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Tutoring

Whether a student is falling behind in school or wants to jump ahead, our tutors have what it takes to make any student succeed! Confidence, improved grades, and new study skills are just a matter of time and expert guidance through our 1-on-1 and shared academic tutoring programs.

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Pacific Learning Academy knows the value of finding the perfect tutor. PLA-Tutor Your time is valuable, and that’s why we visit every family in their home to ensure we’re choosing the best Academy tutor for your child. Most families are eager to get started, and our home visit bypasses the lengthy trial and error phase of choosing a tutor on your own. We consider your child’s needs and decide which Academy tutor is going to be great, from the very first lesson. Most families love their tutor from the very start, and our 100% guarantee means we can make a change after that first lesson, with the original session refunded.

We love talking to families by phone, and we want to hear your story! After we’ve determined if Pacific Learning Academy is a fit for your family, your Academic Coordinator visits you and your child in your home. This gives us a chance to get to know your family and your child, decide on the goals for tutoring, and choose the perfect tutor for your needs. Only after this home visit will we match you with an Academy tutor. Expect to hear from us the day after your first lesson, ensuring it was the perfect fit or to discuss what changes you’d like to make. Your Academy Coordinator is with you every step of the way, from the initial phone call until the end of your child’s program!

Because we firmly believe in collaboration and close contact with parents, Pacific Learning Academy emails parents on a weekly basis with a reminder to access their child’s full lesson reports. Tutors note what was covered during the lesson(s), as well as the student’s progress and challenges. You’re welcome to email your tutor or the Academy office anytime with questions, of course, but the summary reports are available to you whenever you log in. Summary reports put you in the driver’s seat and give you a “behind the scenes” look at how things are going for your child in particular.

Pacific Learning Academy is a certified proctor for a number of online or distance learning institutions, including BYU high school and Bellevue College online education. If you’d like the Academy to proctor your test, simply ask your distance or online-education provider to send your exam to our Sammamish administrative offices. In addition to proctoring tests for other learning organizations, we also provide academic support (tutoring) for any junior high or high school online course, as well as many college-level courses.

Tutors come to your Eastside home or a location convenient for your family, like a local library or one of the quieter coffee shops. Pacific Learning Academy currently serves north Issaquah and Sammamish, with other locations considered on a case-by-case basis. Already-busy moms and dads appreciate the ability to choose a location based on their schedules and location needs! If you live outside our service zone and prefer a closer option (or not to travel to us), we are happy to recommend an educational service in your area.

Learning to manage your time, organize your backpack or complete long-range assignments might sound like “common sense” to some but these are essential academic capabilities that need to be learned. Students who get study skills training now find that they are more engaged in their learning, more self-confident, and more in control of their academic outcomes. Pacific Learning Academy tutors help students learn multiple strategies to empower a student to choose the learning techniques that will fast-track their ability to memorize, analyze, keep on top of due dates, use notes for test-taking, and pro-actively communicate with their teachers. All of these are skills that are needed to be successful in high school, college and beyond! We weave study skills into every program and students appreciate that studying smarter helps them be efficient with their time so they can spend it on things they like more.

Our study skills menu includes:

  • Time Management (planner, timers)
  • Reading for School
  • Preparing for Tests
  • Memorization Techniques
  • Binder/backpack Organization
  • Communicating with Teachers
  • Taking Notes you’ll Actually Use

With improved study skills, your child will be able to manage deadlines, avoid procrastination, take effective notes that actually help when the test comes up, and keep up with long-term projects. Unfortunately, we cannot actually go to school with your child and make them turn in their homework, but with binder systems and improved self-advocacy, students become more engaged in their learning and more invested in their own success.

Keeping up on school work allows student-athletes to continue their love of the game, but the love of the game gives many students less time to do homework! Pacific Learning Academy helps students stay eligible, but also learn to study smarter in their limited time. Think of Academy tutoring as a GPA-protection plan, with the added benefit of a tutor who can be both mentor and academic support. Athletes who get individualized tutoring increase their grade-point averages, stay eligible on their teams, and also experience an increased satisfaction with school overall. For some students, athletics are THE reason they stay in school, and the Academy can help keep them there.

Athletes and theater students also tend to have more difficult schedules. Academy tutors are available before or after practice during the week as well as weekends. We know our students are busy and the Academy works to be as convenient as we are effective. In addition to academic support/tutoring, Pacific Learning Academy credit classes count toward student-athlete NCAA initial eligibility in core courses plus world language. Some of the biggest names in sports have been Academy clients, and we’re proud of our students’ successes!

What some people call disabilities, we just call differences. Many of the major learning issues in a classroom practically disappear with the one-on-one attention of a Pacific Learning Academy tutor. Learning differences or AD(H)D impact how students process, organize, retain and express information, and Academy tutors can help your student master academic subjects as well as learn more about their personal learning preferences. Before we even meet with your family, we’ll ask your child to take a short learning style quiz to determine what strengths and challenges could be addressed in the tutoring sessions. We are versed in Harvard’s Multiple Intelligences as well as strategies to address Executive Functioning Skills and have worked with hundreds of students with a wide variety of learning and attention issues.

Students with learning or attention disorders do not have to be defined by their differences, but they should understand their challenges and learn strategies to work around them. Slower processing time, disorganization, lack of focus, and under-estimating the time needed for tasks are some of the challenges our students face, and the Academy is here to help. We capitalize on a student’s strengths, introduce learning technologies and apps, take short breaks when necessary, create outlines with students, and much, much more. We also work with your child’s learning professional and use the recommendations that come out of testing (or that are listed on IEPs or 504 plans) to more effectively pinpoint ways to help your child succeed.

For Students

Having a tutor is a bit like having a personal assistant. While your Pacific Learning Academy tutor may not bring you coffee (although you can ask!), they are there 100% to help you reach your academic goals.

Your tutor arrives and asks you what your priorities are for that day’s session. You might have finished your homework already, so your tutor can check over what you’ve done, help you with the remainder, review previous material, or preview what’s coming up. Your tutor can help you research, practice, create outlines or study guides, and also introduce you to memorization techniques or different ways to prepare for an upcoming test. They can help you craft the perfect email to your teacher, brainstorm ways to do your work faster and more efficiently and also help explain why teachers do and ask what they do.

You should bring your notes, past/graded work, your textbook, your planner, something to write with and anything else you will need to accomplish your goals for the day. When a student shows up without anything, a tutor can ask a few questions and help the student practice and study current concepts, but your actual homework and notes will help the most.

No-homework days are our favorite! Typically students have so much to do in our sessions that we LOVE the chance to preview the next chapter or review old material (yes, it will be on the final exam!). No-homework days are the best for learning because your stress level will be lower and you’ll get a chance to learn and fill in the gaps under ideal circumstances.

The #1 best way to utilize a tutor is to use the time to preview what’s coming up in class (the next chapter, the next concept, etc…). We find that one solid session with a tutor is akin to the learning that happens in 4 days of class. Yes, you can learn that much in just one session! However, most students come to us after they have been struggling for a while, so it takes time to catch up and then get to the point where we are previewing instead of helping with past material. That’s one of the reasons why we love “no homework days” so much!

Grade improvement comes after the following: understanding, consistently turning in work, and higher grades on tests. A student might understand more, but still forget to do or turn in homework. A student might turn in homework and feel they understand more, but panic and perform poorly on a test. Tutoring can help turn all of this around, but the timeline depends on the student’s experience and, frankly, how much time is left in the semester. It’s much easier to turn grades around at the BEGINNING of a semester than at the end of it. We want that grade improvement as much as you do, and Pacific Learning Academy tutors will do everything they can to support you in your academic goals.

Subjects

Tutoring is available in all core subjects, 6-12th grade, and most electives (including Spanish, French and other languages depending on teaching staff).

  • Language Arts 6-12
  • Mathematics 6th grade to Calculus III
  • Social Studies & US History
  • Sciences (Chemistry, Biology, Physics, etc…)
  • World Language

Other Services We Offer

Find out more about our other services tailored to the needs of your child:

Pacific Learning Academy