Did you know that children lose an average of 2 months of academic skills over the summer?

Don't let that happen to your child this summer. Instead, your child can improve more than one grade level in math or reading for just $1600!  

(less than half the cost of the national chains)

A Local Business Since 1992

My name is Daniel Ascher, M.Ed. and I am the President of A+ Test Prep and Tutoring. I founded A+ in 1992, and we have been serving the Delaware Valley's students ever since. We are a local company with offices in Jenkintown and North Wales, PA, and we serve the entire area with at-home tutoring.

Personalized Service

Unlike the national chains, we pride ourselves on providing personal service to our clients. I'll put my 23 years of experience as an educator and learning diagnostician to work for you and your child as we put together a custom learning plan.

We Get Results

Students in our summer program average an improvement of 1.5 to 2 grade levels during our one-to-one summer tutoring program.

For $1600 you will receive:

A detailed learning evaluation indicating your child's grade levels, specific strengths and weaknesses, and a complete learning plan.

• 24 hours of one-to-one tutoring focusing on the specific skills that your child needs to improve in order to raise his or her grade level.
• A post-test after the 24 hours of instruction have been completed, detailing grade level improvements and progress made in specific skill areas.

Why should you choose A+?

• Personalized service
• Experience  We have been in business since 1992. Feel free to ask us for references.
• One-to-one instruction  We don't believe in doing things any other way.
• Professional teachers  Our tutors are seasoned professionals with many years of teaching and tutoring experience. 
• Research-tested learning materials  We have an extensive collection of research-based reading and mathematics programs specifically designed for one-to-one instruction. We don't use materials designed to be used with a classroom full of students.
• Convenience  Our tutors can come to your home anywhere in the Delaware Valley or you can bring your child to one of our two office locations.
• Results!  Our summer students average an improvement of 1.5 to 2 grade levels.

Call us today at 215.886.9188 to sign up for this special offer and save $180 over our regular rates. Offer expires June 30, 2011.

Dan

Daniel Ascher, M.Ed.

President

P.S. Feel free to contact me directly at 215.886.9188 to set up a free, no-obligation consultation to discuss your child's learning needs. 

Changes to the Common Application

Tuition & Housing: $50,000. Student Loans: $100,000. Attending College: Priceless

Is attending college worth carrying a large student loan burden for the foreseeable future? Some would argue that with the economic downturn, a college degree is not a smart investment. With the job market as tight as it is, some wonder if it's wiser to gain career-specific skills at a two-year or technical school. After all, according to the New York Times, eight out of the ten job categories that will add the most employees during the next decade, including home-health aide, customer-service representative, and store clerk, can be performed by someone without a college degree.

With the high cost of attending college, the question of whether a student is getting his money's worth is a valid one. But what might a student miss by not going to college? "Unaddressed in that calculus is any question of what else an education might be for: to nurture critical thought; to expose individuals to the signal accomplishments of humankind; to develop in them an ability not just to listen actively but to respond intelligently." (Is a College Education Worth the Money?, The New Yorker, June 7, 2011) 

If we compare the merits of attending college and amassing high debt versus the skip-college-altogether advocates, we might consider a middle ground. According to Mark Kantrowitz, a student financial aid expert and publisher of the websites FinAid and Fastweb, college debt is acceptable, as long as the borrower is careful and is investing in the future. He advises that a student shouldn't borrow more than her expected starting salary, so for example, if that student is going to borrow $10,000 a year for four years, she should go into a field with a starting salary of at least $40,000. If it's more than that, Kantrowitz suggests looking for a less expensive school. "I can see someone borrowing perhaps $10,000 a year if they're majoring in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computer science or nursing," says Kantrowitz.

But, you might ask, what about arts and humanities? Steering people away from liberal arts seems to mimic the trend of eliminating arts and music in high schools due to budget cuts. Does our society not benefit from arts, literature, and music as much as from banking or computer science? Kantrowitz counsels students to follow their dreams, but urges them to be realistic: the hard fact is that degrees in humanities and the arts are just not as well paid. So it may not be a smart decision to take out large loans for a degree in Renaissance art.

Statistics support this assertion: this year, 46% of graduates majoring in accounting and 44% majoring in business have already been offered jobs; engineers of all kinds are at the top of a payscale.com ranking of the disciplines that produce the best-earning graduates; and an economics major's starting salary averages about $50,000 a year.

But before switching to a math major or dismissing college altogether, you might ask yourself how you value your dollars. In an article in the June 6, 2011 issue of The New Yorker entitled Debating the Value of College in America, Louis Menand beautifully elucidates why college might just be, in fact, priceless: "In a society that encourages its members to pursue the career paths that promise the greatest personal or financial rewards, people will, given a choice, learn only what they need to know for success. They will have no incentive to acquire the knowledge and skills important for life as an informed citizen, or as a reflective and culturally literate human being. College exposes future citizens to material that enlightens and empowers them, whatever careers they end up choosing. In performing this function, college also socializes. It takes people with disparate backgrounds and beliefs and brings them into line with mainstream norms of reason and taste. Independence of mind is tolerated in college, and even honored, but students have to master the accepted ways of doing things before they are permitted to deviate. Ideally, we want everyone to go to college, because college gets everyone on the same page. It's a way of producing a society of like-minded grownups." 

Asperger Syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism, typically characterized by high intelligence and a passionate or obsessive interest in particular topics, was first described in 1994. So as the first generation of young adults who were diagnosed with Asperger's as children comes of age, a new wave of diversity is reaching college campuses.

In an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer on May 9, 2011, Felicia Hurewitz, director of the Autism Support Program at Drexel University, says "Colleges are seeing more people with autism spectrum disorders, the kinds of people who, in the past, wouldn't have gone on to college. We have a lot of diversity. Neurodiversity is the newest."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that autism spectrum disorders occur in about one of every 110 children. That rate jumped 57 percent from 2002 to 2006, a rise that doctors attribute to both higher incidence and increased awareness. Schools and universities are thus faced with the challenges of responding to the needs of this population.

All public schools in the U.S. are required by law to make "reasonable accommodations" for students with documented disabilities. But those with Asperger's often need more than extended testing time or flexible deadlines. People with the disorder often struggle with organizing and setting priorities, necessary skills for success in college. In addition, they find it harder to read body language signals that most of us take for granted, which means they may find it more difficult to communicate and interact with others.

Peggy Chapman, coordinator of Y.A.L.E. School Cherry Hill, an organization that helps high schoolers with autism go to college or get a job, noted: "We have students who are extremely bright washing out of college because they lack the social and organizational skills."

The Asperger Foundation International (AspFI) website has a directory of two-year colleges, four-year colleges and universities, and nondegree programs designed to give transition-age individuals experience living independently in preparation for (or in conjunction with) college or working. AspFI emphasizes that people with Asperger's can do well at mainstream schools with special support, but that even when the environment is welcoming, most colleges are still inexperienced at handling the special needs of students with Asperger's.

Tips for Minimizing Student Debt

Advice from Mark Kantrowitz  

• Save before going to college.
• Apply for scholarships.
• Apply for less expensive federal loans before applying for private loans
• Think hard about your major. If you don't expect your starting salary after graduation to match what you borrowed, consider a less expensive college.
• Double major in a more lucrative field (art and business, for example).
• Pay interest on the loans while you're in school.