The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction: What It Means to Leave No Child Behind

The Morningside Model of Generative Instruction has been evolving for over 20 years, driven by Dr. Kent Johnson, Founder of the Morningside Academy in Seattle. The model itself is an integration of numerous research-based teaching and learning methodologies that Dr. Johnson has identified and then integrated first into practice at the Morningside Academy, then in dissemination to schools around North America. The results of this systematic, science-based approach have been remarkable, surpassing most results in the educational improvement literature. The book provides an overview and links together the components of of the model so that the reader can understand the whole as greater than the sum of the parts. The references to additional sources of empirically validated curriculum and teaching methods alone make this book worth far more than its price. In a sea of trend-based, anxiety-ridden, and generally unvalidated efforts to "improve education" in America, this book and the methodology it describes represent a needed foundation for systematic improvements in how we teach our children. It is truly a direction to follow if we actually hope not to leave any child behind. As a last, hopefully interest-provoking comment, it's worth noting that Morningside Academy has for over 20 years given the parents of its learning-challenged students a money-back guarantee concerning students' progress per year. These are children who, before attending Morningside, have typically achieved far less than a year's progress per year in conventional schools. Morningside's results are striking: students average 2 - 4 grade levels of improvement per year, depending on the curriculum area, year after year. That alone should encourage you to read the book -- to find out what is not a "secret sauce" but rather a systematic, data-based methodology grounded in the Learning Sciences. Carl Binder, Ph.D. Santa Rosa, CA