When Patricia Denny enrolled her son Nicholas in the 2nd grade at another Naperville school because the family moved during the summer, she was shocked to discover he had a reading problem.
”At his old school, no one told me he could barely read 1st grade material,” she said. By the time he finished 3rd grade, her son was still lagging behind his classmates. ”It was very frightening,” said Denny, who like many parents forced to play catch-up with their child`s education, decided to enroll Nicholas at one of the storefront achievement centers that are springing up in Du Page County.
Nicholas, now in the 4th grade, spends three hours a week at the Britannica Learning Center in downtown Naperville. Wheaton has another Britannica center, and Sylvan Learning Centers can be found in Downers Grove, Bloomingdale and Villa Park.
These storefront tutoring centers have opened in Du Page within the last four years. They offer a broad educational menu, everything from beginning reading programs for bright 4- and 5-year-olds, to remedial and accelerated reading and math programs for grade schoolers and high schoolers, to SAT-preparatory courses for college-bound youth, to reading and communications skills programs for adults.
Families pay up to $35 an hour for the extra educational boost. For parents who send their kids up to three hours a week, the costs can top tuition and fees at a state university.
”It has been a big investment,” admitted Denny, who resents that the achievement center`s teaching materials are much the same as those found in her son`s school library learning center. ”I`m paying for the same thing twice, with my tax dollars and again here,” but she`s convinced that the Britannica expense is money well spent because her child`s future is at stake. More and more parents eager for their children to succeed, or better yet to end up on the top of the heap, are willing to buy what they consider to be an educational edge for their kids.
According to Paula Singer, corporate vice president of American Learning Corporation, the subsidiary of Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., which runs the achievement centers, after-school learning centers in Japan and Europe have been popular for years. In the U.S., most such centers are opening in affluent suburban neighborhoods such as Du Page County.
”Competition can be tough in these areas,” said Singer. ”Students may be struggling because they`re living in an area where children are all scoring in the 90th percentile.”
To find the best achievement center for their children, parents are shopping around. What they find are centers with decidedly different styles. Some such as Britannica and Sylvan offer a fast-paced, almost fun-loving approach to learning with plenty of bells and whistles. At the Britannica center in Naperville, brightly colored super graphics enliven the large room. An impressive lineup of computers and teaching machines crowd one wall. On each of the room`s three teaching tables is a token jar.
Britannica kids win tokens for completing work and can spend them on prizes they select from the carnival-like reward rack in the corner. (The latest New Kids on the Block poster goes for 45 tokens.)
Although each child`s prescriptive program at Britannica is designed to fit his or her individual learning needs, the teacher is shared with two other students who may or may not be studying the same subject. It`s a busy, high-energy atmosphere. On the other hand, at more traditional achievement centers such as Joan Treland & Associates of Wheaton, students work with their tutors (usually two students to each teacher) behind closed doors in small study rooms, with only a few books and posters on the wall for decoration.
The library-like atmosphere is quiet, more conducive to learning, said Treland, who has been in the private tutoring business for 20 years. She rejects workbooks in favor of having her students write compositions and solve math problems in ring binders.
”It has become a fill-in-the-blanks world,” said Treland, who in addition to tutoring assistance offers a wide range of other educational and diagnostic services, including learning disabilities testing,
psychoeducational evaluations and home schooling.
”Children today are being bombarded and put into overload with too many handouts, too many books, some of them not even very well written,” said Treland.
Treland, who rejects the idea of giving prizes, said learning should be its own reward. ”The rewards we use are the internal satisfaction and the pride in their work. We give a great deal of support and recognition for a job well done,” she said, admitting that her approach to boosting educational achievement may be slower and not as much fun, ”but it`s much more effective in the long run.”
When asked if she offers parents any kind of a guarantee or commitment that their child will reach a specific goal, Treland is adamant: ”Never, never, never. How can you guarantee that a child will learn?”
Her track record and reputation among Du Page County educators are the only guarantees she can give to parents, she said.
Britannica and Sylvan centers, on the other hand, do offer contracts to parents, promising free tutoring hours if specific goals are not met. ”We have what we call the Britannica commitment,” said Singer. ”Every child is tested when he or she first comes into our program. Then we sit down with the parents and set specific goals that we believe are attainable. If those goals aren`t reached during a specific time period, we will work with the child for free until we do.”
Not everyone is happy about the growth of the after-school learning business. ”We don`t encourage parents to seek outside tutoring,” said Doug Craig, principal at Ben Franklin School in Glen Ellyn`s Elementary School District 41.
”It gets tough for a child,” said Craig. ”Sometimes the parents want something that the child doesn`t want nearly as much.”
However, for parents who decide to seek outside tutoring for their child, Craig said his classroom teachers try to coordinate their efforts with a child`s tutor. His staff has worked successfully with Joan Treland on a number of occasions. ”She works well in conjunction with the schools,” said Craig. ”On the other hand, some of the centers seem to operate more on their own or even in opposition to the schools. Parents can get caught in the middle. Is their loyalty going to be toward the school or to the service that they`re paying dollars and cents for?”
Whether caught in the crossfire or not, Patricia Denny is delighted with Nicholas` improvement: ”Not only is his reading level up but he seems to have more confidence. Another thing, I never have a problem getting him to come. In fact, he`s usually the one that says, `Time to go to the Reading Game, Mom.”`
