Individualized Tutoring Beats Math Anxiety

"The most exciting aspect of our findings is that cognitive tutoring not only improves performance, but is also anxiety-reducing."

Recently, NPR did a story on math anxiety which you can find here. The study showed that students who received individualized tutoring had improved performance as one might expect, but also that they also experienced a lot less stress while doing math and taking tests. 

For our new students, who often come here feeling frustrated and angered by math, it is such a relief to have instructor ratios that encourage meaningful one-on-one interaction. The instructors check all of their work on the spot so that we can go over mistakes when the material is still fresh. We give them immediate help when they have a question about their current topic. Most importantly, we take the time to sit with them and introduce new topics in a meaningful way to get the students on their feet with the subject matter. The result is that children who have been continuously baffled and frustrated by math start to really get it. Those are my favorite moments:

A smile appears. "Oh...that's easy," says the self-avowed hater of math from two months prior.