The Thick Envelope

For the Love of Education: A Conversation on Personalizing Education

2012-01-11T13:11:00.000-08:00

Join the Conversation on February 15th at 111 Minna! Tickets available at fortheloveofeducation.eventbrite.com

Our Wednesday, February 15th fundraising event at 111 Minna Gallery from 6-9pm in downtown San Francisco will feature a panel conversation focusing on the most effective ways to personalize education for our students.

Our list of speakers includes:

Alan Lowenthal, State Senator and Chair of Senate Education Committee
Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor, Stanford University School of Education, Author of "The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future"
Ninive Calegari, Co-Founder and Executive Director, 826 Valencia, Author of "Teachers Have It Easy: The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America's Teachers"
Kyle Beckham, Teacher, Downtown High School, SFUSD

The event will provide delicious hors d'oeuvres, desserts, no-host bar, silent auction, and raffle. Prizes include weekends in Napa and Mendocino, sports luxury suites, and dinners at the Bay Area's best restaurants. All money raised at the event will go to providing free tutoring for low-income students in the Bay Area.

Tickets available at fortheloveofeducation.eventbrite.com

Visit www.tutorpediafoundation.org for more info, or call (415) 948-1585.

Check out Ashanti, one of our scholarship students, and her tutor Sarah

10 Bay Area Students Need Your Help Before December 31st

2011-11-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

"No doubt [a tutor] will provide an encouraging spirit to those who have lost hope on these subjects. I hope they not only help me but teach me to muster all efforts to accomplish academic goals." - Rachel, 11th grade scholarship applicant

"I am an unemployed parent. I have three other children and live off $1,000 monthly. I believe that all children deserve to have an opportunity to better their life, especially my daughter. Danielle is a great worker and takes pride in what she does." - Mother of scholarship applicant

By now, you’ve probably seen our video featuring Ashanti and her tutor Sarah. Ashanti is one of more than one hundred students who have received free tutoring through the Tutorpedia Foundation. We've been fortunate to have so many committed donors and supporters, and we're incredibly grateful.

This year, we received twice as many scholarship applications as last year. While several students have been matched with tutors and are making great progress, we need additional funding to provide scholarships for the remaining 10 students whose tutoring we have not yet been able to fund. Starting today, we need your help to make sure that these ten very deserving students like Rachel have the chance to work with their own tutor for the rest of this school year. By donating now, you’ll help us fund life-changing scholarships for these students, and as an extra bonus you’ll help secure us a permanent place on GlobalGiving.org, where thousands of passionate donors like you can learn more about the Tutorpedia Foundation.

The GlobalGiving Open Challenge starts now, and they’ve set the goal for us of raising $4,000 from 50 individuals before the end of the year. We’re taking it a step further, and asking you to help us raise the full $10,000 we need to fund tutoring for our remaining scholarship students.
There are a number of ways to help us make this happen:

Make a donation of any amount today on GlobalGiving
Forward this email to family, friends, colleagues and others who care about providing educational opportunities to underserved students
Share our project on Facebook, Twitter or another social media site with this link: http://bit.ly/tutorpediafoundation

Thank you for all of your support, we couldn’t do it without you.

How to Stay Involved in Your Child’s Education

2011-11-21T11:27:00.000-08:00

Six Ways Parents Can Get Involved in Their Child’s Education at Home and at School

Guest Post by Tatyana Kuperman

Parents are the central figures in the lives of their children. In fact, parents have the MOST important influence on their child’s education and achievement in school. Researchers who study effects of parental involvement on children’s education and student achievement found that parental involvement in child and adolescent education generally benefits children’s learning and translates into academic gains in all grades (elementary school through high school). Across a range of studies, findings show that children whose parents are actively involved perform better in school, achieve greater academic success, and navigate more easily through some of the challenges of growing up. Moreover, children with involved parents also have higher self-esteem, increased motivation, better attitudes about school, and fewer behavioral problems.

Every day, parents have a fresh opportunity to get involved, increasing their child’s chances for success in school and beyond. Here is a list of six ways parents can get involved in their child’s education at home and at school.

Six Ways Parents Can Get Involved At Home:

1. Establish a daily family routine

Plan a routine that works for you and your child and keep it consistent
Provide time and quiet place to study (a study area should have good lighting, plenty of school supplies, books, pens/pencils, calculator, dictionary, and blank paper)
Set aside specific amount of time for homework

2. Monitor out-of-school activities

Set limits on TV watching and the use of technology (computers, Itouch/Ipad, etc.)
Check-up on children when they are at home alone
Arrange for after-school activities and supervised care

3. Model the value of learning, self-discipline, and hard work

Communicate through questioning and conversation
Demonstrate that achievement comes from hard work and dedication
Provide opportunities to develop responsibility and self-discipline

4. Express high but realistic expectations for achievement

Set goals and standards that are appropriate for child’s age and maturity level
Recognize and encourage special talents (music, art, dance, etc.)
Inform friends and family about success

5. Encourage your child’s development and learning progress

Structure a home that is both educationally stimulating and supportive of your child’s school work
Show genuine interest in your child’s work and progress at school
Have child’s work on display at home, on the refrigerator, and in their room
Help with homework and school projects
Discuss the value of a good education and possible career/college options

6. Encourage reading and discussions among family members

Read to your children and practice reading aloud
Talk about what is being read
Encourage the whole family to read
Have an open family discussion about reading
Build love for reading as a family

Six Ways Parents Can Get Involved At School:

1. Get to know your child’s teacher and form a partnership

Set-up a time to speak with your child’s teacher and schedule regular parent-teacher meetings in advance
Develop and maintain an on-going communication plan with your child’s teacher (weekly emails, phone calls, check-up times, and regular parent-teacher conferences)
Ask your child’s teacher what you can do to help at home
Check-in about any troublesome issues
Give your child’s teacher information about your child that is going to best help her/him to educate your child (Here is a video that shows how parents can communicate with teachers and create a strong parent-teacher relationship http://www.greatschools.org/improvement/parental-power/4249-Teaming-up-with-the-teacher-video.gs)

2. Check the school’s website, newsletter, and a bulletin board on the regular basis

Check the school’s website for the latest school news and information (at some schools teachers develop their own web pages and post updates on homework assignments, field trips, and other information about your child’s classroom)
Check the school’s newsletter and a bulletin board for any announcements and updates of what’s going on in the upcoming week/month (at some schools parents can subscribe to receive the school’s newsletter by email)

3. Become a school volunteer

Help out in your child’s classroom or volunteer during special school events (school plays, concerts, talent shows, etc.)
Offer to organize an event for your child’s classroom or the entire school
Spend a day chaperoning school field trips

4. Attend a parent education workshop

Meet other parents in the community and attend a workshop together (parent education workshop are the best way for parents to learn about available resources and share ideas on how to get involved and stay connected)
Attend workshops on different topics (some great topics for school-age children include topics on “Bullying”, “Positive Parent-Child Communication”, and “Parenting in The Digital Age”)

5. Start a parent’s group and/or join a parent-school organization

Attend school board meetings
Join a local PTA (Parent Teacher Association) or PTO (Parent Teacher Organization)
Become a member of your district’s parent advisory committee

6. Become a community leader

Organize after school programs (mentorship programs, tutoring programs, parent education workshops, and school improvement projects)
Set up a meeting with teachers, parents, and community members to discuss how you can work together to improve the neighborhood school and raise student achievement
Collaborate with other community members and develop a “Family-School-Community Partnership Program”
Reach out to parents who don’t usually participate and try to get them involved

Remember that most children need their parents’ support both at home and at school. The more intensely parents are involved in their child’s education, the more beneficial the achievement effects, student learning, and overall success in school. Bottom line: High and consistent parent involvement equals greater academic achievement (which also means higher grades, test scores and graduation rates).

Looking for more tips and resources on how to get involved? Check out these great websites that parents can use as resources and guides on how to get involved.

PARENTS’ GUIDE TO RESOURCES

www.ncpie.org - The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education advocates the involvement of parents and families in their children’s education, and fosters relationships between home, school, and community to enhance the education of the entire nation’s young people.

www.parentinvolvementmatters.org - Parent Involvement Matters recognizes the strong link between meaningful family involvement and children’s success in school and in life. Parent Involvement Matters advocates for building collaborative parent-school communities that promote networking, communication, and problem-solving.

www.pta.org – Parent Teacher Association (PTA) is the largest volunteer child advocacy association in the nation. PTA reminds our country of its obligations to children and provides parents and families with a powerful voice to speak on behalf of every child while providing the best tools for parents to help their children be successful students.

www.familyfriendlyschools.com – Family Friendly Schools is dedicated to helping schools and districts around the country to increase student achievement by developing networks of integrated relationships between leaderships, staff, and families that creates a culture of high performance and learning outcomes.

www.familiesandschools.org – Families and Schools is a nonprofit agency that designs and distributes family strengthening and parent involvement programs to help kids succeed in school and in life. Families and Schools develop programs that help families all across the world improve parenting skills and connect families to their schools.

www.parents4publicschools.org – Parents for Public Schools is a national organization of community-based chapters that promotes and strengthens public schools by engaging, educating, and mobilizing parents.

www.famlit.org – The National Center for Family Literacy inspires and engages families in the pursuit of education and learning together.

www.hfrp.org/family-involvement - The Harvard Family Research Project is committed to meeting the growing demands for information on effective ways to support family involvement in children’s learning and development.

www.parent-institute.com – The mission of The Parent Institute is to encourage parent involvement in the education of their children. The Parent Institute publishes a variety of materials including newsletters, booklets, audio CDs, brochures, videos and presentation kits.

www.edtrust.org – The Education Trust promotes high academic achievement for all students at all levels – pre-kindergarten through college. As part of its mission to raise the quality of education for all students, the Education Trust trains parents as Standards Bearers. It teaches parents what grade-level learning standards mean and how they can be used as tools for school reform.

www.piqe.org – Parent Institute for Quality Education creates partnerships between parents, students and educators to further student’s academic success. Their mission is t o bring schools, parents and communities together as equal partners in the education of every child.

www.ptotoday.com – This site networks parent-teacher organizations of all kids. PTO Today lists resources for parent group leaders and offers three products: a magazine, online discussion groups and PTO conference. Among its parent involvement suggestions are “School Family Nights”

www.psinnovation.org – The Project for School Innovation is an organization that has developed a series of books for parents and teachers. “Including Every Parent” highlights a model program of parent involvement that helps drive school success.

San Francisco Regional Centers and Resources

Parents For Public Schools – This is the site of a national organization with local chapters in many cities. They promote public schools and “A New Brand of Parent Involvement”

San Francisco Chapter of Parents for Public Schools – The San Francisco Chapter offers a downloadable Parent Involvement Handbook, an article on How to Market Your School and much more.

San Francisco Unified School District – The San Francisco Unified School District Web site showcases recipes by parents on how to complete various improvement projects.

Tatyana Kuperman is a child development specialist, parent educator, and a parenting coach. She supports parents in their remarkable journey of parenthood and is committed to helping parents become the best parents they can be. Tatyana's mission is to strengthen families by empowering parents to live happy, healthy, and well-balanced lives. She offers variety of education and coaching services for parents with children of all ages. For more information on Parent Education Workshops click here or visit www.TatyanaKuperman.com.

Dan Pink on Motivation: Not as Predictable As You'd Think

2011-11-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

What motivates us? The traditional answer is that we are motivated by incentives. In practice, for adults those incentives tend to be money, prestige, and material goods. For students they might include grades, admission to the college of their choice, a free weekend even.

Last week, we stumbled upon an RSA Animate video adapted from Dan Pink's talk on motivation. In the talk, Dan exposes a scientific truth about motivation that is not widely discussed. Namely, that traditional incentives do not work when cognitive function is required. Dan concedes that for straightforward tasks, material rewards and incentives have the desired effect of increasing motivation. However, he points out, when the task at hand requires creative problem solving, incentives actually decrease motivation and result in poorer outcomes.

Dan focuses on the implications of this finding for businesses: how to motivate employees and keep them happy. Our thoughts turned to education. Nothing requires more cognitive, creative function than learning, and if traditional incentives are ineffective, it's critical that we, as educators, find out what is.

According to the Dan's explanation, the three cornerstones of increasing both satisfaction and performance in employees are: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Why these three things? Because when someone feels self-motivated, competent, and focused, they are happier and more likely to be productive. When we apply this model to students, the similarities can't be ignored. So the question becomes, how do we give students a sense of ownership over their educational outcomes?

At Tutorpedia, we often recall the four R's of modern education: education should be real, relevant, rigorous, and built on relationships. If these pillars are in place, Dan Pink's trifecta of motivation should follow. So how does that look for an educator, a teacher or a tutor? The truth is that thinking this way requires a significant shift. We can no longer assume that the good grade alone will be enough to truly motivate a student to learn. Instead, it is now our job to help the student become his or her own biggest educational advocate; to give them autonomy in their academic pursuits. Rather than pouring content into students' brains, we have to step back and figure out how to instill a lifelong love of learning in a student.

In a teacher-student relationship, autonomy does not mean complete independence. It means collaboration. When an educator is able to empower a student both to understand the relevance of the material and to challenge themselves to master it, the improvement itself will be enough to motivate the student to push forward. Mastery in this context means embracing and believing in the ability to improve.

Increasingly, Dan notes, both people and organizations want their actions to be informed by a purpose. There is no formula to this, but we believe that if we can help students realize their purpose; what it means to them to be a part of the world, perhaps we can help support healthy learning and, as Dan says, "get past the ideology of carrots and sticks." It might not be easy, but it will certainly be worthwhile.

Check out the video and share your thoughts:

American Teacher: An Index

2011-11-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

Percentage of students of color in US public schools: 35
Percentage of teachers of color in US public schools: 15
Percentage of male teachers in US public schools: 16
Economic benefit, per student's lifetime earnings, of a good teacher: $20,000
Economic benefit, per class, of a good teacher: $400,000
Avg. starting, and ending, salary for US teachers: $37,000; $57,000
Percentage of teachers in US who leave the profession within 5 years: 45
Cost of teacher turnover, in dollars per year, to the US economy: $7,340,000,000
Percentage of teachers in S. Korea, Singapore, and Finland, respectively, who leave the profession each year: 1 , 2, 3
Rank of student achievement in S. Korea, Singapore, and Finland, respectively: 1, 2, 3

I saw a great movie last month, American Teacher, produced by author-educator-filmmaker Dave Eggers, and his partner at 826 Valencia, Ninive Calegari, that was simultaneously maddening and uplifting. The documentary spotlights five teachers, and was the latest in the education-as-movie genre to stir teachers, parents, and policy wonks in the debate over how to fix our public schools. The film was different, however, in its direct call-to-action: we need to recruit, develop, and pay our teachers more. More than any other factor - more than class size, more than technology, more than charter school autonomy - a quality teacher at the front of the classroom is the single most important factor that improves student achievement.

The movie is screening again November 21st at The Roxie in San Francisco, and I encourage all who care deeply about our students, our education system, and our future, to watch it. You may just want to join the conversation, and become a teacher yourself.

It's College App Time!

2011-11-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

For many the end of Halloween signifies the beginning of the big holiday season push. For us, however, and for millions of high school seniors, this time of year is connected to something even more important: college applications.

Fall of senior year can be an incredibly stressful time in a student's life. Not only are seniors working hard to keep their grades up and score high marks on the SATs, they're also faced with the new challenge of putting together applications that highlight all of the amazing things they've done over the past 17 years or so. It can be a daunting task.

Luckily, help is available. Our November deal offers 10% off tutoring services that can ease the process both for students and parents. This includes tutoring on the SAT, study skills, and college essay writing. Our tutors have been able to help students through the process and give them they tools they need to get into the college of their choice. Russ, the parent of a Menlo School graduate writes, "Hannah is headed to Princeton and I am happy to report that it would not have occurred without [Tutorpedia]'s tutoring in AP Chem. Thanks." Find your tutor now!

We'll also be doing a couple of free talks in the Bay Area for parents or students thinking about or in the midst of the college application process. We hope you can join us for one or both of the following talks:

Saturday November 5th: Tutorpedia's Director of Education, David Taus talks about the college application process. Talk will take place from 10 AM to 12 PM and will include a Q & A session. Location: Liberty Hill Baptist Church in Berkeley (at 9th and University). The event is put on in conjunction with the Berkeley High School African American Parents Group. For more information, email emma@tutorpedia.com.

Sunday November 6th: Tutorpedia Founder, Seth Linden talks about The SAT & Beyond in a combined seminar that explores skills that translate beyond the Big Test and discusses the underlying mechanisms of brain function. The talk will take place from 1-3 PM at the Marin JCC. More information here.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons ajagendorf25

New Tutoring Offering: SAT & Study Skills Workshop

2011-09-23T13:56:00.001-07:00

Starting in October, we'll be offering a special kind of tutoring focusing specifically on study skills for the SAT and for High School Prep.

For those seeking admission to competitive colleges, SAT performance can improve or diminish their chances of success. Through focused SAT tutoring, teens are provided with high-quality SAT preparation and general study skills to position them for success in taking SATs. They learn how to become more desirable candidates for admission to the school(s) of their choice plus study skills to help them succeed throughout high school, college and beyond.

The High School Prep tutoring will provide middle school students with hands-on practice to prepare them for high school applications. They'll learn essential skills for succeeding in middle school classes and putting together an effective application for competitive high schools.

This specialized tutoring can be one-on-one or conducted in small groups of two to three students. To sign up, contact us!

Tutorpedia Carries on Oprah, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates’ Legacy: Education is Our Current Civil Rights Movement

2011-09-18T23:41:00.000-07:00

Check out our press in the SF Chronicle!

Deal o’ the month: 15% off packages purchased in September

2011-09-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Happy September, parents! You still have a few weeks left to catch our monthly promotion: 15% off all tutoring packages purchased by Sept 30! Package hours don’t expire, and can be used for any combination of subjects and tutors, shared between siblings, or even transferred to friends or donated to Foundation students. The deal ends Sept 30, so if you're thinking about signing up for tutoring this year, now's a great time to start! Just give us a call.

(See our pricing page for standard rates and packages...then subtract 15%!)

Back To School FUNraiser October 5th!

2011-09-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

Educating Kids Has Never Sounded So Good!

Our Back to School FUNraiser event is going down on October 5 at CAFE DU NORD in San Francisco. This classic SF music venue has a full bar and serves food, plus a big back room to hang, schmooze, and check out our auction items.

We have an awesome line-up that includes Spoken Word by DRE from Youth Speaks, Music Performance by NADINE, and Local Bands GUELLA and ANTIOQUA, plus a LIVE auction and raffle with tons of cool stuff... all this for just a $10 door entry! All proceeds go directly to benefit free 1-1 tutoring for low-income Bay Area students.
Benefit Schedule:

7:30 Doors
8:00 Spoken Word by Dre from Youth Speaks
8:15 Music Performance by Nadine
8:45 Live Auction
9:30 Guella
10:30 Raffle
10:45 Antioquia

For more information about the Tutorpedia Foundation, visit www.tutorpediafoundation.org. Sign up for tickets at http://tktwb.tw/tutorpedia.

You can check out our featured bands for the night:
Guella: http://www.guellamusic.com/
Antioquia: http://www.antioquia-band.com/

The Tutorpedia Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in San Francisco. Our mission is to provide high-quality, personalized tutoring and related education services to low-income students in the Bay Area, at no cost to the student or their family. In the long term, we are helping to close the achievement gap, improve graduation rates, and prepare more young people for college and beyond.

Updated Auction Items:

Napa excursion to Frog's Leap, Robert Mondavi, and Round Pond vineyards (includes tour, tasting, and bottle of wine from each vineyard!)
6-month VIP World's Gym membership
Goat Hill Pizza (large pizza)
The Ramp (lunch for two)
"Exquisite facial treatment" from Le Sanctuaire
$100 to sports basement
$50 arch drafting supplies
Free laundry for a month from Laundry Locker
4 tickets to legion of honor
4 tickets to academy of sciences
2 tickets to A.C.T
4 tickets to Oakland A's
6 bottles Sonoma Coast wine
Palm Pre
Photography session by Emily Payne
Canvas photo by Tutorpedia's Founder, Seth Linden

Grand Prize Raffle:

Weekend Getaway in Mendocino!

Check out our latest video: http://vimeo.com/29639113
And press: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Tutorpedia-Carries-on-Oprah-bw-3990575007.html?x=0&.v=1

Event managed and produced by LeConcierge SF. Publicity by i4-d.
Sponsored by Jones Day, Citibank, and DZH Phillips.

Tutorpedia in the Community

2011-09-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, Tutorpedia was featured in the August issue of the Potrero View-- a local paper highlighting our local business and our work with Bay Area students. Read the article here!

A+ for Fresno County School Superintendent

2011-09-01T13:46:00.000-07:00

We at Tutorpedia believe in relationships as the core of academic success, in part because when students have a personal relationship with their teachers and tutors, they are more personally invested in learning and participating in their school community. In addition, we believe that educators can be important role models for their students. Young people may not always seem to be paying attention, but they really are sponges and often learn more from watching the example set by adults in their lives than they do by listening to their words.

That’s why today we applaud Fresno County Superintendent Larry Powell, who at 63 years old has given up $800,000 of his own salary over the next 3 years to free up that money for the school district. Here’s someone who is really invested in his community and looking for ways to support the learning of all the students in his district. What a great example to set for young people!

A+.

(photo courtesy of chicago sun times)

Teachers and Principals Cheat on Tests

2011-08-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

In Atlanta, GA, a state investigation into 44 schools, involving at least 178 teachers and administrators, found rampant cheating on school test score results. Educators tampered with their students’ scores, “earning” praise for the improvements in difficult school districts.

Washington D.C. standardized tests have been found to have a suspicious number of erasures, with wrong answers changed to right ones. Principals and teachers received huge bonuses for their schools’ rising achievement on the tests.

And a Hartford principal resigned last week amid questions about scores from her school’s tests.

There’s something seriously wrong here.

Not all administrators and educators are engaging in unethical behavior around test scores, but it’s pretty disturbing to see this pattern developing. And perhaps the most disturbing part is that as test scores get doctored, kids are falling through the cracks and making the name “No Child Left Behind” sound (even more) like a sick joke.

The problem is a system that ties funding (and sometimes educator compensation) to standardized test score results. When there are penalties for low scores and rewards for high ones, educators and administrators are incentivized to do whatever it takes just to raise those numbers--not necessarily to improve teachers’ ability to serve their students’ needs, or students’ capacity for higher-order thinking and interaction with academic material.

Some standards are necessary of course, but the profound problems with our current standardized test system, and particularly its relationship to educational funding (and the lack thereof), are becoming more and more apparent. What works for one student won’t necessarily work for another in the same class, let alone for another student in a completely different context across the country, and we can’t keep asking schools to do more with less. How can we change things to shift the focus back to students and away from bubbles and multiple choice?

Stretch Your Brain

2011-08-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

Research on neuroplasticity shows that when we use our brains, we actually create new connections and neural pathways! So solving problems is actually kind of like mental aerobics, building up your brain. There are lots of fun ways to work out your brain, of course, and once in a while it’s good to really do some stretching!

Try out these brain teasers (via BrainDen.com) to extend your brainpower.

Pouring water

If you had only a 5-liter bowl, a 3-liter bowl, and unlimited water, how would you measure exactly 4 liters of water?

Honestants and Swindlecants

There are two kinds of people on a mysterious island: The Honestants, who always speak the truth, and the Swindlecants, who always lie.

Three fellows (A, B and C) are having a quarrel at the market. A foreigner goes by and asks the A fellow: "Are you an Honestant or a Swindlecant?" The answer is incomprehensible so the foreigner asks B: "What did A say?" B answers: "A said that he is a Swindlecant." And to that says the fellow C: "Do not believe B, he is lying!"

Who are B and C?

Think you know the answers? Share them with us! Extra props for the most creative answers.

“It’s not about the brand, it’s about the fit.”

2011-08-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

In his book Acceptance: A Legendary Guidance Counselor Helps Seven Kids Find the Right Colleges – And Find Themselves (Penguin Books), Dave Marcus shares what he has learned from observing the guidance counselor Gwyeth Smith (affectionately known as Smitty), of Long Island High School.

“It’s not about the brand, it’s about the fit,” Smitty would tell parents.

Marcus writes about the pressure put on adolescents to succeed, and how Smitty’s approach to the college search helped parents find ways to help their kids slow down, take advantage of the present, and in effect, redefine the word “success” in a more personally relevant way.

Some of his advice is shared in an interview with TeenLife blog, and Acceptance is often cited by the NY Times college admissions blog The Choice. Reader response to “Slow Down and Savor Middle and High School” on The Choice included this comment from Debra Makar:

“Savor middle and high school? I was a gifted student (Mensa member) and counted the minutes until I could get out of those horrible places. My experiences were, for the most part, either excruciatingly boring or cruel. I wanted out and the sooner the better. If I hadn’t started college classes during my junior year, I would have been suicidal. High school is not the same for everybody, sometimes it’s your social world and sometimes it’s your nightmare. The worse thing someone said to me was to enjoy it all since it was the best years of my life. I now chalk it up as the worst years of my life.”

Unfortunately, Debra is far from alone in this experience. School can be unhappy and even excruciating for a great number of young people, especially during middle and high school, even for those who are fulfilling certain requirements for "success." This brings us once again to the importance of finding your passion and a place where you feel you really fit. Having adults—parents, tutors, mentors—who know you well and can help you find joy in learning and doing, and a welcoming place in the world, is especially crucial during this time. In the end, this is what helps students reach their true potential and paves the way for their greater achievements.

Relationships that help nurture your curiosities and talents are the best form of support and can affect the rest of your life for the better. Have a comment or experience to share? Please join the conversation and post your thoughts below!

We Have a Winner!

2011-08-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Andrew Lee! He won Tutorpedia’s Viral Video Competition with over 300 views, and got himself an iPod Touch!

Andrew has always wanted to learn 3D animation, because he wants to create cool special effects and he thinks it’s awesome to make videos that people watch and like.

He’d like to make YouTube videos with millions of views, and he is already well on his way! Check out his fabulous submission below, and you can find more of his fun creations on his YouTube Channel, moviesAKLee

Great Job Andrew, and thanks for telling us what you’ve ever wanted to learn!

What have YOU ever wanted to learn? We can help you! Check out Tutorpedia’s website for more info on how a Class of One can help you reach your goals.

Gov. Brown Signs California DREAM Act

2011-07-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

This week, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that will expand opportunities for undocumented college students to seek financial aid from private institutions. The measure is a step towards more rights for undocumented students who immigrated to the US as children and are saddled with the lifetime legal consequences of a decision they did not make for themselves.

The California law is a modified version of a decades-old federal bill known as the DREAM Act, or the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The DREAM Act would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented youth who immigrated before the age of 16, graduated from US high schools, and are studying at US universities or serving in the military.

Advocates argue that among other long-term benefits of the bill, passing the DREAM Act would encourage more undocumented students to stay in school—current high school dropout rates are higher for immigrant students, partly because of the barriers students know lie between them and higher education. However, an inspiring number of undocumented students do graduate from high school and go on to study at top universities, excelling despite the special financial and legal difficulties they face.

Hearing the stories of DREAM Act students and how hard they have worked to achieve their education reminds us that opportunities for academic success should never be taken for granted.

What Have you Ever Wanted to Learn?

2011-07-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

Hey students, Tutorpedia's Viral Video Contest has extended its deadline to August 1, 2011-- this means you still have until the end of the month to submit a short video that could win you a free iPod Touch! Cool, no?

It's fun and easy! Here's how to enter: create a 30-60 sec. video answering the question, "What have you ever wanted to learn?" and submit said video to YouTube with "Tutorpedia" and "www.tutorpedia.com" in the description. Also remember to e-mail the video to our Director, Seth Linden, at seth@tutorpedia.com with VIRAL VIDEO in the subject line.

The winner of this creative contest will receive a - that's right! - free iPod Touch. The second-place winner will receive two hours of 1-1 tutoring from Tutorpedia, to be used in any area of focus. We will pick the winner by recording the number of YouTube views each submitted video receives.

Teachers use Khan's online Academy to "flip" the classroom

2011-07-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

This article from Wired magazine describes how some teachers have been using the internet as a device to “flip” the classroom: students receive instructional content in lecture form outside of school through online videos, leaving teachers free to devote individual attention to students during school hours.

Salman Khan developed Khan Academy when he started creating home videos explaining math problems and posting them to YouTube. He realized that his videos could be used by educators to supplement their lessons, and by students anywhere who wanted to “learn almost anything--for free.” So he developed a website including games and quizzes, a dashboard for teachers to track their students’ progress, and thousands of instructional videos. He’s received grants to continue his work, including from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, and provides all of the services free of cost to users.

Though the Khan Academy’s approach certainly has its critics, the creator views it as a way to democratize learning and provide accessible one-on-one explanations that students can view as many times as they want, progressing at their own pace and in the privacy of their own homes.

Some have pointed out the limitations of his videos-- they are still basically in lecture format, with no opportunity for students to ask questions (it’s a video after all!), and the digital divide prevents some students from taking advantage of the service. Also, the mastery-based learning style of the drills lends itself well to math and science, but what about other subjects like English and history that may have more than one answer for any given question?

In 1984 Benjamin Bloom showed the huge difference that individual attention makes for students, finding a leap of two standard deviations in the progress of students who received 1-1 instruction. Despite some shortcomings, Khan Academy has great potential to make individualized instruction available to more students.

In terms of holistic learning, however, we still think nothing beats a real live tutor! Especially when it comes to adjusting to student learning styles, answering questions, developing study skills, and the interpersonal and mentoring aspect of tutoring, a student’s real relationship with a tutor makes greater success possible.

If you want to make free/affordable tutoring available to more students who need it, why not donate to the Tutorpedia Foundation? $35 will provide a full hour of free 1-1 academic help and mentoring from excellent tutors for students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford it.

(photo by John Watson)

Testing 1, 2, 3, 4-year-olds

2011-07-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

Our education system is broken.

This statement seems to be more or less accepted as fact by most educators, policy makers, and community leaders throughout the country, but when it comes to how to fix it, or even how to diagnose the problem, we have some differences of opinion (to put it politely).

For the last several years, the accepted wisdom of educational policy seems to have been that we can test, test, test our way to educational success, to the point that the Department of Education is gearing up to start testing four-year-olds in high-stakes testing. Really?

Yes, four-year-olds!

Can we please take a step back and ask, what is the purpose of the unprecedented and frankly insane extent of standardized testing we have gotten ourselves into?
Most proponents of the testing trend cite accountability as its great advantage. But is simply putting students and teachers through hours of standardized tests really going to help schools take responsibility for the failures of the system? And who exactly does hold that responsibility? Who are we trying to hold accountable? Sometimes it seems like we are punishing struggling schools and students simply because they exist in a larger dysfunctional system over which they may have no control.

The second main thrust of testing, of course, is to create standards. And the question of standards is a very complex one, especially in a country with such a richly varied student body as ours. However, we can certainly agree that we would like to hold all students to high, but achievable standards, and not allow some students to slip through the cracks. Our goal is not to subject some students to that American-dream-crushing injustice of a sub-standard education.
But does the current system of testing really help us move toward that goal?

Maybe there are multiple paths to a good education. Maybe not everyone is a square peg that will fit properly in the holes provided. Maybe we have different life situations, skills, and needs, but we all have the capacity to reach our own higher standards. Maybe what we need is a more personalized approach... Class of One, anyone?

New Take on 1-1 Tutoring is Win-Win for Calavera Hills Students

2011-07-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

An innovative program at Calavera Hills Middle School in Carlsbad, CA underlines the importance of educational relationships and community-building in a remarkable way. As New America Media reports, the school’s Coyote Crossroads program, now in its third year, pairs academically struggling students with their autistic peers as tutors and mentors.

Not only do the autistic students benefit from the support and friendship of their peer tutors, but the tutors also find meaning in their school experience, showing a marked improvement in their grades and motivation in their own classes. The school has also shown a significant improvement in its truancy numbers—down from 55.76% in 2007-2008 to 37.54% in 2009-2010.

One peer mentor reports that her relationships with her autistic classmates give her a reason to get out of bed when that alarm rings in the morning, and she also finds inspiration in her autistic friends. If they can handle teasing and bullying from other students, then she can too. From struggling to make it to school, she now aspires to become a teacher like Ms. Lupu, one of the program’s mentors.

Three cheers for Calavera Hills Middle School for harnessing the power of students to improve their own school community! Fresh ideas like this can help us revitalize our education system and change students’ lives in the process.

Coyote Crossroads from New America Media on Vimeo.

Rank your college by price!

2011-06-30T09:21:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Department of Education recently released a new website that ranks colleges in the U.S. based on highest tuition, highest total cost of attendance, and the highest/lowest percent increase in tuition in recent years. This story in the New York Times describes the pros and cons of the new service, which is available for anyone with internet; no log-in information is required for access.

The site, whose creation is a result of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, allows students and parents to compare prices of educational institutions across the line before choosing where to study for the next two to four years. The highest-priced four-year private institutions thus far have been ranked as Bates College in Maine and Wells College in New York. This information, now made public in such a clear manner, should facilitate the decision-making process for rising high school seniors as they debate in which college to invest their next four years of study. Now we can go into this whole taking-out-loans thing with eyes open wide, as the big picture is in full view.

Go viral this summer!

2011-06-28T18:43:00.001-07:00

...And win a FREE iPod Touch!

That's right, Tutorpedia's Viral Video Contest is in full swing. The deadline is July 15th and the contest is open to all 6th-12th graders in the Bay Area. The process is fun and easy: create a 30-60 sec. video answering the question, "What have you ever wanted to learn?" and submit said video to YouTube with "Tutorpedia" and "www.tutorpedia.com" in the description. Also remember to e-mail the video to our Director, Seth Linden, at seth@tutorpedia.com with VIRAL VIDEO in the subject line. Not too hard, right? Get to it because...

The winner of this creative contest will receive a - that's right! - free iPod Touch. The second-place winner will receive two hours of 1-1 tutoring from Tutorpedia, to be used in any area of focus. We will pick the winner by recording the number of YouTube views each submitted video receives.

Do you have what it takes to wow us with your media-centered creativity and passion for learning? Get in the game and win! Details on our website here.

Achievement gap grows to a gulf

2011-06-27T10:05:00.000-07:00

This report from NPR details the extent to which the achievement gap still separates students in the United States. The story focuses on Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. The school has a a tradition of "tracking," or separating students into classes based on their levels of academic performance. In this district of New Jersey, white suburban parents have long opposed mixed-level classes, fearing that their kids will get pulled down by the supposedly inferior abilities of under-achieving students. As a result, remedial or "catch-up" classes are filled with primarily black students, while the honors courses are predominantly white (the school itself is 40% white and 60% black and NPR reports that while kids "mix easily" during recess, they file into separate classes on command when the bell rings). When a high-level class does admit some black students, officials say that they usually stick together while teachers seem to shift their attention toward the larger group of white students.

What have we here? Racial segregation playing out on legally approved school grounds, that's what. Administrators and educators should reconsider what leveled classes are doing to students' expectations and what kinds of racial stereotypes are being perpetrated. Columbia has already made a few efforts to institute mixed-ability classes and has found that the results are surprisingly positive; a lower-ability student usually catches up to the rest of the class rather than "dragging it down." Check out the audio file for the story here and give equal opportunity for education some thought; what can we do to change perceptions of how race and education intersect?

Graduation rates fall in California

2011-06-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

A shocking statistics report from a recent article in the LA Times reveals that a whopping 70% of students who enroll in community college in L.A. never complete their education, dropping out half-way through college. This stark number - 70% of community college students in ALL of L.A. county, mind you, are drop-outs - should raise awareness and encourage government officials and educators to take a look at the state of education in our country at this very moment.

The study takes note of 60,000 college students who enrolled in community college in L.A. county in 2003-2004, charting their paths through higher education for six years. The findings are disappointing, to say the least. Budget cuts have definitely affected college resources at community college over the past few years - now, students who choose community college because of financial concerns are being offered even less. California needs to take these drop-out rates under serious consideration. After all, whom are we educating? Where are the kids who drop out going to go? And what consequences will falling graduation rates at these colleges have for the rest of us? The prognosis can't be good; let's act before it's too late.

All the cool kids are doing it...

2011-06-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Check this out! Tutorpedia student Adrian tells us why one-on-one tutoring is important, and why he's chosen to work with Tutorpedia tutors.

Thanks, Adrian! To learn more, visit our website here or e-mail us at info@tutorpedia.com to set up some one-on-one tutoring. What's more, you can now sign up for our summer 2011 workshops, held at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton this July and August! Space is limited, so act quickly to get your smarts on during these hot summer months.

Why pay to learn?

2011-06-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

This intriguing perspective from The New Yorker highlights the importance of learning beyond high school at a higher educational institution. While college is often deemed important for building careers and climbing the social ladder, it is useful to consider other reasons to continue learning beyond 12th grade. After all, a bachelor's degree is a hefty financial investment with lasting consequences for those of us who still carry loans.

So why shell out for four years of tuition, books, and rent instead of holding down a steady full-time job? And, more so, why choose an elite private college instead of a much more reasonably priced public university? Louis Menand argues here that there are two positives to higher learning at a high cost: one, college exposes students to material they otherwise wouldn't have absorbed, thereby making them into more informed, empowered citizens, regardless of their career field; and two, college socializes us to be on the same page when it comes to certain established norms and ways of thinking. And from that base spring independent thought and innovation, both of which move us further as a society.

Hopefully Menand's arguments will help us justify spending thousands of dollars on a degree. After all, life's about making ends meet, but it's also about a lot more than that. Why not learn how to think, critique, and challenge yourself as a creative individual while you're at it?

Girls, let's get a head start!

2011-06-20T11:39:00.000-07:00

Presenting...Go Girl Go! Setting Girls Up for Success, a female empowerment workshop designed to boost self-esteem in girls everywhere and to better prepare them for a lifetime of learning and exploring as independent-minded individuals.

Moms: Are you worried that your teen girl is confused, has low self-esteem, or is uncomfortable with herself? Go Girl Go! is a spectacular opportunity for your daughter to build her self-esteem, raise awareness of herself, and become an empowered young woman! Sign up today, but hurry, space is limited and running out fast. Give your daughter the jumpstart/ she deserves to set her up for a lifetime of success!

Tutorpedia Video Contest - Win an iPod Touch!

2011-06-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

Create a video, make it go viral, win an iPod Touch!

Who: Students in 6th-12th grade in SF Bay Area

What: Make a 30-60 second video answering the question: What have you ever wanted to learn? Email to seth@tutorpedia.com and download to www.youtube.com. Tag "Tutorpedia" and www.tutorpedia.com in the YouTube video description. Email to friends, post to facebook, twitter, and blogs. Make it go viral!

When: Upload video to www.youtube.com anytime after 12pm PST June 15th. Contest ends 12pm PST July 15th.

Why: Show off your creative side. Think about learning. Win a free iPod Touch!

*Winner of the Tutorpedia Viral Video Contest will be the video that has the most YouTube views. If same number of YouTube views, then winner will be decided by number of Facebook “likes.” First place video wins an iPod Touch, second place video wins 2 free hours of 1-1 tutoring from Tutorpedia. Send all videos to seth@tutorpedia.com with VIRAL VIDEO in subject.

By entering this Contest, you give Tutorpedia the right to use your video in all promotional materials, including but not limited to website, blog, and social media sites. Be creative! Think about learning! Spread the word!

Test don't lead to success, reports say

2011-06-15T11:32:00.001-07:00

Check out this article from The Washington Post about how test-based incentives don't increase student performance.

The National Research Council recently conducted a report, which concludes that tests such as the High School Exit Exam, STAR testing, and others administered by the No Child Left Behind act do not in any way provide an accurate measure of student achievement. Policymakers and school administrators should heed this warning in designing programs meant to measure their students' success. Often students' test results will be used to evaulate teachers and principals in terms of their effectiveness in education - these methods are faulty, the report conducted by the NRC indicates.

Clearly, as the Obama adminisration has indicated and as this article also argues, standardized testing should be on its way out as a tool for measuring teacher and student success. Using standardized tests as the basis for school funding is a dangerous trap, one in which United States education policy has been caught for far too long.

Become a language whiz!

2011-06-14T12:11:00.000-07:00

Tutorpedia is offering two workshops this summer to help you brush up on your knowledge of languages and effective communication. That's right, it's time to sign up for the innovative Spanish Immersion workshop and Public Speaking workshop!

Enter a different universe where only Spanish is spoken without even leaving the country with our special Spanish Immersion course, offered this summer at Sacred Heart Preparatory School in Atherton. You'll be ready for that trip abroad and rock your Spanish classes in high school before you know it with the help of this workshop. And, while you're mastering a foreign language, why not become an effective public speaker in your mother tongue? Our Public Speaking workshop is here to help. Say good-bye to stage fright and wow audiences with your eloquent, witty phrasework! It's all here at Sacred Heart Prep from July 11 to August 19. Sign up for one of three two-week sessions; or sign up for them all! E-mail info@tutorpedia.com for further questions.

Wake up, California! Dream Act gains headway

2011-06-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

This morning's story on NPR highlights recent headway made by proponents of the Dream Act, which is slowly making its way through the state legislature this summer. Currently, legislators are trying to make financial aid for college-enrolled illegal immigrants a possibility. Those without papers who have been enrolled in college for three semesters will qualify for state-sponsored scholarships.

The story profiles the efforts of several students at UCLA who, while maintaining high GPAs, are barely making ends meet while in school; tuition amounts to $4000 per quarter, and the students don't qualify for state-sponsored financial aid because of their illegal status. Having been brought to the states at the ages of 3, 4, and 6, the students say themselves that they are "American in every sense of the word." Yet, though they excel in school, financial aid has never been an option for these three, whose parents are barely making enough to get by and cannot support them.

Now, perhaps California is finally taking its first steps toward ensuring quality education for its hard-working students, regardless of their place of birth.

Do you have a green thumb? Let things grow this summer!

2011-06-07T09:22:00.001-07:00

Join Tutorpedia's Summer 2011 Workshops this July and August at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton, CA. We will be presenting a special Sustainable Agriculture workshop, where you will learn all about sustainable farming and gardening in a personalized, project-based setting. This fun and rigorous course will spark your interest in responsible, sustainable gardening. So get ready to take charge of your own food production and get with the green! Details on the workshop can also be found here.

And remember - those who register before July 1st receive a discount! Tutorpedia is offering three sessions of two-week-long courses from July 11 to August 19. For further questions regarding the workshops, scheduling, and curriculums, feel free to e-mail us at info@tutorpedia.com.

Media-crazy? We have just the thing for you...

2011-06-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

Sign up for Tutorpedia's Final Cut Pro (video editing) workshop this summer! Space is running out quickly but we wanted to extend the invite to all of our faithful blog readers and friends. Check out further details on our site and remember to reserve a spot for yourself here; prices go up after July 1st so don't lose any time!

Now is the time to brush up on your media editing skills and move forward with the 21st century. There's no knowing what you can do once you become more tech-savvy! Our summer 2011 workshops are here to help...Personalized, rigorous, and fun, these project-based courses are a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all you summer-crazy folk. Hollywood awaits!

How equitable is education? Amherst College carries the lead

2011-05-31T09:31:00.001-07:00

Is a top-tier college education in the US for everyone or is it mostly a portal for the elite to climb even higher? This story in the New York Times profiles the efforts of Anthony Marx, the president of Amherst College, in diversifying the pool of students from various economic backgrounds who are admitted and have the opportunity to enroll at the college.

An overwhelming percentage of students at top colleges such as Georgetown and the University of Michigan (whose statistics are cited in the article) still come from high income backgrounds. Anthony Marx is trying to change all that with Amherst's new policy on financial aid. The college is distributing most of its resources to aid in the form of direct grants rather than loans. There's even a scholarship for low-income foreign students, and Amherst representatives are making an effort to reach out to more and more high schools in low-income areas of the U.S. The transfer program at Amherst also links directly to community colleges; in fact, most transfer students at Amherst now hail from community colleges, havens for students who are eager to learn but cannot afford an expensive education.

These steps offer hope as the US government cracks down on the education budget. It's nice too know that, though we are now mostly losing money for America's students, there are still educators out there working toward making opportunities at top colleges available to all.

Go girl, go!

2011-05-27T14:53:00.001-07:00

Last call about sign-ups for our very special women's empowerment workshop this summer at Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton! Ever wanted to get more in touch with your feminine side and/or be aware of women's issues in the world today? Take part in "Go Girl Go! Setting Girls Up for Success," a personalized, project-based workshop designed to raise awareness about female empowerment and to encourage girls to take charge of their future.

This workshop is offered during the second session of our Summer 2011 Workshops, which will run from July 25th to August 5th. Check out more details on our website and remember to sign up here. Space is limited so don't waste any more time; make this summer the time that you become an empowered, socially aware individual with the help of Tutorpedia's fun and rigorous workshop curriculum!

Getting paid for the grade

2011-05-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

This op-ed in the New York Times questions the value of the New York City Department of Education's recent decision to award student academic performance and attendance records with cash rewards. That's right. These students don't have jobs, they just go to school. A good grade? A perfect attendance record? Bring on the money.

The main question here is whether these financial bonuses will actually increase student performance overall, which is what Ronald G. Fryer, the economist behind the whole project, seems to think. Student motivation will now be driven by external rewards, not a thirst for knowledge or excellence. Can we keep kids intrinsically engaged while supplying them with money for their academic performance? What will win, the cash or the simple psychological drive to know more? And will we be able to tell the difference? When you alter the incentive, you're changing the whole game, and the fun in learning might disappear when you equate an "A" in biology or art class with dollar signs in kids' eyes.

College debt in the U.S.: how much are you willing to gamble?

2011-05-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

The collective debt for higher education in the U.S. is steadily rising, and educators are taking a step back to evaluate whether the growing piles of money and interest that students owe are truly worth the hassle. This recent story on NPR takes a look at student loan debt all over the nation and discusses the choices that students make when borrowing for college:

The key, researchers say, is to get enough bang for your buck. When borrowing, it's important to realize what kind of degree you are getting, what the job prospects will be, and how long it will take to pay off college loans for the degree. Majors in ethnomusicology and theater, for example, who go heavily into debt must do so with their eyes open. Jobs in these fields are difficult to find and do not always pay well the first few years, unless one chooses to be in academia (for which a Master's or Ph.D is usually needed, not just a B.A.). So, follow your dreams but have a Plan B, experts agree...five or six figures in loans are only worth it if you've got the patience, drive, and stamina to handle the debt.

Race to success starts in kindergarten

2011-05-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

Take a look at this story about how early children are getting a head start to learning these days. Apparently, age 3 is the up-and-coming time for kids to get a move on, to avoid getting left behind in kindergarten. Junior Kumon, a Japanese learning company, is opening offices in New York City where parents shell out $200 to $300 a month so that their toddler can get two hours of weekly tutoring in reading and math. The little ones get twenty minutes of homework each night, and instructors often rely on worksheets to teach the kids basic reading, writing, and math skills. Kumon's reach is anticipated to spread to the west coast some time from now, as this "accelerated learning" for toddlers trend is catching on fast.

Is this the continuation of the never-ending push for prestige, which affluent suburban parents inflict on their children from the time they're in diapers? Or is it simply a nice way for kids to learn their multiplication tables by age 6, thereby giving them a boost upon entering school? According to the article, many parents come to rely on programs such as Kumon to help develop their children academically. When the neighbor's kid is adding by age 4, you want yours to do the same. Then again, the spread of these programs tears kids away from blocks, toys, and from exploring the outdoors, all of which are equally powerful learning tools for their future. We all have at least twelve, if not sixteen or eighteen, years of education ahead of us; why cut childhood short by three more years?

Time's a-ticking away! Get your smarts on this summer

2011-05-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gents, parents and students, tutors and teachers...watch out! The deadline to register for Tutorpedia's very own Summer 2011 Workshops is approaching, so get to our registration website here and sign up for two to six weeks of invigorating learning and stellar enjoyment.

Again, here's the course line-up: SAT Prep, Headstart to Chemistry, Spanish Immersion, Graphic Arts and Web Design, Public Speaking, Final Cut Pro, and Google Apps Design are all at your educational disposal. For the more creatively inclined minds out there, try our Improv Comedy, Sustainable Agriculture, You Can Love Your Life Now (women's empowerment), and Creative Writing workshops to challenge your innovative spirit. There are three sessions, and you can sign up for one or all three! Classes run from July 11 to August 19 and are divided into three slots of two weeks each. The workshops will be held at Sacred Heart Preparatory School in Atherton, CA.

So don't hold out; do something with your life and your brain this summer. We're excited to keep learning with you! For further question or info, visit our website or e-mail us with any concerns at info@tutorpedia.com.

Is your teacher prepared? Training programs undergo scrutiny

2011-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

This story, aired by NPR, considers the value of teacher training programs across the country. Some U.S. schools are declining to participate in a study that will be published by the U.S. News and World Report later this year. The study will compile success rates and curriculums of different training programs for prospective teachers.

Some school officials, however, don't see the merit in compiling this data. While one school may give a biology teacher his credentials upon completion of nine biology courses, another institution may issue a similar degree with just one biology course required. Therefore, training programs for teachers vary across the board to such an extent that standards for teacher preparation have become impossible to set. Private prep programs are usually off-limits to public scrutiny and don't even apply to the data in the survey. This is all fine and good, but one can't help but wonder: who's educating our educators, and how effective is this path to education?

Empower yourself this summer!

2011-05-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

Tutorpedia is excited to announce that we are offering a brand-new workshop for the summer of 2011: You Can Love Your Life, a workshop geared toward women's rights and female empowerment. So, ever wondered how to be more in tune with the life you're living and how best to support others (both men and women) around you? Here's your chance to find out! Start living to the fullest today...sign up for our stellar workshop on women's empowerment this summer.

But wait, the excitement doesn't stop there. Ever wanted to become a confident public http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifspeaker? Who knows, you may be the next Steve Jobs or Barack Obama...competent oratory skills are crucial for today's aspiring CEOS, politicians, teachers, you name it! Sign up for this real and rigorous public speaking workshop with Tutorpedia today. Take this chance to develop as an orator, student, and, well, human being - when you talk, others should listen. But it's all about the delivery...

Don't miss out on these two workshops that will push you to your creative and intellectual limits this summer! For more details, check out Tutorpedia's website here. The clock is ticking, so get your tickets today!

Education turned upside down

2011-05-06T11:20:00.001-07:00

Learn at home, study at school? According to this story by The Wall Street Journal, it's the way to do things nowadays to optimize education! The Khan Academy provides online lectures in math, science, and economics to students at home, and enables them to come to school prepared with questions about homework. That way, instructors can filter through information that students already know to give help where it's truly needed. It's an interesting idea...though the concept of teaching to a classroom of kids is age-old and probably won't go out of style for quite some time.

Salman Khan's project, the Khan Academy, is really something - an innovative site that enables students all over the country to learn Calculus, Algebra 2, Chemistry, you name it, through interactive videos and live web-based lectures. Salman and his site act as home-based, free tutors for middle and high school students, who are then better prepared to excel in school. "Slow" students become "advanced" in a matter of weeks...Projects such as those of Salman Khan give a new definition to student success. Check out this video of how technology works in favor of non-traditional education.

Six weeks you won't want to miss!

2011-05-02T11:21:00.001-07:00

That's right...the schedule for Tutorpedia's Summer 2011 Workshops is finally up, running, and finalized. To throw off the veil of mystery, go here for details on how to fill your summer with pro-active, enriching educational excitement. We've got the final list of workshops available for your viewing pleasure: Improv Comedy is definitely up for grabs, as well as Spanish Immersion, Creative Writing, and Sustainable Agriculture. For the first time, Tutorpedia is offering students the chance to learn about sustainable farming with real, hands-on experience that will transform your understanding of the natural world around you.

And, of course, don't miss out on some crucial study tips, offered by our SAT Prep and Headstart to Chemistry workshops. Get a tech boost with Google Apps Design classes and our Final Cut Pro workshops, and say good-bye to stage fright with the help of Tutorpedia's brand new Public Speaking workshop series.

Space is limited, so hurry and get your tickets here! For more information about our services and scheduling, please visit the Tutorpedia webpage.

How far will you go to get educated?

2011-04-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

This provocative article on NPR, powered by The Root, considers the cases of two parents, both of whom lied about their addresses in order to get their children into good school districts. The question remains: is their behavior acceptable, and if not, what does this say about education in the U.S. and the effort that low-income parents must make to give their children a future better than their own?

Helena Andrews, author of the article, argues strongly against the school districts that hired a private investigator to trace the fraudulent documentation of two of their students. Now the students' mothers, one in Ohio and the other in Connecticut, owe a total of $45,000 in penalty fees and tuition. Tonya McDowell from Connecticut is homeless; she used her father's address on her six-year-old son's registration documents to get him into a decent school district. Kelley Williams-Bolar from Ohio has two young daughters living with her in a crime-ridden neighborhood. She, too, forged documentation to send her girls to a better school in a different part of town. Now, both mothers must deal with heavy financial penalties and the possibility of having their children withdrawn from schools that may have given them a future.

What is the issue here? With impending school budget cuts all over the nation, it's interesting to learn that schools are shelling out thousands of dollars to pay private investigators, who, in turn, rat on their own students. The parents are being punished, but the students, who have had no say in the matter, are the true victims in this dangerous bureaucratic game. We live in a country where the quality of our schools is determined by tax dollars, not social equity laws or merit awards. And now, instead of protecting students whose families are fighting to keep them in decent schools, we pile on lawsuit after lawsuit, making the idea of social mobility a growing myth, never a reality.

Last hired, first fired...teachers say good-bye to California schools

2011-04-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

State budget cuts are not only slashing class selections, increasing class sizes, and taking away student scholarships in California schools. Now, it's time for the teachers to go, too. This article in the L.A. Times profiles James Yi, a history teacher at Middle College High School in the L.A. Unified School District - a beloved educator who, with only five years of teaching experience under his belt, will now have to leave the students whose lives he's been trying to change for the better. Mr. Yi has received a "reduction in force" letter from the school board, and will soon have to start looking for another job.

Yes, his story parallels that of countless California teachers over the past year or more...which makes it no less powerful. James Yi graduated from UC Irvine and originally went into computer marketing, transitioning into education after being disappointed in the tech field. Now, teaching the history of the Vietnam war to high school sophomores and seniors, and encouraging his students - most of whom hail from disadvantaged backgrounds - to pursue higher education, Mr. Yi has found what he truly wants to do. His students love him. His fellow teachers and administrators respect him. Are people like James Yi the ones who should be taking the brunt of Sacramento's budget proposal? As the author of this story duly notes, why not institute a higher oil excise tax, or a temporary tax hike with a budgeting balance that benefits education? There must be a way from keeping California's suffering education system from sinking further into the pit of disadvantage, poverty, and low graduation rates. Will firing teachers and cutting classes really help? Think again, state administrators - are people like Mr. Yi and his students the ones you want to keep hurting?

Programs like Tutorpedia's SES (Supplemental Educational Service) tutoring are options for schools who are experiencing problems servicing students in need. Check out our page for more of these options...

Tutorpedia's launching its Summer 2011 Workshops!

2011-04-25T11:58:00.000-07:00

What are you doing this summer? Care to challenge yourself, learn, AND have fun all at once? Take part in Tutorpedia's annual Summer Workshops, taking place at Sacred Heart Preparatory School in Atherton, CA.

You can choose from one of three sessions: early July, late July, or early to mid-August. Workshop topics range from Public Speaking, Headstart to Chemistry Excellence, and SAT Prep to Spanish Immersion and Creative Writing. We may even be stretching your cognitive and creative limits with classes on Google Apps Design, Sustainable Agriculture, and Improv Comedy. More topics will be coming up - take your pick, from intellectual to mind-boggling to goofy. And remember, when you sign up for one workshop, you get ten percent off any other workshops that you sign up for! Check out the details for sign-ups here. Prices go up after May 13, so don't miss out!

For more details on our personalized, project-based workshops, visit Tutorpedia's website and read up on what makes a Tutorpedia workshop your learning vehicle of choice. We can't wait to keep learning with you as summer approaches!

The dollar value of nature vs. nurture: who needs help the most?

2011-04-21T12:10:00.001-07:00

The NY Times published an intriguing story recently about how students' family backgrounds and parenting history play into how "successful" they become as adults. The article details the release of a recent book by Robert Caplan, "Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think", which is a response to the rigorous tirade on proper parenting issued by Amy Chua earlier this year.

Caplan's argument poses an interesting counterpoint to the example set forth by Tiger Mothers everywhere. According to his text, parents' behavior has no effect whatsoever on how children turn out - the key is to give them the right tools: education, extra-curriculars, a stocked fridge - and let them take what they can from these factors. Go get a back massage, moms and dads, says Caplan, as your everyday parenting efforts simply don't matter. That is, assuming you can afford a trip to the spa - the book mostly caters to inhabitants of white suburbia, largely ignoring kids growing up in low-income areas and weakening the overall argument, to say the least.

And that's precisely the issue with the education debate in news headlines today. In determining what's most important for students, rigorous violin practice or a school trip to Venice, parents and education specialists are missing the point. The children who are in dire need of attentive parenting are those on the sidelines, in low-income households, in impoverished neighborhoods. These kids often lack at least one parent, not to mention the luxury of agonizing over whether piano or soccer is the extra-curricular that will get them into an Ivy. It's time that educators took a step back and re-evaluated the arguments soaring above our heads. Instead of intellectualizing education and parenting strategies, let's give them to those who really need 'em.

Scholarship cuts and less HOPE for US students

2011-04-18T11:44:00.001-07:00

In yet another tribute to impending budget cuts in America, Georgia's legislature is threatening to slash the HOPE scholarships that have previously been available to low-income students who maintain a B average while studying. The HOPE scholarship has guaranteed funding for a college education to all qualifying students in the state. Students must hail from low-income backgrounds and provide proof of substantial academic achievement while in college.

Now, however, students in need are having their scholarship rescinded as the state scales back on its education budget - a dismal echo of recent happenings in our own state, California. These changes mean that students who already work part-time jobs while in college may have to take time off or even drop out; some lack funds to pay off even a community college tuition. Most of these students have little to no family support, and many hail from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Changes to HOPE scholarship guidelines include not only cuts to the amount of funding available, but strict criteria of GPA and minimum SAT scores for students who wish to receive aid. These amendments make the situation increasingly difficult for students who receive no academic support at home and simply don't have access to SAT prep classes and materials. Check out this NPR story here:

Equity? Nice try, America. Let's see what you come up with next...President Obama's verbal support of educational opportunities across poverty lines would need to be translated into concrete actions right about NOW.

What if you were principal? Students make the changes

2011-04-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

This recent story from the Huffington Post polls students across the nation by asking them a simple question: if you were principal for a day, what would you change? The responses range from insightful and serious to quaint and goofy.

Above all, students are choosing to make the lunch menu more nutritious (good-bye, soda machines! hello, fruits and vegetables), with the occasional request for more pie. It's surprising and inspiring how often elementary school students stress the value of getting their peers' input on what kind of dynamic makes for a positive, healthy learning environment. Of course, there are those bizarre requests, such as the one to keep a colony of frogs in the school's main office. Overall, though, this aside from more "serious" education topics certainly gives some food for thought to educators and parents. Projects such as this poll do something that standardized education in America does not accomplish often enough: give students an individual voice, regardless of age. And sometimes, it is just time to let go and open up to student-directed, creative changes. The occasional pet frog in the principal's office may not be such a bad idea.

Get an iPhone, boost that grade? iPhone technology increases cognitive development in children

2011-04-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

Today we're hosting yet another shout-out to the role of technology in education for our students. Here are a few words from Ahmed Siddiqui, the founder of the innovative new learning technology, Go Go Mongo!. Ahmed says...

"When I was going to school, the most common means of learning were paper, pencils, and books. English is my second language, and I remember very clearly how difficult it was to make friends in kindergarten when I couldn’t even communicate with them. That was nearly 25 years ago. Kids today, especially ESL students, are going to school and still using the same old paper, pencils, and book methods I used while growing up. However, when these kids go home, they are surrounded by all sorts of great technology, from iPhones to Tablets, video games, and on-demand television. Why is it that we are not using these technologies to improve learning? More importantly, why aren’t we using these technologies to make learning fun?

I started down this path one year ago, searching for an answer. The iPhone intrigued me because of its sheer simplicity. My two-year-old cousin was able to unlock my iPhone and navigate to pictures, videos, and even games, without any instructions. Even though she couldn't speak English, she had already mastered the iPhone at the tender age of two. I had her play even more games to see what gaming dynamics she liked and started building a game for her skills set. My objective was to build something fun first, and then figure out how to sneak in the learning objectives. I wanted her to learn English from games at home so that when she goes to pre-school, she wouldn't face the same embarrassment I felt while first starting school.

Through numerous revisions, Go Go Mongo! was finally released in the Apple iTunes App Store, and received the “New and Noteworthy” award from Apple. The game uses the iPhone’s built-in accelerometer to control the main character, Mongo. Children have to use their motor skills to make Mongo run left to right to catch food falling from the sky, learning new vocabulary in the process. By using technology and implementing gaming dynamics, we can make learning fun again. Go Go Mongo! is now available on iTunes App Store here."

For more information, feel free to contact the founder of this exciting new tech tool for learning at ahmed@gogomongo.com.

But Mom, I learned it on the internet: online education a plus?

2011-04-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

More and more schools across the United States are resorting to online classes to boost graduation rates, help students with credit recovery, and deal with growing class sizes. This story in the New York Times juxtaposes the value of an online education with the benefits of learning in a real live classroom.

At times, an online class provides the opportunity to learn where otherwise students would not have one. For example, the Westbrook School District in Maine is offering students Chinese classes online through the Virtual High School Global Consortium, a non-profit online academy in Massachusetts. Westbrook is facing giant budget cuts and simply cannot afford to offer advanced language classes to small groups of students. At charter schools or low-income school districts, make-up classes for failing students are also being offered online on a growing basis. Idaho school districts recently passed a measure that requires schools to provide free laptops for all students, making 2011 seem like the prime year to be a student among the corn fields.

And yet, fancy Macbooks and internet hype fests aside, educators can't ignore the question: do we really learn better from a robot than when a thinking, breathing human being guides and instructs us? And what about the value of a classroom dynamic that pushes students to argue and challenge one another on current issues? Online education is often "cheap education." And internet courses do offer convenient alternatives for ill or otherwise indisposed students to catch up on work. But can a computer replace a human being, and if so, where are we headed...and do we really want to get there?

Bay Area schools take a major hit

2011-04-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Watch out, California's education system: the battle to keep your schools funded has only just begun. A recent story in the San Jose Mercury News details the impending budget cuts that are being thrust upon Bay Area schools. Yes, we've heard this one before. But this time, the amount of money being slashed from the education budget per student is bigger than ever, and the effects could be devastating.

California's schools are facing a potential $1000 cut from the budget allotted per student, a further loss of 30 days from the existing school year, and a resulting condition of near bankruptcy. Administrators and the Legislature may have to accept up to $13.5 billion in cuts by November 2011. What's even worse is that there seems to be no turning back on this deadly road; Governor Brown mentioned this Tuesday that he has given up changing the minds of GOP leaders who oppose a tax vote on this matter. This means that class sizes will go up and educators' salaries will decrease even more than in the past. Now that arts, music, and sports programs, not to mention electives, have been cut from many schools, core programs are going to be the recipients of this attack.

While many citizens will dismiss this news as yet another numbers-oriented report on the ubiquitous "budget crisis," rest assured: these measures will have brutal consequences for Califiornia's students, teachers, and parents, both current and future. One question remains: can anything still be done?

Learn languages, show off your smarts

2011-04-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Spanglish, Chinglish, Konglish? Is speaking multiple languages, one at school and others at home, hurting students more than helping them? Will toddlers get confused upon being shuffled into an all-English pre-school after speaking only Russian or Hindi at home?

Nonsense, experts say. Check out this story on NPR about the benefits of bilingualism for kids, which sustain bilingual and trilingual people well through their lifetimes:

After all, two-thirds of the world's children grow up speaking multiple languages, and one in five of American students speak one language at school, and a different language at home. What are we so afraid of? Parents who fear that their multilingual children suffer from stunted development should rethink their parenting strategies. Bilingual individuals are forced to keep multiple areas of the brain activated at the same time - even though they are speaking one language, the others are still present in their cognitive activity. As a result, studies have shown that bilingual individuals are less likely to suffer from cognitive disorders such as dementia later in life. Rock on, language learners!

Are you a Mac or a PC, and does it matter?

2011-03-31T12:03:00.000-07:00

Check out this response in The Huffington Post to the recent debate between Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, and Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, on the value of education. Pragmatics or self-enrichment, what truly matters in the typical college curriculum? Michael Roth, the President of Wesleyan University, argues that the answer is of little importance.

Education should serve as a stepping stone to a life of productivity. It's not an item purchased in a store, like the Kindle or iPad that Americans, some as young as three or four years old, are sporting these days. When you sign up for a college education, you aren't necessarily buying a ready-made product that comes with Features A B, and C. You're entering a complex world of many hues and tones, engaging in various disciplines that complement one another, and exploring different facets of your intelligence. Then you get a job. That's how Michael Roth sees it, and his answer to the Jobs-Gates debate rings true. Human beings have not yet become computers or robots (though this end looms dangerously on the horizon), and the best education for young minds needs to challenge all extremes of the human brain, not just ones geared toward STEM (science/technology/engineering/math). Thanks, Mr. Roth! You make us want to keep learnin'.

Spare the rod, spoil the child - punishment in America's schools

2011-03-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

What motivates a student to learn? The quest for perfectionism, the promise of a new car, competitive drive? A Snickers bar? Some schools in the U.S. are still saying: the threat of physical punishment. This morning's story in the New York Times reveals, shockingly, that many U.S. schools, particularly in the South, still resort to "small-scale" corporal punishment to get students to behave. Physical punishment in schools is still legal in twenty states, which amounts to nearly half of the United States.

No, it's not 1825. And yes, administrators such as Steve Harris, superintendent of City View Independent School District in Wichita Falls, Texas, labels practices such as "paddling" (using a paddle to hit students who misbehave) as "one of the tools in the tool box we use for discipline." It turns out that the recent use of this "tool" landed one of City View Junior/Senior High School students in the hospital for deep bruising. Parents at the school are protesting the use of physical punishment, but this is almost an anomaly. At St. Augustine High School in Louisiana, students and administrators both turned out to protest a recent ban on paddling, claiming that corporal discipline successfully put students in line at the school.

Violence as the way to success? In light of recent outbreaks of gun violence, perhaps it's time to think again, America - what are you teaching your students?

College Admissions Revealed

2011-03-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

High school seniors know on a very visceral level: the next couple weeks will be filled with cheers and tears as college admissions decisions start coming to mailboxes and inboxes around the country. NPR aired a wonderful piece this morning on the college admissions process at Amherst College. What was most revealing about this glimpse into the college admissions panel was how unbelievably human the process is.

This could be cause for simultaneous celebration and cries of injustice. The Amherst admissions committee reinforced the fact that after a certain point, admissions decisions are made based on factors that are more or less out of the control of the applicant. On one side, students should take solace in the fact that a YES or NO from their top choice colleges should not be treated as the final statement on their academic worth. On the other side, it can be disheartening to know that an applicant can only do so much to sell themselves to college admissions committees.

We at Tutorpedia wish all college-bound students the best of luck this application season; we hope that you receive a Thick Envelope this week from the college of your choice!

"Yes we can!" on No Child Left Behind, says Obama

2011-03-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

A recent story in The Washington Post details President Obama's latest take on the No Child Left Behind law. Obama recently urged Congress to overhaul existing policies of No Child Left Behind - to "seize this education moment," making for a "less intrusive" federal education policy that allows for a more individualized curriculum across schools in the nation. Current No Child Left Behind policies, first adopted in 2002 by President George W. Bush, require standardized testing in the U.S. to gauge students' reading and mathematical abilities. Schools that routinely under-perform qualify for aggressive intervention from the government to make education opportunities more equitable across socioeconomic lines.

It's about time, Mr. President. Our schools love standardized tests - who doesn't remember filling out those green and white scantron sheets as a student? Standardized testing, however, has not quite gotten America's students' to the greatest heights of their academic acumen. Students' test scores have been dropping steadily since the No Child Left Behind law sprung into action, and the achievement gap seems to be widening, not closing. And, while Obama's enthusiastic promises to reform the law serve as a positive sign of where education policy is headed, his statements remain exactly that - promises. Let's see where the President's most recent speech on No Child Left Behind actually get us. School officials are eager to see the law changed and to focus more on each student's individual learning capabilities. This time around, let's hope no one actually gets left behind.

"Culture of Calm" for troubled students

2011-03-23T11:00:00.001-07:00

A new curriculum in some of Chicago's charter schools aims to target outbreaks of violence in the student body. The schools participating in the curriculum are located in areas subject to gang violence and high crime rates. Mansley Career Academy High School in Chicago, profiled in this NPR story, is one of the first to promote the "Culture of Calm" as a way to curb violence and get students on the right track toward graduation and college.

At Mansley, Room 113 is officially the Peace Room, where students undergo mediation training to resolve conflicts between other students and teachers. Educator Ilana Zafran stresses to students that no matter how much anger they feel or what thoughts they have, they can remain in control of their actions. Some of the workshops focus on "de-escalation" and on tracing the roots of the students' anger. As a result, fewer fights and gun violence have erupted at Mansley Career Academy in the past several months, and the future does look brighter. Listen to the details of this school's insightful anti-violence curriculum here:

The rules are simple. If you get angry, just stay calm. In reality, though, this line of behavior does not come easily in some of the situations that students on Chicago's West Side undergo on a daily basis, some of them matters of life or death. Listening in to kids' needs and changing inherent codes of behavior are promising first steps to getting more students out of gun fights and into higher education.

Bill Gates faces Steve Jobs in an education stand-off

2011-03-21T10:44:00.001-07:00

Are you a "math person"? A tortured artist, a Dostoevsky aficionado? According to recent trends in how college degrees correlate with the job market, it doesn't matter. Go study those numbers anyway.

A recent debate in The New York Times sparked controversy by juxtaposing the value of liberal arts college degrees to those in math and science. Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, has spoken out in favor of individuality, creativity, and the humanities, while Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, argues in favor of pragmatics - a degree in engineering, math, or science will get college grads much further than recent liberal arts concoctions such as Peace Studies or a major such as Gender, Politics, and the Environment. It appears that some schools actually let students out into the world with majors entitled simply "Humanities."

Gates's argument hinges on the fact that students should attain specific skills that prepare them for specific careers. Jobs, on the other hand, insists that, without innovation and creativity, society simply can't move forward, no matter how many Wall Street-bound young adults receive diplomas each year. And while innovation can happen in business school or on the computer science track, there are crucial skills in communication and self-expression that develop when students follow a more liberal arts-centered course of study. With all due respect, Bill Gates, we need engineers and poets in this world. If humans were number-crunching machines at best - well, then they wouldn't be human. Now, if only English and accounting majors could get jobs out of college with equal ease, we'd truly have a progressive world. As of now, there is definite room for improvement.

Does practice really make perfect?

2011-03-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, her book on extreme parenting that drives children to succeed at all costs, has sparked a flurry of controversial responses, a recent article in The Atlantic by Sandra Tsing Loh being one of them. Loh does not defend the ever-demanding Tiger Mother who believes in learning by rote, rigorous academic drills, and what can be mildly deemed a "forceful" approach to parenting. Instead, she asks us to feel compassion for parents who use this approach. For, while their children do "succeed" more often than not, what's left at the end of the day is often nothing more than the satisfaction of having statistical excellence. These kids and parents rack up the numbers, but does practice, practice, practice (beyond all reasonable limits) inspire these students to continue learning? Does the whole process become an irrational game wherein perfection is the only acceptable goal?

Hard work, Loh acknowledges, is valuable, no doubt about it. But what do we have after we've reached perfection (another A+, a pile of Ivy League acceptance letters, a perfect report card)...is anything left? It depends on what drove the student to make sacrifices in the first place. Often, an overbearing parental presence will get us to a certain destination, but not much further. Students accepted by Harvard and Princeton, those who major in astrophysics and international economics, graduates who put in the hours at investment banking firms - have they gotten what they wanted? Perfection is not genius, and Beethoven didn't have a Tiger parent drilling him every waking hour of his childhood - though he certainly had the family connections. The bottom line is, practice and excellence certainly produce benefits. As for art, curiosity, innovation - these often get put on the back burner in today's rigorous race to be perfect.

Highlights from the 2011 Tutorpedia Foundation Benefit!

2011-03-16T10:45:00.001-07:00

Modern math gets a make-over

2011-03-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

The way children are being taught math in schools has changed radically over time - and just in the space of twenty or so years. A recent story on NPR describes how math classes in American schools stress the use of technology to produce charts, graphs, and spreadsheets, putting less emphasis on mental computation. As a result, kids are becoming more adept at manipulating laptops and plugging formulas into Microsoft Excel. However, when it comes to doing math quickly without the aid of modern gadgets, many children are at a loss. Memorizing the multiplication tables is now considered a feat worthy of excessive praise - just imagine not using a calculator!

As with any change, there are pluses and minuses to these new developments. Sure, America's children are learning how to operate technological devices that will surely come in handy in the business world. But are they prepared to compute solo under pressure? What areas of the brain are being left behind in this massive tech race to the top?

And remember to check out the blurb at the end of the NPR article, "The Way You Learned Math Is So Old School," which denies the existence of the so-called "math gene," which supposedly enables some people to excel in math more easily than others. Apparently most of us perform equally well when it comes to doing math in everyday situations. Yet, when faced with pen and paper (or, in the case of America's schoolchildren, calculator and spreadsheet), some of us undergo a "brain freeze" that slows down our thinking reflexes and halts performance. It all comes down to a test of confidence, and researchers claim that a little more of the "Yes, we can!" spirit could solve most of our mathematical dilemmas.

No start with no Head Start? The budget shrinks further...

2011-03-11T15:10:00.000-08:00

A recent push toward greater spending cuts, profiled in this story by the New York Times, hits certain education programs hard - namely Head Start, a pre-school-oriented program that provides education and some health care for three and four-year-olds whose families' incomes are low enough to qualify. The article profiles the state of Alaska, which has sustained large enough cuts to Head Start to nearly eliminate the program.

Though pre-school education rarely makes headline news, this recent cut to the system carries drastic implications. Programs like Head Start have had statistical significance in putting kids on the right track from an early age. Children who otherwise would have veered toward street gangs and drug deals have received the right push at the right time. Government initiatives like Head Start are strongly responsible for sending more kids in the United States to college each year. Academic motivation starts early, and it's important to give children in troubled circumstances precisely that - a "head start." Yet, now, according to the new Republican budget plan, programs like these are having to step to the sidelines and children in low-income households fend for themselves more and more.

This growing weakness in subsidized early education makes non-profit programs such as Tutorpedia's SES tutoring even more important as a final effort to give deserving students in dire economic circumstances a critical push in their studies.

When it comes to education, Finland does it right

2011-03-10T16:59:00.000-08:00

Jon Stewart's recent show features Diane Ravitch, an educational policy analyst who wrote The Death and Life of the American School System and compares European education systems and results with those in the United States. Listen to Ravitch speak out against standardized testing, which she says has no correlation with academic success. American schools, she claims, put stress and resources into the wrong channels - schools have become "testing factories" and do not devote enough time to the arts, civics, and education that motivate students to come to school.

Ravitch makes her greatest comparison between Finland and the United States. Finland's education system has strong teachers' unions, no standardized testing, and invidualized education practices - the polar opposite of the current situation in the United States. Yet Finland has a greater graduation rate than the United States, and its students perform better in school than do American kids, who are subjected to a slew of standardized tests, which the Finnish school system rejects. So, which model seems more effective in producing conscious citizens, passionate about learning and eager to contribute to the national working population? The answer is obvious, says Ravitch. Watch the episode and decide for yourself what America's schools are truly lacking today - more standardized testing or high-quality, well-rounded instruction that tailors to students' individual needs.

Less money, fewer problems? More college graduates take on public service jobs

2011-03-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

Are the days of investment banking and financial consulting over? Probably not. However, increasing numbers of college graduates are opting for careers in public service, detailed in this story by the New York Times. According to national statistics, 16 percent more college graduates took on jobs in government, while 11 percent more young people aligned their careers with non-profit work - and this is just in 2009. The number of applications for AmeriCorps has tripled from 2008 to 2010. Since the start of the recession three years ago, the private sector has given up 7 percent of its jobs, while the public sector has increased hiring by more than 3 percent.

The recession, though no doubt a trying time for those of us without generous trust funds, has done some good, after all. More young people are contributing their intelligence and energy to social projects and non-profit work, given the difficulty of finding jobs in the corporate sector when straight out of school . The greatest test of who's in the non-profit game circumstantially and whose heart has been won by a social cause will occur when the economic crisis lets up a bit, making those corporate jobs available yet again. In any case, these past few years have been a boon for the non-profit community, and college students who have encountered closed doors have certainly done a good job of finding those open windows...

Speaking of supporting non-profit causes, make sure to rate the Tutorpedia Foundation here. The more positive reviews the Tutorpedia Foundation receives, the more effective it will be in providing free personalized tutoring to Bay Area students who need it, but can't afford it. Take a minute or two to type us a great review, and give a deserving student the chance to succeed in school!

Gay-friendly curriculum in schools under attack

2011-03-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Unified School District has led the nation in promoting a gay-friendly curriculum in its schools, making gay history and Gay Pride month an integral part of life at institutions such as Mission High School, profiled in this article by the New York Times. Elementary schools routinely include words such as "gay" and "heterosexual" in children's vocabulary lists as early as kindergarten. Overall, educators', parents', and students' minds seem to be opening, and revolutionary companies such as Groundspark enjoy burgeoning sales, producing media and art that support homosexual relationships, which are then circulated through schools.

Recently, however, groups of parents have revolted against the administration at several Bay Area schools, claiming that gay-friendly content is being forced on their children, wrongly without their consent. At a recent board meeting, one parent complained that her nine-year-old daughter's crossword puzzle had the word "lesbian" as one of its answers. Some parents rely on the support of Pastor P. Daniels Jefferson, who leads a popular Christian evangelical group, the Vallejo Faith Organization. Jefferson believes that God's word should trump any novelties in the school curriculum and that this pro-tolerance campaign will remain a brief phase in the education debate. Sadly, recent reports on the increase in school bullying in the U.S. make a terrible parallel with the attack on gay rights advocacy in schools. San Francisco Unified School District has yet to defend its claim of being more progressive than its counterparts in the Bay Area - let's see how the district weathers this storm...

Fewer teachers, fewer students - what's Rhode Island thinking?

2011-03-03T00:18:00.000-08:00

The whole nation's teaching force is taking a major hit this winter, as government officials crack down on teacher unions, ignoring protesters' pleas. Shockingly, Mayor Angel Taveras has approved the dismissal of at least 2,000 educators in Providence by this March to alleviate an impending deficit of $100 million for the next fiscal year, which amounts to 20% of the city's budget. Critics have accused Taveras of ordering the terminations as a simple way to silence the debate between teachers' unions and the state government, an eerie echo of what Wisconsin's governor seems to be pondering this winter as well.

The upheaval in Wisconsin has promptly infected the East coast, as 1,500 protesters crammed the city hall on March 3rd to rally against the massive cuts. Citizens worry about the implications of the government's decision to fire such a colossal number of educators. And there is just cause indeed; it's simple math, really. The fewer experienced teachers remain in the schools, the worse the outcome that we can expect from the students. As matters stand, no less than 80% of Providence's student population is black or Latino, and a vast proportion qualifies as low-income. Test scores from Providence rank among the lowest in the U.S. as a whole, on par with those from the nation's most troubled urban areas. Will firing more teachers really do wonders for the U.S. economy or will we sink deeper into the pit of deficits, crime, and moral stagnation?

Wisconsin, Rhode Island...what's next? A logical guess may be the West coast. California has certainly faced its fair share of problems on the education front over the past few months. Let's hope that Governor Davis shows more backbone than officials in other U.S. states, stopping this train before it runs off the tracks, leaving the aspirations of countless under-privileged students in ruins.

What are you prepping for? Test prep courses take a hit

2011-03-01T14:15:00.001-08:00

A recent article from Education Week by Caralee J. Adams, courtesy of Tutorpedia's Director Seth Linden, questions the effect of expensive test preparation courses on student scores. Test preparation for the SATs and the ACT - and let's not forget the myriad of graduate admissions tests that will eventually follow in their wake, such as the LSAT - has evolved into a veritable industry. Companies such as Revolution Prep routinely promise increases in student scores by 200-300 points after the completion of one prep course. The Princeton Review and Kaplan have, until recently, provided bios of individual students who claim supreme satisfaction after bumping their scores up by hundreds of points.

Should you believe the hype? Not necessarily, claims Adams in Education Week. Test prep courses, which are starting to seem like a pre-requisite for college admission, are phenomenally expensive and not all test prep companies - though Revolution Prep is one of them - offer scholarships to students from low-income families. Parents shell out hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars for the promised increase in test scores, which could more often than not be achieved with the help of free online practice tests and other tools now accessible through the internet community. Students who have the will to study and make individualized study plans often do as well, if not better, than those who are spoon-fed the same tactics in a test prep course. And the most important catalyst for success, experts say, is a solid base in English and math, which students should be receiving in school. Read, study, and put your heart into what you're learning, says the author of this latest post in Education Week, and you've already got a lot going for you.

Hope for students with disabilities, all in a morning cup of coffee

2011-02-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

A recent story from the New York Times profiles a remarkable group of students at Woodrow Wilson Middle School in New Jersey, who are fighting autism by running a coffee shop on the school's premises. The kids are all part of a special class for students with autism or other learning disabilities, and the class is in charge of operating the middle school's coffee shop every Friday.

The experience is great for the students, who are forced to step outside their comfort zone and interact with customers, serving lattes and smiles in the process. The coffee shop is a nice addition to the school itself, as it strengthens community by bringing teachers and students - those with and without disabilities - together over doughnuts and coffee. Most teachers are regular customers, and some regularly donate homemade cupcakes and pastries to the menu. The coffee shop is the brainchild of 26-year-old teacher Thomas Macchiaverna, who wanted to give the students a chance to learn more about social interaction and business skills in a real-life setting.

Macchiaverna's experiment is yielding great results - the students with diagnosed disabilities are becoming more and more comfortable working in the public arena. Students like twelve-year-old Norman Shamy look forward to the days of work serving coffee, and parents are equally pleased with the results. These happenings at Woodrow Wilson Middle School demonstrate how crucial learning outside the classroom truly is for students' development. Learning by rote and other traditional instructional methods that prepare students to crunch numbers just aren't cutting it anymore. Let's give students a chance to challenge themselves socially as well as academically - after all, today's middle-school barista could be tomorrow's Bill Gates.

Teachers' pleas in Wisconsin largely ignored

2011-02-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

Recent news headlines have all pointed our attention to Madison, Wisconsin, where unions are protesting Governor Walker's proposed law against collective bargaining rights. Most recently, the Governor has officially refused unions' offers for compromise. In a recent story on NPR, Walker claims that his aim is to cut state and local spending in an effort to boost job prospects for citizens, salvaging what's left of the economy.

So, the stalemate continues and union members remain on strike, including many teachers, some of whom have even brought students with them to protest:

After all, the National Education Association represents a total of 3.2 million workers. If teachers' rights suffer, we can anticipate problems in the classroom as students lose access to the instruction that they deserve.

Speaking of granting education rights to deserving students...yesterday's fundraiser for the Tutorpedia Foundation was a grand success - thank you to those of you who came out for the 2nd Annual Benefit at Minna Gallery! Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to support FREE one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-served school districts.

A word from the Tutorpedia Foundation's Directors

2011-02-22T19:45:00.000-08:00

Here's a final reminder about the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit TOMORROW, February 23rd, from 6-9 pm at Minna Gallery in downtown San Francisco. Listen to Seth and David give the scoop about our fundraiser:

Don't miss out on our fantastic panel speakers, auction and raffle items, and scrumptious hors d'oeuvres! We expect to see you there, and so do all those Bay Area students who deserve a high-quality education but can't afford it...remember, all proceeds from the fundraiser go to fund free one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-privileged students. See you at Minna Gallery!

'Parent trigger' law is a step forward

2011-02-22T04:59:00.000-08:00

The California legislature recently passed a law that enables parents to vote on major changes in schools that are chronically failing to serve their students' needs, the details of which are described in this recent SF Gate article. According to this law, parents are authorized to organize and petition for changes to their students' education, and a mere 75 out of California's 9,000 schools qualify as under-performing enough to merit use of this legislature.

And, as detailed in the article, sometimes an attempt to use this law results in a major letdown. McKinley Elementary School in Compton, Los Angeles, is currently embroiled in a lawsuit between parent groups and the school administration, which denies legitimate cause for change. Yet, this is an important precursor to what will hopefully be an increase in parent involvement to get further funding for student education. With the proposed state budget cuts in hand, we know that all efforts to salvage funds are necessary.

Want to make education possible for a student who can't afford it? Remember to join us at the Tutorpeida Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit this Wednesday, February 23rd, at Minna Gallery in downtown San Francisco. Apart from an awesome silent auction, raffle, and supreme catered food, we will be hosting distinguished speakers Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the revolutionary education tech company Grockit. All proceeds will fund free one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-served students! Don't miss out on this chance to make a difference for Bay Area students today!

'Tiger Mom' Amy Chua admits to mistakes

2011-02-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

Check out this brief interview on PBS with professor and writer Amy Chua, whose book on rigorous parenting was profiled on our blog last month. Interestingly, here Chua pulls back from what seemed to be a harsher voice and talks about making mistakes while raising her kids to succeed at all costs. She admits that what she deems the "Tiger mother" approach, which she ties closely to the Chinese immigrant experience, resulted in many squabbles with her young daughters when they were growing up and routinely had to give up socializing with other kids in order to practice violin and piano. Amy Chua claims that Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother is a "not a how-to guide, it's a memoir" - admitting that children do need a sense of balance between work and play, or calamity ensues. Chua also defends "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior," the article in The Wall Street Journal on turning children into perfect students that created so much commotion last month.

The bottom line here, though, is that students do need more motivation in school than a screaming parent, and that there's more to life than scoring 100%, as opposed to 99.9%. For an enlightening dialogue on student needs, join the conversation on February 23 at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011, featuring speakers Vicki Abeles, the director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the educational tech company Grockit. All proceeds go to support personalized tutoring for the Bay Area's low-income students.

U.S. education policy chooses numbers over letters

2011-02-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

Alfie Kohn's latest contribution to The Washington Post traces the rising importance of what he calls "STEM" subjects - science, technology, engineering, and math - over the humanities when it comes to prioritizing education. Kohn criticizes Obama's State of the Union for calling attention to math and science in lieu of literature and the social sciences. Any subject involving numbers today is immediately deemed more "practical," and most, if not all, school funding routinely goes to the advancement of math and science programs.

Kohn concedes that there is something reassuring about quantitative subjects - about having an exact number be the solution to every problem. Obama's speech equated the quality of a nation's education with its competitiveness in the international arena, and it seems that schools take quality to depend solely on technological and quantitative advancement. Reading and writing proficiency fall behind, a lazy afterthought of what students should be learning. Maybe it's time to redefine excellence for our students. Let's try linking success to concepts like interest in learning, the literary imagination, and life skills in communication. After all, there is a staggering number of engineering and science graduates today who are overqualified for the type of work they will routinely do. Mathematical proofs and physics theories don't quite provide the exact skills that a good communicator in the working world should have. In the fight to improve our schools, let's not forget about reading, words, and the value of a hearty political debate. Take a look at how Kohn views the value of words over numbers here.

For more discussion on modern students' priorities, come to the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit at the Minna Gallery on Wednesday, February 23 at 6 pm. We will hear from Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, along with featured speakers Dennis Littky of Big Picture Learning and Farb Nivi of Grockit . Don't miss our exciting auction items, take part in the raffle, and try the delicious food! All proceeds from the event will benefit one-on-one tutoring for under-privileged students in the Bay Area.

The achievement gap gets narrower, thanks to Dr. Ferguson

2011-02-16T11:52:00.000-08:00

Dr. Ronald Ferguson, a professor of Harvard University who is based in Cambridge, is conducting studies on the achievement gap between black and white students and identifying its causes in an effort to turn the statistical game around. Profiled in this New York Times article, Dr. Ferguson chooses to quantify causes of the gap rather than to blame the disparity on cultural differences. At T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia, he has found that 55% of the students who are white females maintain an A to A- average, while less than 20% of black students overall could lay claim to the same grades.

The causes? Half of the reason, claims Dr. Ferguson, is family income. Among families living in suburbia, 79% of blacks are in the bottom 50%, while 73% of whites are in the top half when it comes to wealth. What does this mean? In general, white families in Virginia make more money, and their kids do better in school as a result of these added resources. The other leading cause behind the achievement gap, postulates Ferguson, is that black children simply have fewer academic resources at their fingertips growing up. In a study conducted by Ferguson, 80% of white parents had 100 or more books in the house available for kids, while only 40% of the black parents did so. Ferguson and his colleagues are working to make more educational resources available for black children in the suburbs of Virginia, hoping to make this project a nation-wide campaign that will increase literacy for all ages, closing the famous achievement gap.

Come join our dialogue on what students today really need to succeed! Attend the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on March 23, 2011, where we will delve into the future of education along with Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the revolutionary tech company Grockit. Proceeds will fund one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-served students.

State budget cuts: good-bye, one billion dollars!

2011-02-11T14:51:00.001-08:00

California's proposed budget cuts for 2011 will cut one billion dollars from higher education - namely UCs, CSUs, and community colleges, specified Governor Jerry Brown. Check out this video with a break-up of the state's new budget plan:

Governor Brown's cuts remove funding for 90,500 students - a staggering number that can only grow as community colleges and state college campuses continue to endure losses, estimated to last at least five consecutive years. If fewer college students get access to higher education, will fewer high school students retain the motivation to pursue a college degree? How can we counterbalance the proposed cuts to education by keeping middle and high school students engaged? Loss of student drive is just one potential side effect of Brown's devastating measure, which has also led school districts to deny teachers tenure in light of the proposed cuts on education.

Let's hope that the tables will turn and the state passes some positive education reform in the coming months, as promised by Obama's State of the Union in January. Don't stay on the sidelines as we discuss measures central to the development of education in the U.S.! Join the conversation at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit in San Francisco on February 23, 2011. We will be hosting speakers Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the educational test prep company Grockit - all at the Minna Gallery in downtown San Francisco. Proceeds will fund one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-privileged students.

Another perspective on "elite" educaiton

2011-02-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

John Tierney's recent article in The Atlantic provides a nice summary of some of the latest developments in education news from the last year. In general, Tierney concludes, students in high school are spending more time stressing out, while those in college devote more time to drinking and partying than actually studying - perhaps a by-product of the excessive stress that they have endured in school? The decline in college students' overall mental well-being is also worrisome, Tierney adds, as the numbers of those who seek psychiatric care for depression and stress rise every year.

Tierney's point on the partying vs. studying ratio of America's college students can be called into question - many of US college students excel at undergraduate institutions due to the sweat of their brow, so to speak, not because of pure luck or favoritism by a professor. Although depictions of contemporary college life by modern media productions such as The Social Network certainly show us the underbelly of life at elite college campuses, drugs and drinking included.

The final point that Tierney makes about high school student life presents the juiciest tidbit for consideration. Tierney argues that, as a teacher at an elite girls' private high school, he routinely sees students waste time on Facebook, computer games, and other temptations of technology. The students are not stressed so much as distracted and lazy, Tierney concludes. Does Vicki Abeles's Race to Nowhere, a powerful documentary on the modern-day stresses of contemporary student life, then give a false portrayal of the challenges facing educators today?

Don't speak so quickly, Mr. Tierney. While the advent of technological distractions does present issues of concern, students are certainly struggling under the burden of academic performance rather than learning for its own sake. Perhaps Facebook and the iPhone simply provide channels for students to vent their frustration over a rigid, unsatisfying academic environment. If we change our schools, then maybe we can change students' attention spans and emotional health as well, and for the better.

To continue the conversation on education and our students’ future, attend the Tutorpedia Foundation’s 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011 in San Francisco. We will hear from Vicki Abeles herself, along with featured speakers Dennis Littky of Big Picture Learning and Farb Nivi of Grockit . Don't miss our exciting auction items, take part in the raffle, and try the delicious food! All proceeds from the event will benefit one-on-one tutoring for under-privileged students in the Bay Area.

More difficulties, fewer dreams in the wake of the Dream Act

2011-02-08T13:58:00.000-08:00

Students at colleges and high schools all over the country are facing new challenges after the Senate failed to approve the Dream Act on December 10, 2010. Those students who had previously "come out" about their illegal immigrant status now have to live in constant fear of being deported, says Maricela Aguilar, a junior at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin whose own struggle is profiled here in the New York Times.

Nor is the road toward achieving legal status in any way clear for these students. What's more, some states - like Georgia, Virginia, Arkansas, Nebraska, Indiana, and Wisconsin - are considering banning illegal immigrants from attending public universities or simply denying in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants, thereby making it too expensive in many cases for the students to attend college.

It's a shame to deny United States classrooms in high schools and colleges the intelligent input of some young minds simply because their parents shirked immigration officials fifteen or twenty years ago. The students themselves, like Aguilar in the article mentioned above, or Jose Varible, a student in Kenosha, Wisconsin, have grown up in the states and possess the curiosity and intelligence that make them valuable contributors to college and high school campuses. It's up to the House and Senate to decide whether these kids stay or go in the long run. In the latter case, it's going to be our loss by far.

To further discuss the future of our nation's education, join the conversation at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011, featuring speakers Vicki Abeles, the director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the educational tech company Grockit. All proceeds go to support personalized tutoring for the Bay Area's low-income students.

Separate but equal? Let's not go there again...

2011-02-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

Re-segregation in Charlotte, North California? Despite what Michelle Obama has been saying about Charlotte's warm, forward-thinking ambiance in a recent story powered by NPR and the Root, the situation in Charlotte's school districts seems to be reaching a critical point with respect to socioeconomic and race relations.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District eliminated a busing program in 2002, a system that normally ensured that kids from low-income, more "troubled" areas of the city got transportation to a more competitive school in a different part of town. The program was aimed at encouraging diversity. Now, North Carolina is apparently encouraging the separation of poor and rich students, which usually translates to a separation based on race. Most recently in 2011, the Wake County School District in North Carolina has said "no to the social engineers!" - abolishing a re-integration policy that gave students access to schools regardless of their socioeconomic status. Students are being increasingly shuffled into neighborhood schools as school politics encourage the poor kids to stay with the other poor kids. In our world today, this usually means that students who are minorities are clustered together, while the more wealthy school districts grow increasingly white.

Let's say it like it is. Psychologist Beverly Tatum's book on racial identity, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, now has a new answer to the question posed by the provocative title. Why, Beverly? Because our school districts said so.

Hopefully though, that's not the final answer, as the 2012 Democratic National Convention will be held in no other city but Charlotte, North Carolina. Let's expect more dialogue on these issues and the institution of more busing programs in the South, as well as other parts of the United States. After all, what do kids really need in a classroom? To be exposed to the world as it is and learn to appreciate cultural diversity or none of the above?

Continue this conversation with us at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011 in San Francisco. Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, will be making an appearance as guest speaker, along with Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the test-prep company Grockit. All proceeds will go to fund free personalized tutoring for students in the Bay Area's low-income school districts.

Batman gets a new agenda, and glasses

2011-02-03T15:29:00.000-08:00

Monday night's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart hosted Bill Gates in a dialogue that, while focusing on how the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation aims to eradicate polio around the world, also praised Bill Gates for his efforts to reform education in the United States.

Stewart closed the show by quipping that Bill Gates is the new Batman, out to save the world. Bill Gates acknowledged that the next focus of the Gates Foundation after instituting the polio vaccine in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India will be personalizing the educational system in his home country. Gates wants to give teachers the tools they need to ensure success in the classroom, he stated during the interview. Education is the first step toward eliminating poverty - also evidenced by Greg Mortenson's work in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the Three Cups of Tea campaign. Educating one woman, Mortenson claims from experience in his novel Three Cups of Tea, can change an entire community.

Gates's new focus successfully underscores the spread of the anti-poverty, pro-education campaign worldwide. If Gates is the new Batman, hopefully the United States can begin to eliminate poverty and crime, replacing drug cartels with schools and drug dealers with educators. Take a look at the interview here:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-31-2011/bill-gates

Passionate about education? Want to look and act like Batman? Come join the conversation at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23rd at the Minna Gallery in San Francisco. Take part in a dialogue along with Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the revolutionary education tech company Grockit. Proceeds will fund one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-served students.

Two percent and counting

2011-02-01T14:43:00.000-08:00

When President Obama urged more young Americans to become teachers in last week's State of the Union address, he sparked more than a nation-wide recruitment campaign. This Monday movie maker Spike Lee and Education Secretary Arne Duncan teamed up at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia to specifically encourage more black men to become educators, with more details here at the Huffington Post. Lee noted that, today, there are 8,500 unfilled teaching positions available in the nation, recorded on teach.gov. There are 3 million teachers in the United States. Less than two percent are black men.

Lee and Duncan repeatedly stressed the importance of education, which should be on par with business, technology, and law for graduates choosing their profession. Those who choose to pursue degrees in education have the opportunity to influence generations of children, who grow into adolescents, who grow into young adults - who, in turn, choose whether to work or to take the side streets, entering the world of crime. Lee and Duncan hinted at the fact that black male teachers have the powerful potential to appeal to black male students, showing them a straight path that they can follow.

And it's true - we do need to create role models. But at what cost? Monday's talk at Morehouse College sparked a wave of interest from the media, but will it be enough to incite more black college undergraduates to enroll in graduate schools of education? The wage gap between that of a starting teacher and a financial consultant remains embarrassingly wide. And Spike Lee himself - arguably another black male role model for today's students - is a film-maker, not a teacher. He chose Hollywood, not a classroom in the Bronx. It's that simple. Again, America, we're delivering well on media coverage and well-articulated speeches, but not so much on concrete steps that would ensure change. Duncan's take on the TEACH campaign, which encourages minorities to study education, is a small step forward. Here's hoping more is on the way!

To talk more about issues central to education in the U.S. today, come to Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit, on February 23 in San Francisco, for a dialogue with the Director of Race to Nowhere, Vicki Abeles, along with other education visionaries: Dennis Littky, co-founder and co-director of the internship-based charter network, Big Picture Learning; and Farb Nivi, founder of the innovative ed-tech company, Grockit. Spread the word to your friends and colleagues, educators and non-educators alike, because we can all be motivated to make a change in how and why we educate. Great food, impressive auction items, and a raffle will top off the evening. All proceeds from the evening provide free one-on-one tutoring for low-income students in the Bay Area.

We do big things? One would hope!

2011-01-28T19:22:00.001-08:00

President Obama made clear on Thursday that education will be a priority for the administration in the coming year. Obama even talked about restructuring the education system to incorporate new directions, claiming that the answer to many of the nation's problems can be found in the place where human consciousness first takes self-directed form, the school classroom. It's time to fight the budget cuts with innovation. It's time to invest in early childhood education, which will in turn help fight the global economic crisis, raising GDP down the line. What's more, it's imperative that we reach out to America's rural population, making sure that kids in middle America - one in four of whom is now living in poverty, versus one in five of just a year ago, claims Mark Shriver of the Huffington Post - get access to the education that they deserve. And, finally, local communities need to be more involved in the battle to save our schools from floundering, specifically through partnerships between public organizations and private businesses.

These are all great goals. The president has never failed when it comes to outlining the future of policy reform. Now let's just hope that conversation will lead to action, and that inspirational speeches about education policy will evolve from mere words to the creation of concrete change.

For this to happen, we all need to act. You can start by taking part in the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit at the Minna Gallery in San Francisco on February 23, 2011. We will be hosting speakers Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the educational test prep company Grockit. Proceeds will fund one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-privileged students. Don't miss out!

Mental health and academic achievement

2011-01-27T15:24:00.000-08:00

A recent article in the New York Times, "Record Level of Stress Found in College Freshmen," juxtaposes falling student mental health with record-breaking levels of academic performance. In a national survey from 2010, the percentage of freshman students in college who reported above average mental health is a mere 52 percent - the lowest level in a quarter-century, according to Tamar Lewin, author of the article. Lewin also speculates that, because more women reported being stressed than men, some men withheld actual reports of emotional health issues, since boys are typically socialized to be less responsive when talking about feelings. At the same time, students' drive to "achieve" and overall academic ability have been rising, with three-quarters of the students polled now stating that their skills are above average. This phenomenon may be a reflection of the growing perception that a Bachelor's degree is no longer enough to get a well-paying job after college. And that, in turn, is how students start to think while still in high school...

So maybe it's time to start looking at what we want our students to value in high school: grades or a sense of balance? Grades are important, but do we really want middle and high schoolers to turn into “successful” college freshmen who, nevertheless, harbor intense mental health problems? After all, as the recent shooting in Tucson, Arizona suggests…we don’t know what may come of emotional problems that spiral out of control. Probably nothing good. So let’s reduce stress and think about enjoying learning for a change…

To continue the conversation on education and our students’ future, attend the Tutorpedia Foundation’s 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011 in San Francisco. We will hear from Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, along with featured speakers Dennis Littky of Big Picture Learning and Farb Nivi of Grockit . Don't miss our exciting auction items, take part in the raffle, and try the delicious food! All proceeds from the event will benefit one-on-one tutoring for under-privileged students in the Bay Area.

What's next for education?

2011-01-25T14:59:00.001-08:00

Check out this video of Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who talks about the coming goals for educational policy in the United States for 2011. President Obama's annual State of the Union address is scheduled for tonight, and it's natural to be thinking about what this means for education in the states. Senator Bennet recounts that, as of now, only 9% of 9th graders living in poverty today can expect to graduate from a four-year college and that a mere 15% of U.S. 8th graders who live in poverty are proficient in math. The numbers speak for themselves.

America is lagging, and something needs to be done to close the achievement gap, not widen it. According to this recent SF Gate article, California's budget cuts may result in fewer students being admitted not only to UC campuses, but to community colleges, which have traditionally offered a way for lower-income students to pursue an education. How can this be the answer to today's economic and educational crisis? I guess we'll see what the President has to say tonight...

To continue this discussion, make sure to attend the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on March 23, 2011, where we will delve into the future of education along with Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the revolutionary tech company Grockit. Proceeds will fund one-on-one tutoring for the Bay Area's under-served students.

Community in our schools

2011-01-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

This month's tragic shootings in Tucson, Arizona have altered America's sociopolitical landscape and forced us to question matters ranging from gun control to the adequacy of mental health care in our country's educational institutions. After all, the attacker is a community college student, while one of the victims was a nine-year-old girl in elementary school. Gary Rhoades comments in this recent entry in the Washington Post about the issues that the attacks have raised for school institutions. While Rhoades focuses on university campuses, I think that we need to pose the same questions for elementary, middle, and high school communities in the United States. Are educators doing enough to provide safe, tolerant learning environments for students where individual problems are met with adequate care? Rhoades insists that universities - and thereby schools - must be "public, open" spaces that encourage the spirit of democracy and do not shove students' individual problems on the back burner.

Frighteningly, it seems that today's schools are veering farther from this ideal as students' grades ultimately weigh more with educators than do "side" issues such as mental health. Perhaps it's time to re-evaluate how we envision our nation's educational institutions and discuss what changes need to be made to avoid calamities such as the January 8th shootings in Arizona.

For an engaging dialogue on today's education, join the conversation at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011, featuring speakers Vicki Abeles, the director of Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the educational tech company Grockit. All proceeds go to support personalized tutoring for the Bay Area's low-income students.

Hyper-parenting and over-schooling : the Tiger Mother approach

2011-01-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

In Slate's latest article on Amy Chua's Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Ann Hulbert questions Chua's parenting techniques in pushing her two daughters to excel, both in and outside the classroom. Chua's latest book is semi-autobiographical, expressing her belief in the Tiger Mother approach to parenting: push your child to succeed, or else. Rigorous self-discipline results in top performance, and the ends always justify the means. In Chua's non-fiction account, the main character, Amy Chua herself, has two daughters, both of whom are forced to sacrifice a minimum of three hours daily for piano and violin practice, after they excel in their academic studies at school, of course. Chua pushes her daughters to be nothing short of prodigies, and perfection is the only acceptable mark for Sophia and Lulu, her two girls.

Chua's book has made a big splash in national media, forcing us to question our standards when it comes to sending children to school. Do we want them to learn and grow into self-sufficient adults who are comfortable in their own skin or do we want them to excel...or else? Then again, the answer to this question fully depends on how you define excellence. Chua seems to define it quantitatively. Her oldest, Sophia, places first at a piano competition and wins a debut at Carnegie Hall, an all-star achievement for a fourteen-year-old. And then there's that omnipresent goal on the horizon, hovering like a slightly cliche ghost: acceptance by an Ivy League college.

Parents can't help but be slightly swayed by the spirit of the Tiger Mother. She pushes, and she gets results - Lulu and Sophia continue to excel in academics and extra-curriculars. But is there more to the story? Are these kids happy, are they creative, are they individuals or pawns in the statistics of excellence game?

To hear more about these topics, stop by the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011 in San Francisco to hear from Vicki Abeles, director of Race to Nowhere, along with featured speakers Dennis Littky of Big Picture Learning and Farb Nivi of Grockit. Don't miss our exciting auction items, take part in the raffle, and try the delicious food! All proceeds from the event will benefit one-on-one tutoring for under-privileged students in the Bay Area.

Vicki Abeles on CNN

2011-01-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

Here's a recent interview from CNN - Vicki Abeles, the director of Race to Nowhere, comments on the making of her documentary, her motivation in its creation, and her vision for America's education. Abeles believes in a grassroots movement that pays attention to students' individual learning needs. Why wait, she asks, for the government to institute appropriate policies when we can begin the revolution right here in our own homes and our own classrooms? Abeles highlights the need for an open dialogue about the changes needed in education today.

Just such a dialogue is what our own Tutorpedia Foundation will be hosting on February 23, 2011 in San Francisco. Abeles herself will be making an appearance as guest speaker, along with Dennis Littky, co-founder of the charter school network Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of the test-prep company Grockit.

Come join the conversation! All proceeds will go to fund free personalized tutoring for students in the Bay Area's low-income school districts.

Stressed in high school? There's a way out!

2011-01-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

'Tis the season for college applications, AP test preparation, and an increase in students' stress all around...What are schools and parents doing to accommodate these changes and ease learning conditions for students? It turns out that teachers and parents are trying to come up with solutions.

In a recent story - "What's New In High School? Stress Reduction 101" - published by NPR, National Public Radio looks at the myriad ways in which it is possible to transform a classroom from a metaphorical torture chamber into a - gasp - enjoyable learning space. Students become super heroes who tame the Calculus Monster, and parents discuss the options available to those who want their children to learn in a less soul-draining school environment.

This point brings us back to the reality that America’s students are facing on a daily basis: school is starting to be less and less about the student, and more and more about rankings, prestige, and the quantitative analysis of academic achievement. Individual learning patterns and creativity get shoved on the back burner as students struggle to get the top grade, accumulate perfect transcripts, and be accepted by the most “prestigious” college. The question is…what happens after they get there? Does any desire to learn still remain? Can we change the system to cater, instead, to students’ intrinsic learning needs that rely on creativity and a simple hunger for knowledge?

We will be talking about this and a lot more at the Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit on February 23, 2011 in San Francisco. Featured speakers include Vicki Abeles, director of the documentary Race to Nowhere, Dennis Littky, co-founder of the non-profit Big Picture Learning, and Farb Nivi, founder of Grockit. Come join the conversation about how best to serve the needs of students from underserved schools in the Bay Area!

Race To Nowhere & 2011 Tutorpedia Benefit

2011-01-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

I first saw Vicki Abeles's documentary Race To Nowhere together with 200 parents last week at Woodside High school, which was featured in Davis Guggenheim's Waiting For Superman. I saw it again last night at Temple Emanu-el in San Francisco with over 300 people. Movies are so much more powerful when you see it your community, and this film has reverberated within 500 communities nationwide. While I enjoyed Waiting For Superman, it is produced for Hollywood and quite biased: too pro-charter school and unfairly anti-teacher and teacher unions. Abeles, a Lafayette parent of three, created this movie for all of us that has the potential to catalyze a grassroots movement of parents, educators, and students. We can all relate to this movie. We've all been stressed out with too much homework, too many tests, too many extracurricular activities, and not enough free time, play time, and down time. Students sometimes feel this as early as 4th grade, and schedules get more crowded, classes get less relevant, and "doing school" (apologies to Denise Pope) becomes more challenging and less meaningful.

As Stanford's Education Dean Deborah Stipek says in the film, "we need to re-think the way we do education in America." One of those ways is by making education more real, relevant, and appropriately rigorous for our children. We need to focus on personal relationships. We need to cultivate critical thinking skills and problem solving techniques. We need more project-based learning. We need to make education more personalized, and focus on the whole child - the artistic and creative child, not just the math whiz and grammar queen.

Come join the conversation at Tutorpedia Foundation's 2nd Annual Benefit, on February 23 in San Francisco, for a dialogue with the Director of Race to Nowhere, Vicki Abeles, along with other education visionaries: Dennis Littky, co-founder and co-director of the internship-based charter network, Big Picture Learning; and Farb Nivi, founder of the innovative ed-tech company, Grockit. Spread the word to your friends and colleagues, educators and non-educators alike, because we can all be motivated to make a change in how and why we educate. Great food, impressive auction items, and a raffle will top off the evening. All proceeds from the evening provide free one-on-one tutoring for low-income students in the Bay Area.

Meet Pat and Paulette: Tutorpedia Parents

2010-12-06T16:27:00.000-08:00

Pat and Paulette, parents from San Carlos, CA, explain how Tutorpedia tutors helped their daughter improve her confidence in school.

Thinking about a Masters In Education?

2010-11-29T10:52:00.000-08:00

For those teachers or aspiring teachers thinking about graduate work in education, there are an overwhelming number of choices. We've found a great website to help people navigate the many options available to students who are seeking masters-level work in education (which includes teacher credentialing programs). Both of Tutorpedia's Directors have Masters degrees in education (from Harvard and Brown), and believe strongly in teachers and tutors who further their own education.

Check it out: www.mastersineducation.com

Meet Frans: Tutorpedia Tutor

2010-11-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

Frans studied chemistry in the Netherlands and has also earned his Masters in Education and teaching credential. Now he's in the Bay Area. When he's not playing soccer, Frans is working with students as a Tutorpedia tutor!

Meet Natalie, Rachel, and Ashley: Tutorpedia Foundation

2010-11-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

Hear how Tutorpedia improved Rachel's and Ashley's academic success.

We Got Thumbtacked!

2010-11-09T11:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Ashley and the good folks at Thumbtack.com for featuring Tutorpedia on their blog! Thumbtack is a website whose goal is to connect people with trustworthy local services, and we're honored to be one of those services. Tutorpedia is today's Thumbtack Spotlight - read about what sets us apart!

Tao: Tutorpedia's Holistic and Student-Centered Approach to Learning

Meet Mignone: Tutorpedia Parent

2010-11-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

Listen to one of our parents explain why she chose Tutorpedia for all 3 of her kids. Thank you Mignone!

Changing Education Paradigms

2010-10-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

A great animated video of how our education system got to where it is today, and why it's so important to reform it.

Oprah Winfrey on "Waiting for Superman"

2010-09-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

There's a bold new movie out, "Waiting for Superman", and it's getting lots of press. Time launched their cover story with the movie; The New York Times wrote an article last week; and now Oprah is talking to Bill Gates and Davis Guggenheim, the director of the movie, about this film and its message. And she gave $1 million to various charter schools, including Lionel Wilson Prep in Oakland, an Aspire public school, and Summit Prep High School, in Redwood City (full disclosure, and proud note: Tutorpedia and the Tutorpedia Foundation work with both schools).

We will be getting a group of tutors together to see this movie soon. I won't comment on it before then, but I want to see what the hype is about. Your thoughts?

Want to make a difference?

2010-09-22T16:15:00.000-07:00

Be a tutor. Be a mentor. There are so many students right now who need help with reading, writing, and math skills. Science literacy. Technology. College applications. They're behind with homework, studying for their exams, they could use a caring, experienced adult to walk them through their school work, to make it less daunting, to engage them in the learning process. Give a child that spark to succeed! Build a relationship with them that motivates them and encourages them to learn.

Right now Tutorpedia has openings at several Bay Area schools:

Summit Prep, a charter high school in Redwood City: M/W from 3-5pm tutoring pre-calculus and chemistry
Horace Mann, a public middle school in San Francisco: M from 2:30-3:30pm tutoring basic reading, writing, and math
Building Future Now, a nonprofit in East Palo Alto: schedule TBD (working with middle and high school students)
Mandela High School, a public school in Oakland: M from 3-6pm tutoring all math, English, and science

Tutorpedia is also looking for math/science/SAT tutoring in the East Bay, Peninsula and SF, and will have many more after-school programs (free tutoring for low-income students, paid for by the district) starting in the next few months. Please see http://tutorpedia.com/about/jobs.php for more info about our available jobs. If you are interested, send a cover letter to jobs@tutorpedia.com, and you can start filling out our job application here. And please pass this on to any of your interested friends and colleagues!

Back to School

2010-09-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

Interesting article from the New York Times Magazine, Achieving Techno-Literacy. Kevin Kelly argues that "technology helped us learn, but it was not the medium of learning. It was summoned when needed." There is a rash of discussion about the need for more technology, ie. computers, in the classroom. But because of the rapidly changing nature of technology, the minute we learn a new tech device, it becomes obsolete. So he says it is not technology that we need to learn, but technological literacy - "proficiency with the larger system of our invented world" - and all the assumptions and limitations that technology provides.

Why all this talk about techno-literacy in September? It's back-to-school season, and that time of year always engenders the question, Why are we in school? What is the purpose of the 7:30-3:30 school day, classroom periods, tedious homework and stressful tests on a periodic cycle? To get good grades, high test scores, and accepted to college? To become productive citizens of society? To be technologically literate? To be, or not to be?

School is important for all these reasons and more. Studying is important, and parents have an effect on this. Very recent studies show that our thoughts on how we study best were all wrong. We don't want a static and sparse study hall, but what's better is a dynamic environment, with moving parts, in our learning experience - the more we have to remember, the better we learn. If parents don't have the extra time to help their kids, it's best to outsource some of those tasks. I am biased of course, but I spoke to a parent today who said that it was just not in her best interest to tutor her daughter - the math was beyond her, and she felt their relationship would be better if they spent time together doing other activities.

Kelly continues in his article, "Education, at least in the K-12 range, is more about child rearing thank knowledge acquisition. And since child rearing is primarily about forming character, instilling values and cultivating habits, it may be the last area to be directly augmented by technology." I couldn't agree more.