Michael Harps, a Duluth Middle School sixth-grader, would rather sink into his living room couch with a book about adventure than stare at algebraic equations over spring break. Yet his mother will insist that his carefree week off from school is filled with study breaks, and she is not alone.
While some students sunbathe on beaches, zoom down roller coasters and sleep until noon, others will open their books. For proactive kids and protective parents, spring break is the opportune time to cram for the Georgia Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, get a jump on final exams and stay limber for the SAT.
“We want him to exceed expectations, not just meet expectations,” Catrina Cheeter said as Michael, her 12-year-old son, rolled his eyes. “I printed out some worksheets. He will do 20 minutes a day — if I can get him to work that long.”
What Michael can’t tackle by himself, he’ll work through with Danielle Modrich, a math specialist for Tutor Doctor.
April is a peak season for metro Atlanta tutoring companies. Some travel to the living rooms of clients to offer strategies for eliminating multiple-choice answers on the CRCT, SAT and ACT. Others teach memory techniques and review skills during sessions at office locations.
Tammy Dudley, a Tutor Doctor education consultant who dispatches tutors across Cobb and Gwinnett counties, has scheduled six spring-break appointments.
“A good many of our students are going to be tutoring,” Dudley said. “Some of them are studying because they are normally A [and] B students and they want to maximize all of the time they have got to get ready for upcoming tests. Some students are [struggling].”
Bridget Lambert, Club Z In-Home Tutoring Services’ intown Atlanta director, juggles test-prep appointments for families that stay home. “This is one of our busiest times,” Lambert said. Some Club Z students have prepared for the CRCT for more than a month and will continue sessions over spring break. Latecomers use the week to cram.
“The average test prep is 10 to 20 hours; ideally the earlier you start the more time we can get,” Lambert said.
Mathnasium, a west Roswell learning center, allows students with memberships to come as often as they like, but expects spring break to be a slow time.
Less traffic means Ansley Odell, 16, will have quiet time to focus on the SAT. The junior, who usually has rowing practice five days a week, finally has a break.
“This is my first spring break in five years that I’m going to be staying home,” she said. “I am going to Mathnasium to do SAT prep. I will actually have time for once.”
Ansley, an honors student, eventually wants to become a cruise ship captain after studying at her pick of colleges.
Across town, Learning Rx in Buckhead will target spring-break traffic with its own testing. The firm also will offer a special to diagnose memory problems. Learning Rx also will give IQ tests for clients.
Meredith McCoyd said her son Matthew, 8, will attend four hourlong sessions at Learning Rx following spring-break day camp.
“It’s intense and we have seen a positive outcome,” McCoyd said. She said previously it was difficult to get her son to do homework. “One simple page of second-grade math literally took him an hour,” she said. “Just last night, when I told him to do his homework, and I went to get the mail and he was done when I came back.”
Some public schools offer free test preparation over spring break. Marietta City Schools hosts math camp for struggling students. Officials have invited 250 third-, fifth- and eighth-graders who must pass reading and math on the CRCT to earn promotion to the next grade.
“We knew that we had a group of students that were right on the edge of meeting proficiency,” said Debra Pickett, Marietta associate superintendent for curriculum. “They needed just a bit more of additional instruction to make sure they were going to pass the test.”
In 2010, 80 percent of fifth-graders, 73 percent of third-graders and 75 percent of eighth-graders who attended camp passed the CRCT on the first try.
Carla Bidwell, secondary schools math coach, said kids aren’t pressured to come to the Marietta Middle School camp. “We offer transportation as well as breakfast and lunch,” Bidwell said. “They can come as many days or as few as they would like.”
Middle school students take classes with four math teachers, reviewing review algebra, geometry and probability.
The review helped freshman Mandana Khamissi experience a 21-point gain on the CRCT.
“I went because I want to graduate,” she said. “I want to be a doctor. They helped me a lot with math.”
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