Updated 07/20/06...wl

Services Summary

Name	Huntington Learning Center
Contact Information	496 Kinderkamack Road Oradell, NJ 07649 www.huntingtonlearning.com 800-692-8400  ext 486
Subject areas and grades served	Reading K-12 Math K-12
Location of tutoring	School Business Community Center
Experience with diverse populations	Students from high poverty schools Minority students Migrant students
Time when tutoring delivered	Before school After school Weekends Summer
If tutoring is not offered at student's school. Is transportation provided, and if yes, is there a separate fee? (Note: Districts are not required to provide or pay for transportation.)	Transportation not provided
Mode of instructional delivery	Individual tutoring Small group instruction
Length of tutoring session	90-120 minutes
Number of tutoring sessions per week	2-3
Student/Instructor ratio	1/1 Individual, 6/1 Small group
Service Area	Portland Area

Program Description- written by Huntington Learning Center

Huntington Learning Center is one of the largest and most successful supplemental education services providers in the United States. We have offered supplemental educational services to students and their parents through our chain of Huntington Learning Centers since 1977. As of September 30, 2001 Huntington had 260 company-owned or franchised Huntington Learning Centers in 37 states. Our teachers are our strongest assets. Most of our teachers are state certified professionals with extensive experience in education. All of our teachers have at least a Bachelors degree and must earn Huntington Certification. Our rigorous certification program involves as much as 66 hours of hands-on training and development. This insures that all of our teachers are qualified small-group and individual instruction providers.  Of course, all full-time staff and part-time teachers are required to undergo a criminal background check.
Huntington Learning Center espouses an educational philosophy of comprehensive testing, sophisticated diagnostics, superlative curriculum, and individualized instruction.   All Huntington students are administered a preliminary battery of proprietary and standardized math and reading skills, language arts, and perceptual tests and evaluations. In our Diagnostic and Interim testing, we rely heavily on nationally accepted exams such as the California Achievement Test and the Metropolitan Achievement Test. The wealth of research that supports the validity of these exams as broad measures of basic skills across the K-12 spectrum insures that our assessments are clear, accurate, and in alignment with national learning standards for reading and math. All programs and their content are secular, neutral, and non-ideological.
Huntington draws upon an array of leading-edge curriculum items in order to deliver the most effective possible instruction within the K-12 curriculum. We offer 432 different prescribed programs in reading, 663 different lesson plans across 110 different skill levels in mathematics, and 168 different lesson plans across 34 different skill levels in phonics. Every one of our 557 pieces of curriculum is chosen by the Huntington Curriculum Council. Our instructional methodology in reading is in complete alignment with the findings of the National Reading Panel. We place a strong emphasis on phonics, phonemic awareness, reading fluency, and reading comprehension strategies. This is evidenced by our emphasis on evaluating these abilities during Diagnostic Testing and by our sophisticated total reading curriculum. Once the parents of a student decide to use our services, we conduct an Initial Inquiry during which we discuss the issues facing the student and his parents and his performance at school. Then we administer a Diagnostic Test to determine the student's academic strengths and weaknesses. The Diagnostic Test is a battery of tests that lasts between two and three hours, depending on abilities. In reading, we determine the student's phonics and sight word ability, his ability to read orally and silently, and his performance on a standardized test such as the California Achievement Test. In phonics, we have a proprietary, integrated program termed the Huntington Phonics Program. This program is a collection of tests, lesson plans, and related material used to help improve a student's phonics performance. In mathematics, we have a proprietary, integrated program termed the Huntington Math Program. This program is a collection of tests, lesson plans, and related material used to help improve a student's math performance. A student begins with the Huntington Math Placement Exam, which is administered during the Diagnostic Test, and then continues during his first session with a Pre-test designed to pinpoint specific weaknesses. The Huntington Math Placement Exam is a coarse screen while the Pre-test is a fine screen. Based on Pre-test results, instruction begins using curricula specified in the Huntington lesson plans.

After the Diagnostic Test We score the tests and enter the scores into our proprietary information management network called Learning Center Operations System (LCOS). Our full time staff rates the student's performance on each test and develops a personalized Prescribed Program for the student. The Center Director prepares for and conducts the Initial Conference with the parents.

Initial Conference. The Center Director conducts an Initial Conference in person with the student's parents. If it is impossible to conduct an in-person conference, we conduct it by telephone. During the Initial Conference- the Center Director gives the parents a detailed verbal description of their child's performance on the Diagnostic Test and a summary report. We tell the parents the aggregate number of hours of instruction required and determine a weekly attendance schedule.

After the Initial Conference. We input information about this conference into LCOS, including, for example, the student's weekly schedule. We notify the appropriate authorities you designate of the student's enrollment and establish a billing account for this student. We discuss the student's enrollment and program at the Huntington Learning Center with the student's teacher or teachers. This conversation occurs either in-person or by phone, at the convenience of the parties involved.

Development of the student's initial programs. His initial reading program is developed by our full time staff. His initial phonics program, if applicable, is developed based on the Huntington Phonics Placement Exam. His initial mathematics program is developed based on the Huntington Math Placement Exam. An English Language Arts program is not developed until a student reaches established benchmarks in reading and phonics. We develop the student's Instructional Binder, which contains his Student Progress Record and Math Progress Record books. All programs and their content are secular, neutral, and non-ideological.
Instruction. Teaching sessions are typically two (2) hours in length. Students must attend a minimum of one (1) hour per session and must attend a minimum of three (3) hours per week in one or more sessions. Sessions are offered after school, on weekends, and during the summer. To guarantee effective individualized instruction, we instruct non-readers, students with limited reading proficiency, students with disabilities, and English Language Learners using a student-teacher ratio of 1-1.

We instruct other students using a student-teacher ratio up to 6-1. By providing additional resources to those students who need them the most, including students categorized as "at-risk," we have been able to successfully accelerate student academic progress.

Student progress.  Student progress will be measured using the following metrics: performance on the California Achievement Test (Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, and Math Concepts and Applications) administered initially and at the end of the 50 hours of instruction; performance on Center curricula; in-school academic progress; parent comments; and teacher comments. Performance is assessed on a continual basis. Huntington's established commitment to student and parent satisfaction is illustrated through our practice of regularly scheduled conferences. Interim Conferences with parents are scheduled after 12, 30, and 50 hours of instruction and every 25 hours thereafter. An Interim Conference is a time to review student progress and family concerns, as well as adjust the prescribed program as indicated through homework, re-tests, and teacher observations. The Center Director always conducts these conferences, and is able to bring in an interpreter as required. We always ask parents to sign a release that grants Huntington permission to speak to a student's schoolteachers. We meet with teachers according to the number of hours of instruction completed by a student, or quarterly, depending on which option allows for the most meetings. Using a schedule based on the number of student hours of instruction, we meet with the student's teacher(s) between the 12- and 30-hour Interim Conferences, between the 50- and 75-hour Interim Conferences, and at regular intervals.

Prospective teachers must hold at least a bachelors degree and must earn Huntington Certification before they may teach in a Huntington Center. Huntington Teachers College is the program created to train prospective teachers. Prospective teachers who hold state certification require approximately ten (10) hours of training to earn Huntington Certification. All full-time staff and part-time teachers who lack state certification are required to undergo a criminal background check. Huntington uses the company, Sterling
Testing Systems, to conduct these checks. Sterling is located at 254 West 31st Street, 6th floor. New York,