|
|
Tears of Joy
"Jim, Daniel, and I want to thank all of the staff at Sylvan Learning Center for all that they have done for Daniel. When we brought Daniel to Sylvan in January, he was on an 8th grade level in reading and subsequently had no confidence in his reading and English skills. As a junior in High School, it was imperative that he be able to pass the reading portion of the FCAT in order to graduate. It was also very important that he develop the skills necessary to allow him to move forward in his education. Daniel excelled in other areas in school, but we knew that he would not be able to deal with college courses if he could not keep up with the reading that would be required. Naturally when we decided to enroll him, Daniel was not exactly thrilled. He, like many other children, thought that he would be perceived as being dumb. After his first week though, Daniel had a different perspective. He saw that many people were coming to Sylvan for help and that he was just another person seeking to better themselves. That was the first of many remarkable improvements in him, his maturity and his skills. It is amazing what Sylvan has done for Daniel due to the diligence of the teachers and counselors. Within the first two months of coming to Sylvan, Daniel began to have a different outlook on reading and writing. He began to develop a new confidence in himself. For years, Daniel would NOT read out loud because he was afraid of making mistakes. Now, he doesn't hesitate to read a passage from a newspaper or a book. Thanks to the teachers at Sylvan, he was able to pass the FCAT with high scores. He also took the CPT and scored a 91 in reading. This allowed him to dual-enroll (high school and college) during his senior year. He has just finished his first College English class and when it was time for him to read it was the first time that we didn't have to argue with him to get him to start and finish the assignment. He was also ale to write the 6000 words required to pass the class without struggling. He could sit down, write the paper and correct his English and grammar without my help. Last year I would spend hours with him to get his papers corrected to turn in. This year I spent about 10 to 15 minutes on the papers that were 2500 words long. That was truly amazing! I almost cried several times when I saw the improvement. Thanks to your dedicated people, my son will graduate high school with 18 college credits and is ready to handle college level assignments. The icing on the cake came when we received his latest reading score on the ACT. Daniel had improved his reading from a 12 to a 19. That is truly remarkable and opens the door for him to many colleges. My husband and I cannot thank you enough and Daniel sings your praises to any of his friends who are struggling. He knows what a difference you have made to him. We really appreciate all that you have done for us and we wanted to let you know that we are recommending Sylvan to anyone who is looking for help."
- Anne
|