In this debut education book, Berens challenges pedagogical orthodoxy and argues that all children, including those with neurological differences, can acquire fundamental skills if teachers understand how learning happens and how to measure it. (Kirkus Reviews)
In the United States, a majority of students graduate below proficiency in all academic subjects. Parents of struggling students feel overwhelmed and confused about how to help their children simply survive school, let alone succeed. Various school reform efforts have been tried and all have failed. But all hope is not lost. A science exists that allows children to learn as individuals even though at school they are educated in groups. One that avoids senseless labels that sentence children to lifetimes of failure and mediocrity.
Dr. Kimberly Berens and a team of scientists have spent the last 20 years perfecting a powerful system of instruction based on the learning, behavioral, and cognitive sciences that they call Fit Learning. This method of teaching has been proven to markedly improve how students understand and achieve, even for children who have been told they have learning disabilities or other disorders that interfere with their ability to learn.
Blind Spots reveals the history of our broken education system and shows that by using this teaching system in the classroom, we can unlock the vast potential hidden within every child.
In 1984, B.F. Skinner wrote The Shame of American Education, in which he described how the American educational system failed to incorporate scientifically validated instructional practices. Sadly, this paper is just as relevant after almost four decades since its publication. In Blind Spots: Why Students Fail and the Science That Can Save Them, Dr. Kimberly Berens courageously picks up where Skinner left off by shining a light on the dysfunctional practices of the American educational establishment. In doing so, she debunks many popular myths that pervade current educational practices. More importantly, Dr. Berens offers concrete solutions for helping all students learn through the application of the natural science of behavior. This is a book that should be read by every parent, school board member, administrator, and teacher. (Matthew J. Cicoria MS, BCBA, LBA, host The Behavioral Observations Podcast)
Kimberly Nix Berens, Ph.D., is a scientist-educator and Founder of Fit Learning. She co-created a powerful system of instruction based in behavioral science and the Technology of Teaching, which has transformed the learning abilities of thousands of children worldwide, including those who are struggling, average, gifted, or learning disabled. For more than 20 years, her system of instruction has produced one year’s worth of academic growth in only 40 hours of training. Her learning programs effectively target such essential areas as early learning skills, basic classroom readiness, phonemic awareness, reading fluency, comprehension, inferential language, basic and advanced mathematics, logical problem solving, grammar, and expressive writing.
From her early beginnings in a broom closet at the University of Nevada – Reno, Dr. Berens has helped grow Fit Learning to an organization with more than 30 locations worldwide. She currently lives in Long Island with her husband and two children, where she oversees Fit Learning locations in Long Island, New York City, and Connecticut. Blind Spots: Why students fail and the science that can save them is her first book.
You can learn more about the groundbreaking work of Dr. Berens via her website and connect with her online via LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.