Elementary Tutoring Helps Struggling Students

Ruth Gingell's eight-year-old son, Nick, has five to ten pages of homework every night, but it's not for school. His homework is for the reading and math learning center he attends one night a week.

A year ago, Nick was in an elementary tutoring program at Winchester Elementary School in Northville, Michigan, for students struggling with reading. The program, called Reading Boost, was offered during school hours.

Still Gingell felt that Nick also needed some extra study time. "It was very rare that he had homework," says Gingell. "I just felt he needed something extra."

Reading Tutoring Program Makes a Difference

Gingell enrolled her son in a nearby reading tutoring program recommended by a family member. This national program emphasizes repeated practice of basic concepts through timed worksheets that students complete every day. Gingell was surprised at the results of her son's tutoring. Nick's teachers noticed a difference in his reading ability almost immediately, and he no longer needed the Reading Boost program after four months in the after-school program.

At the center, students are tested and given work based on what they know—not their age or school grade. They begin with basic concepts they understand based on the results of the testing. They spend fifteen minutes per subject completing worksheets for their learning level and then go over the answers with the instructor. Students take home packets of worksheets and complete the worksheets every day. Once they can consistently solve all of the problems for their learning level in a set length of time, they move on to the next level.

Gingell says the program works for her son because he doesn't mind doing the work. "It's not like a chore for him," she says. She also notes that he concentrates intensely on the worksheets as do the other students at the center. "What amazes me is that you go in there, and you could hear a pin drop," she says.


For more information about this national center-based program, contact Kumon Learning Centers at 800-ABC-MATH.