INTRODUCTION
According to a 2020 report by The Century Foundation (TCF), the United States is underfunding its K-12 public schools by nearly $150 billion annually. It is robbing more than 30 million school children of the resources they need to succeed in the classroom. “School districts with high concentrations of Latin and Black students are much more likely to be underfunded than majority-white districts and face much wider funding gaps - an average deficit of more than $5,000 per student, the analysis finds.”
Compounded with the Coronavirus leading to the closing of schools, virtual truancy, and over 3-million students that went missing from the public school system in the last year, Save-Our-Schools for Our Kids (SOS4OK) was accelerated to support school programs and educators who are willing to embody Multiple-Intelligence Learning (MIL) models for students to acquire and process knowledge and achieve at their own pace.
We subscribe to a multiple intelligence approach interdependently taught and/or fused in for students to have the greatest opportunity to become wholly educated and prepared for life. These multiple intelligences are Verbal-Linguistic, Logical-Mathematic, Spatial, Musical, Physical, Interpersonal/Social, Intrapersonal/Emotional Intelligence, Naturalistic Intelligence, Creative Intelligence, Spiritual Intelligence (Gardner, H, 1983).
To reach, connect and fully engage students to become more curious about the world, more confident about their ability to freely learn, and become adept with academic competencies to gainfully meet a highly competitive world, SOS4OK believes schools must reach and teach students according to their intelligence strengths that can also be strengthened for total student benefit.
With these concepts, educators, parents, and guardians bear the responsibility of helping a student lead a richer and fuller life. Developing or enhancing curriculum, creating programs, and producing or giving storytelling experiences in the physical classroom or virtually will support a process towards student flourishing.
For schools to flourish to teach generations of children how to thrive, grow and succeed, we strongly believe there must be a massive shift to a school learning environment that transforms how administrators and educators think, feel, and make sense of their world vis-à-vis the student.
Educating our children is a collaborative process. It is culturally adept and agile. SOS4OK believes a vertical learning approach allows the student to make sense of their learning at a pace according to their intelligence as well as how they see and will see the world.