BY HAYDEN SEDER
Starting with the current school year, the Lee Pesky Learning Center, based in Boise, will implement a new program to help students with learning and attention difficulties with getting into college.
The Lee Pesky Learning Center opened in 1997 to help students with disabilities and the families and schools around them to understand and work with those disabilities, both at home and in the classroom.
The new program, launching its “beta” year at Wood River High School in Hailey, was made possible with $7,500 in grant funds from the Wood River Women’s Foundation.
The program has three modules, which Millie Reidy, WRHS career college counselor, will use to support students with documented learning and attention disabilities who are interested in pursuing college but need additional support.
Approximately 25 high school students will participate in this first year, with focus groups—both with students and parents—and analytics being conducted at the end of the year to assess feedback and performance of the program.
“I appreciate Lee Pesky Learning Center’s efforts in addressing a need for families and students with disabilities,” Reidy said. “The program has tools like ‘Visiting a College’s Disability Service’ and ‘Time Management,’ which could be very helpful to students and families.”
Before the implementation of this new program, the Learning Center provided one-on-one support for those students who reached out to the Center.
“In our one-on-one services that we provide with the Center, we’re doing quite a bit of coaching to support students with learning disabilities to successfully navigate the whole college application process and figuring out where to go,” said Evelyn Johnson, Lee Pesky Learning Center scientific director. “One on one is a resource-intensive model and we realized there was a much greater need than just students coming to our Center.”
To help navigate the difficult transition from high school to college, the Learning Center set up the new program based on a set of three online modules.
“The program is built around supporting students with the very complex and daunting process of college applications, developing study skills, how to continue their system of support, where to apply, and more,” said Johnson.
The first of the three modules regards planning and getting started with the college search. Using different tests and interactive assessments, students learn what subjects interest them, what areas of study might further those interests in college, and what careers those interests might lead to.
“Students with documented disabilities are entitled to receiving accommodations to support their learning, from having extra time, having a scribe, or assistant technology,” Johnson said. “A lot of the first module considers the students’ needs in relation to learning support, figuring out colleges and what levels of support those colleges offer. It’s about getting to know them as learners and the parameters to think about.”
The second module is the real “nuts and bolts” of the college application and college visits. There are organizers and structured tools to help navigate things like the common application.
The third module focuses on developing the tools and strategies that students will need to be successful; like any student heading off to college, this is often the first time that they will be confronted with scheduling their own time, including how and when to do assignments, get a job, go to class, and more.
During this first year, Reidy will work with the online program alongside students, but in the future, the Lee Pesky Learning Center plans to give the program to students directly.
“Millie will now have another set of tools at her disposal to help lead students and use the program herself,” said Johnson. “The program is designed to work in both ways—for individual students or people who work as high-school or college-specific counselors to support multiple students in the transition to college.”
For more information visit lplearningcenter.org.
