Sylvan Learning Centers

[happily single]

Does anyone have any experience with Sylvan Learning Centers? I am guessing that each center is different, but I am looking to get an idea of cost and how well the children do with Sylvan. My ds12 needs some extra math and reading help, but does not qualify for extra services at his schoo.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Our schools give us a list of teachers who will tutor on the side. It's expensive but so are those learning centers. I prefer our teachers because I know their credentials and they come to our home at my convenience. Around us it's usually $60/hr but it has always pulled my kids right out of the hole.

 

[lanejudy]

My sister used Sylvan for her kids and I believe they were quite happy with the results. That was several years ago, though (kids are in college now, one in a special honors program and the other is Dean's List).

As PP mentions, my DD's school will provide a list of tutors if requested. You might speak with your son's math and reading teacher(s) to see what they suggest.

 

[kid-at-heart]

We contacted our local collage and asked if there were any students who were interested in tutoring.(math, called the math department and spoke with one of the professors who recommended someone; Spanish, did the same...) The charge was $12-$25 per hour and they came to our hour. The student tutors were awesome. Our daughter loved making friends with them and worked hard to impress "her new friends".

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I have known organized centers like Sylvan to take advantage of people. Their base line testing tends to report kids at a lower performance level than they actually are so they can report "2 grade levels of improvement". They also tend to tell you kids need more hours of services than they really need.

 

[travelgirl06]

I was also going to suggest talking to a nearby college - or even friends with high schools spending on the subject/level. If your son just needs a little help/someone to help keep him focused on the topic at hand this Might be a good way to go!

 

[okeydokey]

Sylvan is not tutoring. They will not work with your child's textbooks. They will identify your child's strengths and weaknesses and work to teach them what they missed or build up the skills they are lacking. This has a ripple effect on every subject in school.

If you are looking for someone to help with homework or test prep for a particular class, go with a tutor. If you are looking to teach your child what they missed the first time or are not strong in then a learning center like Sylvan can be valuable.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

We just moved and my daughter was struggling in her new school. I looked into the area "learning centers." What I did not like about them (at least in my area) is that none of them were one on one. Usually one tutor (and wasn't always specified as a teacher) with three kids. Around here the rate was $60-$65 for an hour. I went to her school and got a list of tutors (most retired teachers). However, the list wasn't updated in a while and many weren't doing it anymore and those who still tutored were full. I got a list from another school and had more luck, and I posted on our neighborhood website and got many replies. My daughter actually has two different tutors and they charge $50 an hour. I'm already thinking of starting search for tutor for next school year, she'll be moving into middle school. I would like to be able to get a teacher (retired or not) familiar with the curriculum. Some of the teachers in my daughters school in her grade tutor, but they were all filled. Her A.M. provides extra help in the morning to all kids and her P.M. teacher tutors but she couldn't tutor my daughter because she's her student. Would of been a conflict. My daughter also gets extra help during Math. The Curriculum Support Teacher comes into the classroom for her and others. I was going to do that in Language Arts too, but they do pull out and both the teacher and myself agreed she needs to stay in the classroom. I think that program is called something like, "early response or intervention something." I know all schools are different but look at your daughters school website, that's where I found out about ours. It's usually the step that it taken with struggling students. If no progress is seen, then possible a 504 plan or IEP, can be done. But read the fine print in those.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Full disclosure, I worked at a Sylvan for a summer years ago and knew multiple kids who were tutored at Sylvan.

What you can expect is exactly as @okeydokey describes in my opinion. Sylvan has their own material as stated above so if you are just looking for some extra help with math and reading it might be a very good way to do that. We tutored kids in up to groups of 3, each kid received individual attention and help and then they would work on an exercise and I would move on to the next kid and go between them as they needed assistance. With only up to 3 kids I felt it was a good balance of teaching the child, letting the child work on their own, and then reviewing the work with the child & tutoring as necessary. It's very different from traditional one-on-one tutoring but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

In your shoes I would go to a Sylvan and ask them about their process and prices- you have nothing to lose by just looking and asking questions! You can get an idea of how it works just by seeing the tutoring center. If you like what you see ask more questions, inquire for more information. If you don't like what you're seeing, leave. Part of what I remember is that some kids will preform better if they are kept in a school-like environment for learning and Sylvan provided that. Sylvan is a hefty investment if I remember right so if you do decide to do it and you don't see the results you are after leave after your contracted sessions are done. I just googled Sylvan Coupon btw and they have an offer for $100 off so that might help the cost- oh, I also saw they do offer specific math homework assistance as well, I have no experience with that so I don't know how that works.

I hope you are able to find exactly what your child needs, whether you go Sylvan or private!

 

[kymom99]

We just moved and my daughter was struggling in her new school. I looked into the area "learning centers." What I did not like about them (at least in my area) is that none of them were one on one. Usually one tutor (and wasn't always specified as a teacher) with three kids. Around here the rate was $60-$65 for an hour. I went to her school and got a list of tutors (most retired teachers). However, the list wasn't updated in a while and many weren't doing it anymore and those who still tutored were full. I got a list from another school and had more luck, and I posted on our neighborhood website and got many replies. My daughter actually has two different tutors and they charge $50 an hour. I'm already thinking of starting search for tutor for next school year, she'll be moving into middle school. I would like to be able to get a teacher (retired or not) familiar with the curriculum. Some of the teachers in my daughters school in her grade tutor, but they were all filled. Her A.M. provides extra help in the morning to all kids and her P.M. teacher tutors but she couldn't tutor my daughter because she's her student. Would of been a conflict. My daughter also gets extra help during Math. The Curriculum Support Teacher comes into the classroom for her and others. I was going to do that in Language Arts too, but they do pull out and both the teacher and myself agreed she needs to stay in the classroom. I think that program is called something like, "early response or intervention something." I know all schools are different but look at your daughters school website, that's where I found out about ours. It's usually the step that it taken with struggling students. If no progress is seen, then possible a 504 plan or IEP, can be done. But read the fine print in those.

It's called RTI or response to intervention. This is what I did for my last 6 years of teaching.

 

[kid-at-heart]

I just looked up an old email the counselor from my daughter's school sent when we were looking for a tutor and she referred us to this site. https://www.wyzant.com .

We found several local tutors available through the above site but the tutor we ended up hiring that we liked the most was found on craigslist. She attended graduate school (majoring in teacher's ed, Spanish major, bio minor) at our local university. We used her for both Spanish and Bio. Our daughter's grade went from a low C in both classes to a high A, both classes. I highly recommend a one-on-one tutor if you need one.

 

[gatormom2tots]

As a teacher, I would recommend a tutor over a learning center.