Summer Programs: Academic Enrichment Institute

Have you ever gone to the store without a list, thinking you’ll remember everything you need…but discovered when you got home that you forgot several items? If so, you’ve experienced the limitations of working memory. Working memory is the mental sticky note we use to keep track of information until we need to use it. Students use it in math, reading and writing every period of the day. 

Tracy and Ross Alloway measured the IQs and working memory skills of 5-year-olds. Then, six years later, researchers tested the kids again, assessing not only IQ and working memory, but also each child’s academic achievement in reading, spelling, and math. The results were sobering. Early WM skills were a better predictor of later academic achievement than were early IQ scores (Alloway and Alloway 2010). And, unlike IQ, working memory did not correlate with the parents’ socioeconomic status or educational level.

Recent studies indicate that 10-15% of students have working memory deficits and often misdiagnosed with attention issues. While that number is significant, improving your working memory is essential to all students. The more you can activate your working memory, the better you can learn. 

This summer, Darlington School is offering an Academic Enrichment Institute that can help build working memory and reading skills. This summer enrichment program is offering the Brain Enhancement Training Academy (BETA) program in which participants are enrolled in the Cogmed program that specifically helps with working memory and executive functioning skills. In the Comprehension High-Achiever Institute (CHI) program, participants are enrolled in the FastForWord Reading program that helps students improve working memory, combined with phonic awareness and auditory processing skills.

Enrollment in the Academic Enrichment Institute is available to rising sixth-graders and up, and will be offered June 1 through July 2. Click here for additional information about this summer program.

Click here to register for the Academic Enrichment Institute.