HOW TO CLOSE THE LEARNING GAP?
What Are Learning Gaps?
Learning gaps are the difference between what a student is expected to have learned by a certain grade level versus what they have actually learned up to that point. In other words, a student is expected to have acquired a certain reading level by the time they complete any given grade or school year. If the student is not able to read books at this skill level by this age, we might consider a learning gap in reading and comprehension exists.
Why do learning gaps form?
First of all we have to understand why learning gaps form. As learning is based on building blocks, students are always challenged to expand on topics over time and apply them to new concepts as they progress. Learning that is achieved at one grade level serves as the foundation on which the understanding of more complex ideas and concepts is built. This learning structure grows throughout a student’s academic career, with new skills developing from the skills the student has already mastered. Not every student learns at the same pace, though – which is why what starts out as a small learning gap can eventually become a more serious problem.
Few Strategies to Close the Learning Gaps:
- Identify exactly whereand what the learning gaps are, and which students struggle with them.
- Chat with their previous teacher.
- Review previous summative assessments.
- Group or one-on-one student interviews
- Ask 5 questions a day.
- Quizzes are a quick and easy way to assess students on what they have learnt.
Conclusion:
If foundational academic skills—such as reading, writing, and math, as well as social and interpersonal skills—are not acquired by students early on in their education, it may be more difficult for them to learn these foundational skills later on. As students’ progress through their education, remediating learning gaps tends can become more difficult because students may have fallen well behind their peers, or because middle school or high school teachers may not have specialized training or expertise in teaching foundational academic skills. For these and other reasons, many educators, school reformers, researchers, and policy makers have called for greater investments in Early childhood Care and Education, Special Education in Need and Integrated Teacher Development Programme to close the learning gap among students.
