Will Schoback started struggling with schoolwork when he was in second grade. He lost confidence and started falling behind. That’s when his mother, Mamiko Schoback, found him a private tutor. Each week Will meets with Ruth Andrews at the Headquarters Branch of the Collier County library systems for one-on-one instruction. Andrews said Schoback did the right thing by getting Will help so quickly. Many times parents wait until their child falls so far behind that they risk failing state standardized tests or high school classes.
“Will is a perfect example of a person who benefits from tutoring,” Andrews said. “He really has skyrocketed.”
Now, as a third grader, Will has caught up with the curriculum and even surpassed it in some places. He is happier and more confident and even raises his hand to answer questions in class.
“She taught him the strategies he needs,” Schoback said. “At school there are 20 kids and one teacher so it is really hard for the teacher to focus on only one kid. [Last year], everything was moving very fast and he was falling a little behind in the class and we wanted to have extra help. Ms. Andrews found strategies that helped Willy.”
Individual attention
Every weekday afternoon almost every table is full of tutors and students at the Headquarters Branch, with similar scenes at other local library branches. Tutors are helping students with everything from elementary school math and English to high school chemistry and calculus.Most of the tutors are teachers or retired educators with lots of experience.
“I have 20 years of experience in the classroom,” said Andrews who left teaching to tutor full time. “I can take that knowledge and skill and figure out within a session or two with the child why they are not learning. What is special about working with a tutor is you are getting someone certified just working on your child. You do not get that in any school. I individualize every session for that child.”
Getting ahead
Tutors are not just for students who are falling behind. They help students get ahead, enrich their education, and help youngsters gain confidence.
When Kelly Murch moved to Naples from Illinois a few years ago, she found her twin daughters a tutor to help them make an easier transition to local schools.
“We originally started when we moved here from Illinois and the curriculum was totally different, and we didn’t know what all the testing was about,” Murch began. “We needed help navigating everything.”
Now the twins and their younger brother and sister have weekly tutoring with Julie Raymond, a teacher at Osceola Elementary in Naples, to keep them excited about learning and to enrich their education.
“It is not necessarily that they need help,” Murch continued. “They are all high performing. I didn’t want to have to look for a tutor when there was a problem. I wanted to make sure we were proactive.”
All four of Murch’s children love their tutoring sessions. They say they would rather be there than having free time or playing with friends.
“I really get ahead in my class,” said fifth grader Nora Murch. “Last week she taught long division and literally the next day we had a test to see how much we knew about long division. I got 100 percent on that.”
Her twin sister, Stella, says she gets better grades in school because of tutoring.
“I like tutoring because I can tell her what I have trouble with and what I need help with, and Mrs. Raymond always listens,” Stella said. “In fourth grade I started out with a B in [language arts] and now I am an A student.”
Raymond says there are so many benefits of tutoring.
“The kids get empowerment,” she said. “They get confidence. They are learning the standards. They get repetition. They get practice and practice and practice and they get really good skills, and they get confidence.”
Raymond has a passion for tutoring. After spending a full day teaching in a local classroom, she spends four more hours in the evening tutoring at the library and then tutors at home on the weekends.
“The best part about tutoring is their families almost become yours,” Raymond said. “They bring the family to the library sometimes. You meet the grandparents. You become so close to them. It is like being a family member.”
On the right track
Sylvan Learning Center is a nationwide tutoring program that has been around for 45 years. At Sylvan students typically work with a variety of tutors who provide an assortment of learning experiences.
“Students get the opportunity to work with all of our tutors,” said Heather Santana, director at the Sylvan Learning Center in Fort Myers. “In real life, and they need to learn to work with a lot of teachers. They might learn something from one teacher and then another teacher might teach it in a way that clicks. I do tend to rotate my students around unless I find there is a perfect fit and they are making terrific progress.”
Santana has a passion for teaching and loves seeing the children make progress. She said the Sylvan model has proven to be successful.
“The data is there,” Santana stressed. “That is why we have been in business for so long. The program we use for our analysis is why each kid is on their own program. We don’t teach them things they don’t need to know.”
Santana says students can start working with a tutor as early as kindergarten.
“Unfortunately [parents] are knocking down our door when it is too late, and we need to change that,” Santana said. “Kindergarten and first grade are when they need to pay attention. Don’t let the teacher persuade [you] to wait a few months. You wait too long and then it is too late. You really need to see if your child is on the right track.”
Costly endeavors
Tutoring isn’t cheap. Most elementary school tutors charge between $50 and $65 per hour. Those teaching specialized subjects like calculus, chemistry, or physics cost about $80 an hour. Tutors say they offer discounts for siblings or multiple sessions each week. Sylvan charges $69 an hour for the small group sessions, and offers discounts for siblings as well as payment plans.
High school students can get free tutoring from students in the National Honor Society at all CCPS high schools either during lunch or after school. In Immokalee, free tutoring is available at the Guadalupe Center. Children and grandchildren of migrant workers receive free tutoring at the Gargiulo Education Center in Naples.
Lee County’s Connect with Lee program offers free homework and classroom assignment help two evenings a week for any student in grades K-12. Students use their Launchpad on Chromebook to register when they need help and then are placed in a virtual waiting room. When it’s their turn, they are assisted by a certified teacher.
“Connect with Lee is primarily for math because that has been the most requested subject,” said Rob Spicker, assistant director of media relations and public information at Lee County Schools.
Spicker said children that have been identified as needing help can get intensive support provided by the schools.
“If they are not already identified and a parent feels they need [tutoring], contact the school,” Spicker said. “Every school offers some sort of extra support.”
The benefits
Tutoring can be expensive and time consuming, but experts say it is well worth the investment. “Tutoring can be beneficial for most students,” said Elizabeth Alves, chief academic officer for CCPS. “Throughout their educational career they will struggle with some aspect. It is an opportunity to have that one-on-one support.”
Alves says the school district does not recommend specific tutors, but it does tout the benefits of extra instruction.
“It is the personalized one-on-one support that a tutor provides for a student,” Alves continued. “It is that ability to target the area that the child is struggling with and provide consistent instruction and practice until students can acquire the skill and demonstrate it independently.”
Solving the Riddle
The tutors say parents should look for the following clues to determine if their child needs a tutor:
- Is your child struggling with homework?
- Does your child complain about the difficulty of lessons at school?
- Is your child bored at school?
Not sure how to find a qualified tutor?
Here is some advice
- Reach out to your student’s classroom teacher, who may have recommendations or will provide a list of tutors.
- Ask for recommendations from friends or at your local library.
- Reach out to other parents on local Facebook groups.