When people think of tutoring children, most imagine extra help to improve grades of students falling behind. However, approximately one-third of the K12 grades students who use tutors have no academic difficulties. Yet their parents pay for tutor programs, and these children attend sessions regularly. These students are being tutored for enrichment.
You may hear less about enrichment tutoring than tutoring for remediation, but it can be just as useful. Enrichment tutoring gives an extra challenge to students who are bored in school because they have already mastered the subject matter the class is studying.
Some commercial tutoring companies offer enrichment tutoring. For example, Sylvan Learning Centers offers an advanced reading tutoring program. This program helps students who are currently reading at or above grade level improve their reading rate and comprehension.
Other tutor programs help students prepare for school standardized tests, such as the SAT and ACT. Some tutor lessons help children refine their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Tutors may also offer help in subjects such as computer programming or foreign languages.
"My daughter took Chinese when she was seven," recalls Dr. Judith Cochran, professor and executive director of the E. Desmond Lee Regional Institute of Tutorial Education at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. "This has enabled her to talk to her Chinese friends and has enriched her knowledge of other cultures."
The possibilities for enrichment tutoring are vast. Check with local tutoring centers to learn about the types of programs they offer. Or, if your child already has a topic of interest in mind, look for specialists who can work with him in that area.
Karen Gibson's fifteen-year-old son, David, wanted to learn how to design computer games. She asked friends for suggestions and looked for experts online and at software development companies. After several months, she found a tutor through an ad posted on a software company’s lunchroom bulletin board. In the five months they've been working together, David's tutor has taught him more than any book could.
These real-life examples demonstrate the variety and value of enrichment tutoring. For many children, tutoring for enrichment makes learning interesting.