Attendance and Assessment Entry Requirements

Does the assessment requirement apply to private session students? At our centre, the majority of students enrolled in private session memberships provide their own curriculum (from school, test-prep materials from third-party vendors, etc.), and as such we don’t assess them.

For the assessment requirement, does that apply to Private Sessions? Cause those students aren’t enrolled in a full program and aren’t traditionally assessed, because they aren’t using our materials. I feel we would deter a lot of business if we require those students to take extra time to take an assessment, when they just want to come in for a one hour private session on a specific school topic and would be receiving no Mathnasium curriculum. Will this be taken into consideration and be another exception to the rule?

Well, I hope that it does apply. Graham and Amber, I feel confident that you can do private tutoring better if you assess students and find out what they know and don’t know. If you do those assessments, you’ll be able to better teach necessary building blocks that will help your students get better grades and standardized test scores.

For example, if a student is working on solving equations in school, you can teach them how to do that, but if the student gets signs wrong because they don’t understand integer operations, then they will still get problems wrong. An assessment would help you do better private tutoring.

I firmly believe that every student should have an assessment and a learning plan. Even students who are “just” doing private tutoring will sometimes come in with less work than their hour requires, and it’s great to have meaningful work for those students to do.

Finally, assessments are great for showing parents what students need to work on — they are great sales tools. Even if someone would agree to enroll anyway, assessments during the school year will help your summer enrollment, as showing the parent how the student is behind will help encourage them to catch up in the summer.

Personally, I think that the Mathnasium curriculum is too good to ignore, so I won’t do “plain” private tutoring in my three centers. The only way that I do private tutoring is on top of the regular Mathnasium program. If people want plain private tutoring, I send them elsewhere, as I don’t think that’s what’s best for their kids.

Sorry, Ryan. But I am going to strongly disagree.

Amber and Graham are absolutely right that it will discourage business if we take a dogmatic, rigid approach requiring mandatory assessments, particularly at the high school level. Many of us have been at this for a decade or more, and we know our market, we know our schools, and even the specific classes they are in. So with a conversation and a first private session, we can often evaluate quite efficiently and accurately their situation and needs. Our written assessments are not the only thing that makes us “the math experts”.

That does not mean there is no place for formally assessing students at the high school level. In fact, once we have worked with a student to address the immediate “crisis” they are coming for, we may then want to look ahead to the next year or next class they will be taking. Then a student will be much more receptive to the suggestion of an assessment. But I absolutely do not agree that we should place that barrier in front of a student seeking immediate help.

*Just to be clear, I do think all students prior to Algebra level should be assessed ASAP. It’s just that, if we don’t admit that a desperate, time-crunched pre-calculus student coming for help in mid-April is not the same as a 4th grader coming for help in October, we are kidding ourselves.

Thank you for your comments and sharing your concerns.

There are many considerations around assessment compliance. I want to stress to not look at this as a lack of recognition of the various ways student needs can be met. Context is important, consequently we will also be working closely with field team members in this effort as they can shed light on specific center practices and offerings.

As always, I am happy to discuss specific concerns. You are free to reach out to me directly or submit a case through Support and I will respond at first opportunity.

John Bianchette
Senior Director of Education

I just have to chime in that I strongly AGREE with Ryan. It’s ok, we all have our best practices, and you should do what you feel is right. But if you were to consult with me about it, my advice would be to always give an assessment and assign a Learning Plan. For exactly the same reasons that Ryan laid out.

I DO assess the time-crunched, pre-calculus student who contacts us in the spring. It hasn’t hurt business; it’s what’s helped us build such a great reputation among parents and teachers that parents and students listen to our advice.

Ryan is also correct that it IS a great sales tool. We ALWAYS find gaps, and if we’re not up front with the parents and the student about that, then we are not looking out for the student’s long term best interest.

Something that we should consider for all college bound students: If you check your local 4 year college, chances are very good that the most ‘popular’ class is non-credit ‘College Algebra’. The chances are equally good that ‘College Algebra’ is also the most failed class offered. In order to avoid this, students must ‘pass’ a placement test – so just merely getting through an Alg II or Pre-Calculus course in High School isn’t enough.

If students bolster their fundamental skills with us, we can get them through their basic core math requirement in college faster and cheaper than if they have to take Math 20, Math 30, Math 60 etc in college, for no credit, just to satisfy the basic math requirement for graduation. It’s an easy sales proposition.

But I’m not here to argue or find fault – everyone has to find what works best for him or herself.

I do, however, stand firmly in the ‘Assess all Students’ camp.

Actually, Bruce, I do not disagree with your approach if your primary HS student market are those who will be taking basic math classes and College Algebra. You would indeed be doing a service to those students to address gaps, etc. (Although good luck fitting in a standard learning plan over the course of a month and a half at the end of the school year while the student is also ramping up for exams and playing varsity sports, and can literally only get to Mathnasium 1 or 2 times a week… but that’s a separate discussion.)

That said, your points about the “local 4 year college” and the gaps of your students are largely irrelevant for 80-90 percent of our HS students. The typical profile is an AP student applying to an Ivy League school, or near equivalent. The first math class most of our students will take in college is Calc II. So my only point in saying what I did is to point out that I believe we need to keep in mind the vast differences in markets. “Assess all Students” is a good general practice, and it helps maintain our brand. But I also believe in franchisees’ and center directors’ expertise and ability to know their students, schools, and markets. And I think that should be given consideration when implementing requirements that can affect their business.

I have a question about student attendance and ratio’s.

Because we only have all part time employee’s and two of them are listed as Center Directors in radius, at MANY times the attendance ratio graph may show a much higher student to Instructor ratio than really existed due to the center directors actually teaching as well. I always insure the instructor count will match the expected attendance in order to be in compliance with the ratio limits. I personally am really never scheduled but I will jump on the floor to cover those occasional times when needed. I love it so much I will jump in even when I am not needed. I am almost always here. So in a nutshell we may have 6 instructors on the floor but only three of them are included for the ratio graph/report due to the fact I am not signed in and the employee’s listed as center directors are never counted in this ratio.

When doing royalty reporting I account for this in reporting that at least 50% of the Management wages were use for instruction.

I realize I could list the people who do not show up as instructors as Lead Instructors in Radius. I am just afraid this could lead to morale issues as my leaders are proud hard workers.

Thanks

Fred
Mathnasium of Waialae

That’s a great point, Fred, we find ourselves in a similar situation on a daily basis right now. All of our instructors are part-time college or HS students & they can only work certain hours & days, depending on their class schedules. Throw in finals, and call-outs, etc., and the CD is instructing along with me everyday.

As far as assessments for private tutoring students, we don’t always assess them; it just depends on the student’s needs & the parents’ goals at the time. We do them for some, not for all. We use our judgement to determine if an assessment is an efficient use of our time.

That being said, I would like to continue to manage this issue on our own & not be ‘required’ to assess private tutoring students. I feel like our focus could be better spent on improving center practices as we see fit, as we know our students, parents, & market very well. What works for some doesn’t work for all; demographics & needs are different for all of us.

-Michelle Stevenson, ACD, Mathnasium of Middletown, DE