Question and Stay Curious
Week 5 of our 6-Week Series to Help You Navigate the School Year.
Back-to-school season brings excitement, but for families raising children with learning differences, disabilities, or unique educational needs, it can also bring uncertainty. That's why we're launching a six-week series designed to walk alongside you through the school year— from those first-day nerves to the moments that call for real advocacy. Each week, we'll share practical guidance rooted in The Levy Way™: proactive, collaborative, and centered on the whole child. Whether you're preparing for day one or navigating a bump in the road months from now, our goal is the same: to help you advocate with clarity and confidence, every step of the way.
It is our educational responsibility to keep asking, keep learning, and keep looking again.
Back-to-school season brings a lot of questions. How did summer go? What does the child need this year? What worked last year — and what didn't? What does the data tell us? What does the student tell us?
But sometimes the most important question is the one we ask when we think we already know the answer.
What if we looked again?
A child who struggled last year may not struggle in the same way this year. A student who appears "unmotivated" may be communicating something we haven't yet understood. A child who can demonstrate a skill in one setting but not another may not have mastered that skill as independently as we think. And a student who has made progress may still need support.
This is where evidence-based instruction matters.
Curiosity Isn't About Changing Course — It's About Checking the Course
Being curious doesn't mean constantly changing what we're doing. It means asking whether the instruction, intervention, accommodations, and supports we're providing are actually working for this student.
We should be able to ask:
What skill are we teaching?
What evidence supports this instructional approach?
Is the student receiving instruction with sufficient intensity, frequency, and consistency?
How are we measuring progress?
Is the student responding to the intervention?
If not, what are we changing — and why?
Because data shouldn't simply document what happened. Data should inform what happens next. That distinction matters.
What Does "Progress" Actually Mean?
A progress report can tell us that a student is "making progress." But curiosity pushes further:
How much progress?
Over what period of time?
Based on what measure?
Compared with what baseline?
Is the progress meaningful?
Is the student closing the gap?
Can the student generalize the skill?
What does the student still need?
And when the data doesn't show adequate progress, the answer can't simply be "try harder." We have to ask whether the instructional approach itself needs to change.
Research-informed education asks us to look at the evidence, implement instruction with fidelity, monitor response, and use what we learn to make informed decisions. That is what QUESTION. Stay curious. means within The Levy Way™.
Understanding Before Concluding
Curiosity is not doubt for the sake of doubt. It is not questioning a teacher's expertise or assuming a school has missed something. It is a commitment to understanding before concluding.
What are we seeing?
What does the data actually tell us?
When is the student successful — and when do they struggle?
What has changed?
What might we be missing?
Have we looked across settings?
Are we using evidence-based instruction, implemented consistently?
Is the student responding?
Are we measuring the right thing?
Are we seeing the whole child — or only one piece of the picture?
And perhaps most importantly: what else should we consider?
Children are not static. Their needs change, their environments change, their strengths develop, and their challenges evolve. Sometimes the information we have today changes what we thought we understood yesterday — a new teacher notices something different, a new assessment reveals something we hadn't seen, progress-monitoring data challenges an assumption, or a student finally has the language to tell us what they need.
That is why we keep looking. Not because we assume something is wrong — because we understand that learning is complex, and educational decisions should be responsive to evidence.
Independence Has to Be Taught, Not Assumed
Curiosity keeps us from confusing compliance with learning, effort with access, a grade with mastery, and participation with progress. It also keeps us from assuming that because a student can do something once, they can do it consistently and independently.
This matters most for students who need explicit instruction in executive functioning, self-advocacy, organization, or independence. We cannot simply transfer responsibility to a student and call it independence. Independence is a skill that must be explicitly taught, practiced, supported, and gradually released — and the same is true of self-advocacy.
Ask:
Has the student been taught the skill?
Have we modeled it?
Have we provided guided practice and real opportunities to use it?
Have we provided appropriate supports?
Are we gradually fading those supports — or simply removing them?
There is a difference between expecting independence and teaching independence. There is a difference between providing an accommodation and teaching a student how to advocate for the support they need.
High Expectations, Real Support
Good educational practice requires both high expectations and appropriate support. We don't lower the expectation because a student needs help. Instead, we ask: what support will give this student meaningful access to the expectation?
That is the work. That is the question. That is the curiosity.
We don't stop at the first answer. We keep asking, keep learning, keep gathering information, keep listening. We examine the evidence. We monitor progress. We adjust instruction when the evidence tells us to. And when something doesn't make sense, we look again.
That is not being difficult. That is not being "too much." That is educational responsibility.
Seeing the Whole Child
At The Levy Way™, we believe advocacy begins with seeing the whole child. Seeing the whole child means staying curious about what we don't yet know — connecting the student's experience with the data, connecting families, educators, and providers, and asking whether the instruction truly matches the learner.
It means staying open to the possibility that the next piece of information may change the story.
QUESTION. Stay curious.
Because the best educational decisions aren't always found in the first answer. Sometimes, they're found in the next question.
This blog post is part of Levy Educational Advocacy’s six-week series designed to walk alongside you through the school year. Each week, we'll share practical guidance rooted in The Levy Way™: proactive, collaborative, and centered on the whole child. Whether you're preparing for day one or navigating a bump in the road months from now, our goal is the same: to help you advocate with clarity and confidence, every step of the way. To read the full series, click here.