What Mathnasium Is and What It Is Not

We want to thank many of our parents that provide us with their feedback that will help us be the best math learning center in the area.

We have received a few parent comments expressing their concern that we do not match in real time what is being taught at their children's schools. Most of our Mathnasium students are working on math concepts many grade levels above their actual grade level in school. It wouldn't make sense for us to have these gifted students work on math concepts that they are doing at school when they are working on math concepts many grade levels above at Mathnasium. However, we also have Mathnasium students that have fundamental gaps in math understanding that should have been mastered a few grades earlier. For these students, they will spend the first 30 minutes of their hour session working on math concepts that they haven't mastered in earlier grade levels. During the second 30 minutes of their hour session, we offer these students homework help and test preparation help for what they are currently working on at their school.

It is important to know what Mathnasium is and what it is not.

We are not here to parallel exactly what’s going on in school; we are here primarily to supplement it. Note that we provide time in each session to discuss students’ homework and help them to be prepared to finish the work at home.

For a child’s overall pattern of math education, where does Mathnasium fit in? Schools are the primary education provider; Mathnasium is a supplemental education provider. The distinction is that the primary provider issues grades, whereas Mathnasium does not. We affect their grades in a positive way but our role is to supplement what kids are learning in school.

As a supplemental education provider, Mathnasium is structured as a Learning Center rather than a tutorial service. A tutor’s job is to help a student get through tonight’s homework and Friday’s test. Mathnasium does provide a degree of support in terms of homework and upcoming tests. However, our primary role as a learning center is to delve into the reasons why tonight’s homework is such a huge issue. Usually, it’s a series of knowledge gaps that students have incurred over the years.

Nearly every student we assess has some gaps. They are anywhere from six months to several years behind. These days, a lot of math teachers don’t have the time to go through the entire syllabus. For example, teachers in Algebra I courses who do take time to remediate will spend a lot of that time covering Pre-Algebra skills. Other teachers don’t take time to remediate. They teach the pure Algebra I class. In both situations, students who already have gaps in their learning wind up with even bigger gaps.

As a Learning Center, our role at Mathnasium is strategic: a long-term proposition. Our job is to ferret out those gaps and then supplement students’ education by filling in those gaps over time. This is why our assessment process is so important; it helps us pinpoint these gaps and provides us with a foundation on which we build the student’s program at Mathnasium.

It’s important to keep this long-term objective in mind. If we just worked on tonight’s homework, we might get through it and help them come up with the answers but we wouldn’t be teaching these kids anything in the long run. There is a distinction between a tutoring service and our role as a Learning Center. We are not here to parallel exactly what’s going on in school; we are here primarily to supplement it. Note that we provide time in each session to discuss students’ homework and help them to be prepared to finish the work at home.

It’s critical that parents understand Mathnasium’s primary purpose as a learning center. Quite simply, we don’t offer a quick fix. In extreme cases, the student may be so far behind that it is not possible to salvage this year’s math grade. We must focus on getting the child caught up, sometimes at the expense of this year’s grade.

To find out more, please visit our website at www.mathnasium.com/elmhurst.