The Tutoring Club of Wellington
Guaranteeing Success
By Krista Martinelli
One of the great things about the Tutoring Club of Wellington is that they offer a guarantee. The Tutoring Club guarantees to improve academic performance in less time and at a lower cost than any other program.
In today’s competitive world of FCATs, SATs and more challenging homework assignments than we remember growing up with, it’s very reassuring to know that guaranteed good help is available for students. They tutor from preK to adult students. Thanks to a structured, tested program, they can move a student from one grade level to the next level within 32 hours of tutoring.
I asked co-owners of the franchise Roger and Denice Thomas to find out what makes the program effective? “We make an effort to get to know our students,” says Roger. “We do an assessment test, which tightens our focus. Then we work on the incorrect answers.”
The work is done face to face with one of their six experienced tutors. There’s never more than a 3 to 1 ratio, three students with one tutor. It’s a quiet, but friendly work environment, where students get to work right away. The students quickly get into good habits with their tutors and with getting their work done. “It’s not totally serious all the time. If you listen to the noise, you’ll hear laughter and a little conversation,” says Roger.
Parents seem to appreciate no longer having a “homework battle” after their children get into better homework habits and strategies, thanks to the Tutoring Club. The students appreciate a new feeling of confidence when they master a task and often come back to report their good news. “We hear from the kids about their getting an A on a test,” says Denice, “And it’s rewarding. We see shy kids opening up.”
Their SAT program seems to be the most effective one in the area “because of the effectiveness and low cost,” says Roger. They have seen gains of over 300 points per test. Part of their program is a special strategy for writing a proper essay. Their SAT program contains tips and strategies that help a great deal and show tangible results.
See the video (below) of Roger and Denice Thomas talking about their scope of services at The Tutoring Club and all they have to offer.
Roger and Denice talked about an extreme challenge that they were handed one time, due to the time constraints. A high school student came to them before the day of a critical test. If he didn’t pass this test, he would not graduate high school and also would not get to go on a class trip to Europe (that his parents had already paid for). The pressure was on. They stepped up to the tutoring challenge with three hours of intense tutoring. And yes, the student passed his test the next day! The student and the parents were extremely pleased.
“We have been called Miracle Workers,” says Roger. Other students have come back to share success stories of doing well on the SATs, ACTs, FCATs and individual tests. The bulk of the tutoring is focused on math, which seems to be the biggest struggle for local students.
How did Roger and Denice Thomas get into this business, which is now an international franchise?
“We have always worked with kids,” says Denice. Roger is a retired teacher. Denice has been a classroom aide, playground supervisor, PTA President and served other school-related functions – all during their years in Washington State. They moved to Florida to be near Denice’s mother, and then realized they were not quite ready to retire. “With our both of our backgrounds in education, it was a perfect fit,” says Denice. This past month (February, 2012), they celebrated running the business for three years. The Tutoring Club has been helping students at their location in Wellington (in the Courtyard Shops) for seven years now.
The challenge of being after-school tutors? They become tied into their students’ success and see the progress happening. Then, quite frequently, parents will pull the students out of tutoring to enroll them in a sports program or karate or another activity. While they agree that these are all excellent, learning activities, it’s never a good idea to take out a student prematurely, if he or she hasn’t reached the original goal.
The tutors at the Tutoring Club find that the biggest weaknesses of our school system fall into the category of math. They’ve noticed that students grades tend to take a nose dive somewhere between 4th – 8th grades. Kids today are missing some building blocks for pre-Algebra and Algebra it seems.
“We are looking for a partnership with our Palm Beach County schools,” says Roger. They would love to see a mutually beneficial relationship with the local schools, since they are tackling the same issues anyway.
For older students, they find that the students become self-motivated as soon as they see that the program is working and that they are getting better grades. For younger students, they use plastic tokens to add a little extra motivation. The elementary students can take their tokens and buy items at the Tutoring Club Store (which is also inside their shop). They also have the option to turn their tokens into a Gamestop gift card.
They are happy to work with special needs students and have found that treating them just the same way as other students works effectively. They work at the pace of the student. So in the case of an ADHD student, for example, the advantage is having that special focus and quiet learning environment, which might not be the environment they are getting at home during homework time.
The Thomas family enjoys living and working in Wellington. They have a 25-year-old daughter Kelsey, who is a marketing professional and a 29-year-old son Greg, who teaches English in China. They are the proud parents of one 3-year-old grandson named Max, who also lives in China.
In addition to overseeing the Tutoring Club, Roger and Denice place international students in host families’ homes for the E.F. Foundation for Foreign Study. They enjoy taking groups of these international students on trips, during spring break, for example. They find that it’s always an enriching experience for the host families and for the international students.
One of the many nice things about the Tutoring Club that parents
find is that there are no long-term contracts. Everything is done on a month-to-month basis, which seems to work better with students’ busy schedules these days.
So if you have a child who is struggling in school, don’t continue to get frustrated over it. Instead of blaming yourself or blaming the system, call the Tutoring Club. You’ll get the help you need and guaranteed positive results!
The Tutoring Club
A Class Above. Guaranteed.
13860-6 Wellington Trace
The Courtyard Shops
Wellington, FL 33414
(561) 784-4434
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for $50 OFF the first month!