Has anyone sued Sylvan to test?

[Country Girl]

I don't live in a very big town and the only place I'm aware of that does any type of testing is Sylvan. Has anyone ever used them to get an idea of your child's strengths and weaknesses? If so, what information were you able to get from the tests and did you find it helpful?

 

I know that my son is accelerated, in terms of working ahead of grade-level, but I'd like more information so I can figure out how to help him achieve his best.

 

Thanks!

The title should read "used" not "sued":eek:

[Baseballmom]

:DLOL! I saw sue Sylvan and wondered what was going on. No, never USED Sylvan to test.

[Country Girl]

Ahhhh.......Thanks for pointing out my error Baseballmom. I changed "sued" to "used".

 

Oh no, for some reason my edit doesn't seem to show up in the title.

[melhouse]

I work at Sylvan.

 

The tests they give are: the California Achievement Test (CAT), the Gray Oral Reading Test (GORT), and a Sylvan-made test that checks phonics skills by having the student read made-up words to see if they decode correctly. (Schools in our area give a similar test, but I don't know the name). These tests would be if your student was coming in for reading. The vocabulary and comprehension would be the only parts of the CAT that would be given.

 

For math, the calculations and concepts and applications would be the only parts of the CAT given. There would also be a timed basic math facts given.

 

We have had a few homeschooled children who would just take the CAT's four parts that are given at Sylvan for their parents to gauge their progress. (There are other parts of the CAT: Social Studies, Science, Spelling, but Sylvan is not set up to give those parts.) It would depend on each individual center whether or not to do this. Some centers you would still have to listen to a sales pitch.

 

HTH,

Melissa

[Jill]

I live in a rural area and I have been told that I can call the County's Education Superintendent for a placement test. If you mean your son that is 6 yrs old, in my county this would be the placement test to get a sense of whether he should be in K, 1st or 2nd grade by their standards. - Jill

[Country Girl]

Thanks for the info Melissa!

[Country Girl]

Jill, thanks for responding. I do know that I can go through our public school for standardized testing but I was kind of looking for something that would help me guage a little more where my son's strong areas are (maybe even giftedness) etc.

 

Thanks!

[EKS]

Which is based on no experience with Sylvan, BTW.

 

Sylvan exists to help kids with problems in school. They are not used to dealing with gifted kids.

 

If you are interested in finding out if your son is gifted, ideally I would find a psychologist experienced with gifted kids and have him/her give your son an IQ test.

 

A cheaper solution might be to give your son the ITBS at home (maybe out of level) and see how he does. That would give you an indication of your son's level of achievement which can be correlated to some extent with giftedness in kids without LDs.

[purplecow7]

Yes I had my son tested at Sylvan and it was a waste of money. I took my Kindergarten in who was reading second grade books and doing double diget addtion and subtraction. I was trying to find what grade level he would fit into at the public school level.

 

The test results basically said my son was not ready for first grade and then I would need their services. I then pointed to the open questionnaire that the parent was supposed to fill out - My son actually filled out the questionnaire himself. One of the questions was "What is your child's favorite food" - he wrote My favorit food is iccream. (not bad for a 5 year old who was not ready for first grade). LOL.

 

When the Director of the Center saw his answers - she said I could have him retested for free. No thanks. Ds like the test and he got a prize.

[Colleen in SEVA]

I took Blue to Sylvan for testing when he turned 4, and while I was disappointed with the results, I did not feel the need to sue them (tee hee, sorry, I couldn't resist).

 

I took him in because I wanted an outside person to evaluate him and see if he was ready for Kindergarten level work (as I felt he was). They tested him for 2 hours, but their results were not accurate. They said "he's doing great, he can already recognize almost half the letters" (he was already reading 4-5 letter words). They told me he could recognize almost all of the numbers (he was already doing 1 digit addition). Even based on their incorrect info, they told me he was ready for Kindergarten and that I could bring him back in when he hit any problem areas (he was turning 4 and already reading -- I didn't feel he needed tutoring at that time!).

 

Keep in mind that their main business is tutoring. Yes, they do testing -- but mostly to determine how much tutoring your student will need. For example: my neighbor's daughter was struggling with multiplication in her 4th grade public school class so they took her into Sylvan. Their testing showed she was working at a 3rd grade level and to get up to grade level they would need to bring her in for one hour GROUP sessions FOUR TIMES per week at a rate of $45.00 PER HOUR for the rest of the school year. When my neighbor figured it up, that would be over $6,000.00. For GROUP TUTORING!! I was shocked. They are willing to do whatever it takes to help their daughter though, so the mom is thinking of going back to work to pay for it. :(

 

I am not a fan of Sylvan (I think tutoring is the teacher's and parent's job, but I'm a certified teacher and homeschooler ha ha) -- ESPECIALLY for the type of testing you are looking for. I would look over the Hoagies website for more info on testing. We did the Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Test for Blue this past summer, that was helpful for the type of information I was looking for. I did it through a local woman who specializes in testing of all kinds for homeschoolers.

[Country Girl]

Thanks again to all of you. We actually scheduled a testing date for a few weeks from now, although I'm seriously considering canceling. I'm just not sure they are going to offer the type of testing I want. Additionally, my dh is really hoping to get some validation that we are doing well with hs'ing my ds. I know ds is doing really well because I work with him everyday, but my dh still occasionally has doubts. I don't want faulty tests given my dh the impression that ds isn't doing as well as we think he is.

 

Thanks for the info, I've got a lot to think about!

[melhouse]

Country Girl,

 

If you decide to go ahead with testing at Sylvan, keep these things in mind:

 

1. The kindergarten/first grade (Beginning Reading Program) test is not what you would want. This test is not the greatest in my opinion. It tests recognizing a letter, writing a letter, and knowing its sound all in one fell swoop. This could account for those who were told their child needed instruction below their current level. If there is a good Director of Education at the Sylvan, he/she would not actually have the student start at the beginning if they were already reading - maybe just throw a lot of handwriting practice in with a higher level of reading.

 

2. You would need to ask for the CAT at grade level. This would give you an indication, based on grade-level, where your son is performing. It would depend on each Sylvan, I suppose, whether they would do this. I know at the Sylvan where I work, we have worked with homeschoolers who want to give their husbands or in-laws an indication of how well their child is doing.

 

3. Sylvan is a business. Obviously, it wants you to use its services. I'm sure some Sylvan Centers will push the sales tactics more than others. Someone posted about how long it would take to get a child to grade-level. Just FYI and because I feel a bit defensive, Sylvan's "formula" is that it takes thirty-six hours to complete a grade level. Each question on the CAT is broken down by skills taught by Sylvan. So, if a student misses several questions on adding three-digit numbers with regrouping, that's what we would teach. The math program is set up to fill in those gaps the student doesn't master. (We see a lot of growth in our math program).

 

4. Sylvan, or any other "tutoring/learning center", serves a purpose. Many parents don't know how to work with their children, or they don't understand the material themselves. I am a certified teacher, with a Master's degree, who homeschools, but I still see the need for some students to have extra help. Regardless of my choices for my family (homeschooling), I still hope and pray that other parents do what they can to make sure that their children reach their full potential.

 

5. As far as any accelerated learning, Sylvan is not really the best choice. It does have a fairly good speed reading course, but that's not recommended until middle school, at least.

 

Good luck with your decision,

Melissa

[Country Girl]

Melissa,

 

Thanks for more information. Maybe I need to just go with Sylvan to administer the CAT to give my dh some reassurance and then look for another tester to administer something like the Woodcock-Johnson????

 

A question for you about the CAT...I know they only administer the Reading and Math portions (not the science etc.) but do they administer all the subtests for those sections?

 

Thanks!

[melhouse]

A question for you about the CAT...I know they only administer the Reading and Math portions (not the science etc.) but do they administer all the subtests for those sections?

 

No, they only give the comprehension and vocabulary for the reading. The math given is computation and concepts/application, which, I think, is all of the math.

 

Have you thought about giving the CAT yourself? I know there are places where you can send off for the test, give it, and then send the test back to be scored. I am planning on doing that this year for my dc. (GA requires a standardized test every three years.) I don't know exactly where to find this, but I know it's available. I was going to ask for specifics from the hive when it was closer to time.

 

HTH,

Melissa

[Claire]

For example: my neighbor's daughter was struggling with multiplication in her 4th grade public school class so they took her into Sylvan. Their testing showed she was working at a 3rd grade level and to get up to grade level they would need to bring her in for one hour GROUP sessions FOUR TIMES per week at a rate of $45.00 PER HOUR for the rest of the school year. When my neighbor figured it up, that would be over $6,000.00. For GROUP TUTORING!! I was shocked. They are willing to do whatever it takes to help their daughter though, so the mom is thinking of going back to work to pay for it. :(

 

This family would be better off hiring a math tutor to work one-on-one with their daughter. It would be much less expensive, and one-to-one is much more effective than group instruction.

[Country Girl]

Melhouse,

Yep, I actually considered ordering and administering the ITBS myself but my dh would kind of like ds to have the experience of the "test taking" environment and pressure.

[Colleen in SEVA]

This family would be better off hiring a math tutor to work one-on-one with their daughter. It would be much less expensive, and one-to-one is much more effective than group instruction.

 

Yes, I agree -- but since "the expert" says that is what their daughter needs, that is what they are doing. They have cut down to 3 times a week to help lower the cost (but still paying over $500 per month to have their daughter tutored with 3 other kids also paying $500 per month -- astounding to me, and thinking maybe I should do tutoring on the side tee hee).

 

melhouse, I apologize if my post made you feel defensive. I guess my view of Sylvan as a whole is tainted by two bad experiences. You are right, there are some situations in which outside help is needed (even in the case of my neighbor -- the reason the mom isn't just helping her daughter herself is because there are some attitude issues going on between mom and daughter and having someone else take over the math issue is helping their relationship, which is far more important that a math grade!).

[melhouse]

Country Girl,

 

After reading that your dh was wanting the testing atmosphere, I wouldn't recommend Sylvan. Of course all of the centers are run differently, but, at ours, we give the student as long as he needs to complete the test. (We are able to give two scores: one timed, one untimed.) We also allow the student to bring a snack and take frequent breaks. It wouldn't really be the same type of setting as a test given at school.

 

Colleen,

Thanks for the kind words. :)

 

HTH,

Melissa

[Country Girl]

Melissa,

 

Thanks again! It is great to have found someone in the "know" to help me with my questions.

 

Take Care!

[dfrecore]

You can have someone test your kids, or test them yourself if you'd like, depending on the test.

 

BJU Press has the Stanford Achievement test available for purchase - if you know someone with a bachelor's degree, they can watch a DVD and then fill out an application, and they can test your kids for you. A non-relative is the best fit for this test, as they have rules for relatives. BJU Press also has the ITBS, which can be administered by a teacher (credentialed), former teacher (also credentialed), or anyone with a bachelor's degree. You can also be related to the student. I know there are other tests out there, and they may have similar requirements.

 

I know that if I was going to test my kids with one of these type tests, I would just have my mom do the ITBS, as she has a degree and I don't. But, if I had one (or my husband did), we would just do it ourselves.

 

Hope this helps. :)

Danika