Only four percent of all Native American students will apply to college. Only one percent of those will ever graduate from college. Native American test scores on standardized tests are at the bottom of the national norms. Some area schools have test scores as low as seven percent of the national norms. Native American students have never been taught how to learn or how to study or how to manage their time effectively.. This is a national disgrace. From the first days of school, children are taught and are expected to learn. How many years should this process have gone on before school leaders finally realize that students are not learning? How many children in special education would not be there if they were taught how to study and how to learn at an early age? Seldom, if ever, does anyone show or teach students how to be their own teachers. Teaching others as peer tutors and teaching oneself are instructional strategies that result in over ninety percent retention of information. All students need to be taught how to study. Teachers send first graders home with spelling lists and expect them to learn them. They must show students techniques that assist them in their learning. One technique is to train students to use the "mind's eye." First they look at the word or definition five times. Then they write the word or definition down five times. Now they close their eyes and see the word or definition in their "mind's eye" five times. Students could also just write the word down until they know it.Rehearsal is a simple way to learn new things- yet students are not taught even this simple technique.Teachers need to show students what to look for: How to pick up the essential information out of all that material they are going through, how teachers make up their tests and what they look for, how to make chapter outlines, how to concentrate on the words in bold print and in chapter headings and summaries, how to utilize the questions at the end of chapters to use as study guides, how to make easy mental calculations, and many other of the less subtle learning clues that enable students to aid in their own teaching.Schools are there to teach. Until they teach students how to study and how to use metacognitive strategies, there is no point in any other teaching. It is wasting time and effort. By teaching students metacognitive techniques and learning strategies, teachers provide students an opportunity to increase their knowledge and learning, to reach mental levels not previously achieved, to make better use of their time and energy so that students study "smart" and not "hard," and to take responsibility for their own learning and education.

Techniques include the simplistic such as writing things down, learning to take good notes, paying attention to detail, rehearsal of information, making and using outlines, making test questions out of chapter headings, and organizing information in simple ways, to the more complicated keyword method where students use one word with each letter representing a planet or an ocean or a continent, and other mnemonic strategies.Students also need to be taught to use their books: Table of Contents (which provides a good chapter outline), the glossary, the index, the various learning tools in the books,and to learn their books well before being taught anything in the books. In fact, the entire first two weeks of the school year should be devoted to teaching students how to study and how to learn while moving slowly through the regular lessons. All through the year, teachers should trade study hints and tips with students and test to see that they have absorbed this information.Students need to be taught how to take tests. If all Native American students had some experience with the bubble type tests like Iowa Test of Basic Skills, they would have less difficulty when they take that test. From the first grade on, teachers can use bubble type tests on a regular basis. Teachers can show students how to fill in the bubbles correctly. Students can learn to eliminate the wrong answers and not jump to an incorrect conclusion before filling in a bubble. Students can be drilled like many suburban youth are to fill in any remaining bubbles by simply filling in one of each four bubbles on any unanswered questions, assuring that there are no unanswered questions. While this does not show real knowledge, the chances of the student getting the right answer are one out of four and should improve student test scores by 25 percent. There are many private companies out there teaching other students this exact technique to improve their test scores. These techniques need to be shared with Native American children. Test taking is a skill that needs to be taught.Students need to learn how to manage their time effectively. From the earliest grades, students should be taught how to keep a schedule, how to plan, how to set priorities, how to shut off the television and read, and other important time management techniques.