Tutoring Sessions Lead To Student’s Success

Eleven-year-old Ashley Payan struggled with reading comprehension since starting school. By fifth grade, as school assignments became increasingly demanding, Ashley struggled to maintain passing grades that would allow her to be promoted to sixth grade.

“She was getting very poor grades in elementary school. She was almost held back from sixth grade. She passed the exam [required to enter sixth grade] by the skin of her teeth,” says Ashley’s stepmother, Melinda Payan. Exiting fifth grade, Ashley was reading at a third grade level.

The school system was prepared to let Ashley slide into the next academic level - middle school - despite her inability to grasp the concepts taught in elementary school, but her parents were not ready to give up. “She always had problems with reading comprehension, but they were never addressed by the school,” says Melinda.

The decision of whether to let Ashley enter sixth grade or repeat fifth grade was left to her parents. Judging by Ashley’s barely passing test grades and continually poor performance in school, her parents realized she would require intense intervention if she was to succeed in middle school. That is when they turned to Sylvan Learning Center.

In the summer of 2005, Ashley began a rigorous tutoring schedule at Sylvan to enhance both her reading and math skills. Initially, her intense schedule consisted of classes four days a week for a duration of two hours. Before long, Ashley caught up to her class in math, which allowed her to focus strictly on reading. After a few months, with her reading skills escalating, she was able to decrease her tutoring schedule to two days a week. Ashley continued to grow her reading and related skills at Sylvan throughout the spring of 2006.

It did not take long to see dramatic improvements. “We saw changes pretty quickly - within a month,” her parents report. Ashley’s next report card (her first one in middle school) consisted of A’s and B’s.

The difference in Ashley’s report card was so significant and quick that her parents wondered if the middle school had placed her in remedial courses. They soon learned that was not the case. “I think it was the individual attention she received at Sylvan,” Melinda suggests.

Ashley agrees. “In my classroom at school, there were more students and just one teacher. At Sylvan, there was one teacher but only three students. I was not as embarrassed asking questions with only three other kids,” she says.

In addition to the one-on-one, individualized attention, the way Ashley’s program was conducted at Sylvan helped her succeed. “At first I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is not going to be fun at all.’ But it was. The instructors made it fun,” Ashley says.

To learn how Sylvan’s tutoring programs can meet your family's needs, please contact your local center by calling 1-800-228-3413 or use our Center Finder.