Tutoring For America's Children

America's high schools are obsolete. By obsolete, I mean that our high schools- even when they are working exactly as designed- cannot teach our kids what they need to know today.”

- Bill Gates, Chairman Microsoft Corporation, addressing the U.S. Governors 2005 meeting

An alarming statistic in American public schools is that only one out of every three ninth graders graduates with enough skills to do well in college and work. Of the remaining population, one-third of the students will drop out of school, and the remaining third of students will graduate but will not be able to handle the challenges of college and work. Research conducted by the International Mathematics and Science Study reveals that American students go from high rankings worldwide in elementary school to averaging by eight grade, and finally plummeting to the bottom by high school.

What does all this mean? Unfortunately, these low rankings mean that American students graduating from high school are unable to deal with the expectations of college and work, struggling and losing competitively to growing industrialized nations such as China and India.

Bill Gates is one of many people involved in bringing public attention to this important issue, running pilot programs in high schools, mainly in experimental schools open to Gates techniques.

Right now primarily in California, Gates was choosing schools to see if the demographic makes a difference in how the children learn, and the way the schools is designed. I had a chance to discuss learning preferences with a professional in the cognitive perception area. She also works with teachers to make them more effective, and points out that we all learn differently and there is no “one way to learn.” We all agreed that it was a widely held belief that something needed to be changed in the American public school education system, and it needed to be done fast. Perhaps Bill Gates, who started on this project about 12 years ago, was heading in the right direction.

At a recent talk at Stanford University, Bill Gates talked about how we enjoyed an edge in education because we had brilliant minds come here to learn, and then provide teaching assistance. However, we have lost that edge as those minds have left the United States, and we have now made it tougher for higher education students to immigrate to the United States. There is also a burden on our school system form illegal immigrants that need to be educated.

There is a trend underway that attempts to remedy the shortcomings of the American public school system through independent and private tutoring companies located in the United States and offshore. Some of these tutoring companies, because they provide “supplemental educational services” become “supplemental services providers” and are recognized by the various state department of educations wind up providing services that are paid for by schools with federal funds that come from the US Department of Education.
I am a parent with two children with very different educational needs. I was really frustrated when I asked my local school district to help me locate a tutor to teach one of my kids that was classified as special needs. I was told that to avoid a “conflict of interest” they would have to post the opening and see if anyone responded. In the meantime I saw there were many tutoring companies offering services, and asked about them. I was told I could use them, but that the school district could not endorse any of them, or use them for this particular situation.

Then, at a parent conference with the special needs director the question came up again from someone else, “Where can I find a tutor?” and the answer was the same, the school district could not recommend anyone, I decided to get the information together myself and make it available to parents.

Increasingly there are parents concerned with their children's education from the standpoint of the grades they are getting, and the effectiveness of the classroom instruction preparing them to be competitive for a scholarship and to get into the college of their choice. Tutoring is not just for remediation and “catching up”. Tutoring, like coaching, is for those who want a completive edge to be able to do their best and achieve their highest potential.