It's hard for many of us to imagine what it would be like to have a schoolmate gunned down, but what if you were in a school that had four shootings, including a fatality – in the current school year? That is what it has been like for children at Vernon Johns Elementary School in Chicago 's Englewood neighborhood.

When school becomes less a haven than a war zone, it's hard to learn, especially when the stress students experience has been chronic and when they come from families suffering from poverty, un- or under-employment, and lack of education. In fact only 67 (18%) of the 372 students at Vernon Johns met State of Illinois academic standards in 2007. Another Englewood school, Walter Reed Elementary, had a dismal 11% of their fifth graders meet the standards for reading.

In response to the academic crisis of students in the Englewood community, the Institute for Learning Dynamics (ILD), the not-for-profit arm of Learning Enhancement Corporation (LEC), has made an initial donation of 31 BrainWare Safari accounts to the two schools thanks to a contribution from LEC.

Recent research has been exploring the impact of chronic trauma and stress from the kind of violence, poverty and punitive feedback which the children at Vernon Johns and Walter Reed experience on a daily basis. While small amounts of stress may have a benefit, chronic stress impairs brain function and the ability to learn. Furthermore, children in impoverished inner-city communities have less opportunity to develop strong language skills, beginning with the fact that they hear on average 30 million fewer words by age three than their more affluent peers.

While BrainWare Safari can't change many of the stresses these children experience, there is mounting evidence of the potential to compensate for various forms of physical brain damage, such as those caused by environmental stress. Developing stronger visual and auditory processing skills, memory, and attention skills will help prepare them to learn with skills they weren't able to develop in the natural course of growing up. In other words, while BrainWare can't change the environment, it can change how we react to our environments. And it can provide a stronger foundation for making progress in academic achievement.

“We are pleased to serve as a vehicle for change in the city,” says ILD President D. Mark Bowell, “starting with this group of students to whom we can give the hope that comes with being able to succeed academically for the first time in their lives.”

ILD plans to expand on these first initiatives with funds raised at a planned March 13, 2008 event. Students at Vernon Johns will be individually sponsored by patrons to provide 12 weeks of BrainWare Safari to each child. Anyone interested in participating in the project can contact ILD at InstitituteforLearningDynamics@gmail.com

ILD was founded in 2005 and is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt support organization. ILD's mission is to develop innovative and sustainable approaches to improve learning for everyone. For more information, please visit www.instituteforlearningdynamics.org.

Sources

Hart, B. and Risley, T., The 30 Million Word Gap. American Educator, Spring 2003