The problem with most education systems, Johnston said, is they often label as failures students who don't fit in the established model. Schools in Cumberland, Camden and Salem counties are among 26 in the U.S. that have implemented the program. An article in Educational Leadership magazine set Johnston's e-mail humming. She recently returned from Malta, where she helped establish a program. She's heard from school officials in Akron, Ohio, England and Africa, and from a teacher at a prison in Arizona.
Training is offered at Rowan and in schools.
The written student questionnaire, called a Learning Combination Inventory, or LCI, is usually given no earlier than third grade, but last year the Shoemaker School tested it verbally on first-graders. But Johnston stresses there is no best pattern and everyone is a combination of the four. Most people have a dominant pattern but also use the others. But some companies, like DuPont, want people who learn in a technical way. We need to encourage it.