20th July 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A teacher in Florida started tutoring students 7 years into her career, and now, 23 years later, she has her own successful tuition company. Reported in the South Florida Times, Ruth Smith began Focus Tutoring Academy in 1988 after deciding to tutor family friends, and quickly finding that it wasn’t a service she could continue to provide for free.
A parent in the area, Novelette Sharpe decided that her daughter, Reesa, needed private tuition in Maths and Chemistry after achieving Cs in the subjects whilst getting As and Bs for everything else. Sharpe says that after four months Reesa’s ability with Geometry has improved dramatically, as has her performance in Chemistry. Reesa said “I was having problems…with geometry. I understood some parts. When I went to the tutor, she cleared things up”. She hopes to attend medical school and become a paediatrician.
Ruth Smith claims that her tuition company has a 99% success rate in terms of the number of students going on to pass the FCAT after her help. The organisation now boasts 7 professional tutors on top of Ruth. They run lessons from 3pm to 7pm throughout the school year, and hold a 5 week summer tuition programme during the summer vacations.