Why Does Group-Centered Prevention Work When Other After-School Programs Fail? What Is the Role of Intrinsic Motivation? Retesting and Another Success Story. The 2016–2017 Group Report

Abstract

Our research was complete. During the 8 years of program evaluation, we had learned three things. First, we had learned that all children truly can be taught to read, if you use the right teaching method—even children with learning differences. The group-centered approach combining learning and counseling, intrinsic motivation, and vowel clustering worked and was very successful in helping children who were failing in the schools learn to read at or above their age level—not grade level, age level. Second, we learned that each child is an individual. It is not poverty that causes reading failure; failed teaching methods cause reading failure. Every child can learn, but each child will learn at a different pace. We built 12 teaching techniques into our Reading Orienteering Club program curriculum to accommodate the individual learning needs of each child. Third, we learned that intrinsic motivation is the key to success. Even though it is not possible to motivate a student, it is possible to create an intrinsically motivational environment that encourages students to try again after failing in the classroom. All of the students that we worked with were failing in reading at school. We incorporated six counseling strategies into our curriculum to help create that intrinsically motivating environment and engage the full healing power of group process. Yes, we really can teach every child to read. Failure is not the children but the teaching method being used in the classroom.