Parents: Take the SAT Challenge!

I keep a box of tissues on the table where I tutor because, as an SAT tutor and college application consultant, I listen to high school juniors and seniors who are so overwhelmed by college pressure that they begin to cry. Not just girls. Not just Ivy League aspirants.

High school students are always convinced their parents don’t understand them. This time the students are right. Parents don’t understand because the college admission process is so much more competitive than it was when most parents applied to college.

These are the ten things I wish I could tell parents:

1. I am convinced that parents have to walk a mile in the student’s moccasins to gain some appreciation for the stress the students are under and to reverse the tension at home. If parents will take an SAT practice test they will feel some of the same anxiety, cringe at their results, and discover that the test is hard. Instead of piling 25 pounds of SAT study books on the desk, parents can commiserate with students over missed problems. Parents and students can become allies rather than adversaries as they face the college admission process.

2. Hire SAT prep tutors who focus on the applicable academic material rather than just the tricks. Increasing a student’s academic preparation for the test in addition to teaching the tricks increases their confidence on the test and in the classroom; teaching only the tricks makes students more insecure because they are relying on tricks rather than on actual knowledge.

3. Have the tutors keep the parents informed about each session so that the parent tracks progress with the tutor rather than pestering the student for information.

4. Have the student try the ACT. All colleges accept it and some students do better on it than on the SAT.

5. Make learning fun. For example, have the students memorize vocabulary using the book Vocabulary Cartoons by Sam Burchers, et al. Also, have the student do the crossword and other word puzzles in SAT Vocabulary Express, the fun book of word puzzles that will increase SAT scores. I wrote it with Michael Ashley, a nationally known puzzler, so that our students would learn to play with words, an important skill for the new SAT.

6. Emphasize getting good grades rather than good SAT scores. Bs in honors classes are better than As in regular classes.

7. Hire an independent college counselor who will work with the family to create a realistic college list, brainstorm for essay topics, establish deadlines for the student, and check all college applications. High school college counselors are overworked and do not have the time to walk families through the process.

8. Realize that the schools parents attended may not be within reach for their child. The number of high school students planning to attend college has increased dramatically; the student may be well qualified for a particular college and may still not get in.

9. Look for colleges where the student will thrive academically and socially. Choosing colleges based on their name recognition and prestige value is a formula that will increase stress, not decrease it. Everyone else wants to go to those schools, too, making them even harder to get into; they are not necessarily the best place for the student. Loren Pope’s book, Colleges That Change Lives, is a good place to start.

10. Support your child through a difficult process. Leave the prodding, nagging, and yelling to the tutors and college counselor. The independent college counselor will tell the student to work harder so the parent doesn’t have to. Why ruin the student’s last year at home?

Parents can make decisions so that senior year is not be so fraught with anxiety that family members begin to avoid each other. And, I hate it when my students cry.

Jacqueline Byrne
Author, SAT Vocabulary Express (McGraw Hill, 10/04)
Partner, Ivy Educational Services, Scotch Plains, New Jersey
http://www.ivyeducationalservices.com

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Medical Assistant – Medical Assistant Distance Education

Considerations in Distance Education for the Medical Assistant Instructor

Medical Assistant distance education is emerging to meet the demands of a new generation of students in the twenty first century. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School distance education program for medical assistant presents a good model for this integration of technology with medical assistant education. Distance education, particularly in its most recent form, online education, is being integrated into even the most cautious and conservative of educational institutions. Yet the impact of these alternative forms of teaching and learning on students, faculty, and institutions has yet to be broadly or deeply studied. New models such as that at St. Augustine Medical Assistant School are immerging. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School is available at: www.medassistant.org

Distance education is not new, and can be traced as far back as the first century. The Apostle Paul wrote to the early Christian churches, instructing them from a distance (even when he was under ‘house arrest’ in Rome). This was probably the first type of ‘correspondence course’, which was the only method of learning at a distance until the advent of the telephone. Today, distance education and in particular online medical assistant instruction calls upon an impressive range of technologies to enable medical assistant instructor and the medical assistant student who are separated by distance to communicate with each other either in real time (synchronous) or delayed time (asynchronous).

Currently and asynchronous model used at St. Augustine Medical Assistant School to instruct medical assistant students. This has proven to be a very effective model however the medical assistant program is currently investigating the benefits of synchronous online medical assistant instruction and the benefits it may have for the medical assistant student. Medical Assistant distance learning epitomizes the move away from institute based learning to a more direct, student centered approach. As a concept, distance learning has existed for over a century, notably in the form of paper based correspondence courses including the less formal correspondence education for medical assistants. Now however, distance education is depending increasingly upon technology for its success and technological innovations ensure that distance learning for the medical assistant continues to evolve and grow as a valid and potent force in all forms of education for the medical assistant.

The task of the medical assistant distance educator is therefore to obviate these problems as much as possible by mixing and matching techniques, creating and maintaining a stimulating environment, and offering opportunities for medical assistant students to communicate with each other and with the medical assistant teaching staff on a regular basis. The medical assistant educators will also need to change their traditional role as well. Many remote medical assistant students need a great deal of social support, and medical assistant distance educators may find themselves spending more time offering one-to-one tutorials and less time lecturing. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School at www.MedicalAssistant.us is leading today’s technology in medical assistant education.

When designing medical assistant educational systems and materials for medical assistant distance in delivery the medical assistant teacher must consider not only learning outcomes, but also centered requirements and technical constraints for the medical assistant. Also to be considered are the needs, characteristics, and individual differences of both the students, the teachers and future medical assistants.

Medical assistant distance education for the medical assistant then, should not be viewed as a means of reducing costs, but as an opportunity to raise standards. It is also about providing quality medical assistant learning opportunities for those who, for one reason or another, have previously been excluded from this basic human right.

Medical Assistant distance education will quickly become the norm and not the exception for the twenty first century medical assistant. St. Augustine Medical Assistant School distance education program for medical assistant presents a good model for this integration of technology with medical assistant education. The St. Augustine Medical Assistant model can be reviewed at: http://www.medassistant.org, and http://www.medicalassistant.us.

Dr. Mark Stout
Dean of Education St. Augustine Medical Assistant School
Distance Education and Informatics Specialist
St Augustine School of Medical Assistants

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