DISCOVER offers two distinct types of services—school-based and parent-based.  You, as a parent, are key to both.  Here are some ways you can become involved and help ensure your child receives the best opportunities modern education has to offer.

     School-Based:  School-based services are implemented either on a local school level, or at the district level, and may involve all of the children in a school (or schools) or may apply only to specific grades and/or special programs (e.g. programs for gifted students).  Each school or district decides what level of DISCOVER involvement is appropriate.  The most extensive level involves DISCOVER as part of an entire-school reform effort, where all aspects of school performance are reviewed and a “Model School” action plan is created in cooperation with administrators, teachers and parents.

    If DISCOVER is not yet available in your school, you might want to discuss its applications with teachers, other parents, and school officials—realizing that some, perhaps many, might not yet know about multiple intelligences or problem solving-based educational tools.  Or you might find that many have heard of these new techniques and are interested, but that no one has taken the initiative to get something started.

     The importance of DISCOVER being involved at a school level, benefiting as many children as possible, cannot be over emphasized; we encourage you to pursue this option for your child first.  We are happy to offer support by answering questions, sending printed materials, contacting school officials, and organizing local community forums to discuss the DISCOVER approach.  Our website, also, contains a great deal of useful information.

     For those of you who feel your school system is not adequately (or not fairly) serving the needs of its minority populations—and this is often the case when traditional testing methods and curricula are used—there is all the more reason to actively pursue change.  The imperative of every school should be to develop the natural abilities of every child as much as possible, regardless of external factors such as race, culture, or language.  Sadly this is not always the case.  The use of antiquated educational instruments contributes to indirect, if not direct, discrimination against minorities and, in such a case, you likely have a basis for filing a complaint with your regional Office of Civil Rights.  An active complaint will initiate an investigation of the school’s activities and practices.  Such an investigation can be very effective at prompting change, where needed.  We work closely with the Office of Civil Rights and have helped many schools change procedures in ways that better serve “at risk” individuals and minorities.  We will be happy to give you more information on this process.

     Parent-Based:  Keep in mind, however, that even if DISCOVER is not available in your local school, you can, as an alternative (or in addition to school-based services) take advantage of parent-based services that are similar to their counterparts.  For example, anyone can be assessed individually (ages 3 and up) or assessed in a group context (ages 6 and up).  Such assessments are conducted at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, or can be arranged in your local community.  Community workshops are available, showing how multiple intelligences and problem solving can be adapted to the home environment…as is as consulting for special needs situations.  Each service listed in the Catalogue section of this website displays an icon indicating whether the service is parent-based or school-based.