"With a Master's Degree in Elementary Education and licensed in Indiana for Grades K-6, plus endorsements for Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts K-9, I have taught full time in Kindergarten, first, third, fifth, sixth, and seventh grade classrooms. My most recent teaching assignment included instruction in Honors Language Arts 7 and Reading Remediation 7.

From my classroom experience, it would seem the single most important determinant for success or failure on ISTEP and ECA exams is reading comprehension and reading on grade level. If a student cannot understand written material at his or her grade level, failure in nearly all text-intensive classes and on standardized tests is almost assured. Therefore, any tutoring effort will necessarily include some assessments of reading ability and remediation if the student is found deficient. Reading remediation for students in any grade, but especially in the higher grades, will be successful only if the student is willing to improve. There is no magic quick fix and reading improvement may take a good bit of time unless the student is an enthusiastic learner and willing to put in extra hours of reading practice outside the tutoring sessions.

Instruction in the Language Arts can be broad or specific depending on the needs of the student. Skill areas may include: Grammar, Literature, Informational Text, Composition, Language Usage, Vocabulary, Spelling, and yes, even Handwriting. If appropriate, the student is encouraged to arrange for the use of actual classroom materials.

Social Studies tutoring may include study skills, historical overviews and timelines, historical concepts and building background to improve comprehension. Client is encouraged to use actual materials from courses of study in school.

Science tutoring may include study skills, science concepts specific to the course of study, building science background, close reading of science texts and articles, and how to research to find current scientific findings. Student is encouraged to arrange" less...