund.) No homework is required.

Table 1 shows the grade gains achieved in one year by Morningside students in Reading, Language Arts, and Math. The most important data is in the Bold-faced type.

Morningside Children’s Grade Gains

    Reading   Language
Arts		   Math  
Year Number of Students Mean
Grades
Gained		 Standard Deviation Mean
Grades
Gained		 Standard Deviation Mean
Grades
Gained		 Standard Deviation
1981-82 11 2.4 0.51 1.6 0.56 2.1 0.97
1982-83 43 2.3 0.57 1.9 0.73 1.9 0.65
1983-84 75 2.4 0.86 1.9 0.65 2.0 0.73
1984-85 54 2.5 0.75 2.7 0.97 2.2 0.56
1985-86 28 2.0 0.72 3.0 0.83 2.5 0.62
1986-87 24 2.3 0.84 2.3 0.70 1.9 0.77
1987-88 27 2.3 0.70 3.5 0.84 2.2 0.83
1988-89 32 2.5 0.83 3.0 0.72 2.7 0.70
1989-90* 11 2.8 0.77 3.3 0.75 2.4 0.84
1990-91* 21 2.2 0.62 3.8 0.86 3.9 0.72

*Metropolitan Achievement Tests (MAT6) 1989-91.
Others; California Achievement Tests
Table 1

Oddly, one of the objections most often heard to this kind of success is that “It may work for low achievers, but our kids are different.” This is roughly equivalent to qualifying a doctor to do heart transplants but not hangnails.

back to section homenext

Edward L. Anderson, Ph.D.
Ed Anderson was among the founders of the Cambridge Center,
and remains one of its most active supporters.
This paper is based upon a talk that Dr. Anderson gave on August 2, 1994,
sponsored by the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York.

Return Home

About CCBS

Membership

Links

Store

Behavior Analysis

Computer Modeling
of Behavior

Aging Gracefully Autism Behavioral Safety
 Book Reviews
 Commentaries
 Education
Everyday Life
 Parenting
 Organizational Behavior Management Pets & Animals
 Verbal Behavior Virtual Community

Copyright ©1997-2008 by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.
All rights reserved.

Feedback or questions about the
Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies or our website?
Contact our webmaster or
our Executive Director, Dr. Dwight Harshbarger.

The Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies Publication Office
is located at the following address:
336 Baker Avenue
Concord, Massachusetts U.S.A. 01742-2107

Telephone: (978) 369-CCBS (2227)
Facsimile: (978) 369-8584

Visit other sites through the Behavior Analysis Webring:
[ Previous 5 Sites | Previous | Next | Next 5 Sites | Random Site | List Sites ]