Program considering personality traits demonstrates positive results

A recent study published in School Psychology Review investigated the effects of the program INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament on the critical thinking, math, and reading skills of K-1 children compared to a control group of children assigned to a supplemental after-school reading program. The goal of the INSIGHTS program is to train teachers and parents to recognize students' personality types and adjust the learning environment as needed.  While all children in the INSIGHTS program demonstrated gains, the greatest gains were made in groups of children classified as shy. The program followed 350 kindergarten students in 22 urban low-income schools during kindergarten and into first grade. Students whose teachers and parents were involved in the INSIGHTS group demonstrated greater gains in critical thinking than control students, and did not lose math skills during the summertime as the control students did. Reading skills were comparable for both groups.

Shy children can be overlooked in the classroom and INSIGHTS provides strategies to help children who are shy to reach their potential. You can read more about the INSIGHTS program in the next issue of Better: Evidence-based Education, which will be published soon.

Johns Hopkins University 

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