The Director of the Learning Center regularly reviews issues pertaining to those students receiving remediation and accommodations from the Learning Center. The Director of Guidance and the advisers work as partners with Learning Center faculty, teachers, parents, and the students; they help those students deal with emotional issues as well as their learning issues.
Students seeking the services of the Learning Center must receive a full psycho-educational evaluation by an outside tester. Test results are reviewed, and students may be eligible for certain accommodations, including extended time for test-taking and supplementary oral exams. Based on the recommendations of the tester, students may also receive remediation from the Learning Center faculty, which usually takes place once or twice weekly.
The Learning Center is staffed by one full-time General Studies specialist and two part-time Judaic Studies specialists. These faculty meet with the students' regular teachers and advisers both formally and informally, and communicate with parents during parent-teacher conferences, by telephone, and by anecdotal reports that are sent with every report card packet. Students also maintain a portfolio of self-evaluations. Learning Center faculty meet weekly with the Headmasters and the Director of Guidance to review student progress.
In addition to formal remediation, the Middle School also offers several other options to help students hone their learning skills. Incoming fifth graders each take a Stamford reading diagnostic test and a mathematics diagnostic test. Students who need to are urged to take advantage of after school clinics offered in reading and math. In addition, a learning skills class is offered for some seventh and eighth grade students in place of foreign language. The skills class uses texts from the history curriculum, and helps students develop their note-taking, research, and writing skills.
The Learning Center and guidance department best function when open lines of communication are maintained between the student, adviser, Learning Center faculty, administration, and parents. This provides the smoothest and most comfortable setting for the student to grow academically and emotionally.
