Study Tech - Application

Application

As of 1991, there were 150 schools around the world using Study Technology, according to the St. Petersburg Times, including in Australia, several European countries, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States. Supporters say the schools achieve good results and are "drug-free", though this is mostly referring to psychiatric drugs. Some Florida Study Tech schools have been discredited for this hard-line anti-psychiatric approach.

In the United States, the method is used by Delphi Schools, which runs a number of primary, middle, and secondary schools, and New Village Academy, a private school in Calabasas, California. As of 1998, it was being used in 26 cities by the World Literacy Crusade. The Literacy, Education and Ability Program (LEAP) of Memphis, Tennessee, an Applied Scholastics member organization, received a grant of $250,000 from the U.S. government's Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE) in 2005. In 2006, Scientology partnered with the Nation of Islam, the Glorious Church of God in Christ in Tampa, Florida, and Joy Tabernacle Cathedral in Ybor City. All groups adopted Study Technology, and their community support volunteers were trained in using the technology to teach children. However, in 2012 the Pinellas County School Board revoked the school's charter, with teachers blaming the Study Tech curriculum for poor test results. Teachers complained that their colleagues had been fired for rejecting Scientology's teachings, and that teachers even worked after school, without pay, to try and assist children, with no substantial results.

In Canada, Study Technology was introduced in September 2008 at Bambolino Montessori Academy, a private school in Toronto; the school's principal and dean said that the method is secular and that they do not teach Scientology. However, by 2012 Toronto, as well as Georgia, San Antonio, Texas, St. Louis, and Nevada had backed away from supporting Study Tech, after numerous complaints from educators and parents.

Applied Scholastics received accreditation from the Italian Ministry of Education in 2005 as an organization that teachers can choose to attend for their continuing education requirement. In South Africa, schools that apply Study Technology have been backed by local companies and have reported widespread success. In Germany, Monika Schipmann of the Berlin Education Department told the St. Petersburg Times in 1991 that the authorities there considered Study Tech to be "psychologically damaging."

In 2007 two professors from the University of Florida were asked to examine Study Tech. Both professors expressed concern about the practice being taught, with one calling the material "moronic", though they agreed the process is essentially harmless.

Study Tech was approved by the Florida school board as a "supplemental" education programme.