Twice a year, we issue a survey to the students and parents we serve at libraries with our Academics free tutoring program. This time around, student responses to the question “What is your favorite thing about coming to tutoring?” at Rainbow Library had a common theme.
“Miss Angela, my favorite tutor, is especially a good tutor and me, along with many others, love her ways and she is incredibly helpful.”
“Coming to see Miss Angela because she always helps me. Last year she brought my grades up from D's to A's, B's, and C's.”
“Coming in to see Miss Angela because she helps me understand what I didn't [before].”
With those only being a handful of shining reviews for Ms. Angela Kabiling, we not only took notice but decided to sit down with her and ask her a few questions. Her charisma and obvious love for what she does made it clear why she is so beloved by students.
Angela was born in Olongapo City, Philippines as the 2nd of her parents’ 3 daughters, but has been in Las Vegas for 17 years now. She has obtained two Bachelor’s in Accounting and Economics from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and has been working for Andson for 3 years and 7 months.
Angela has no children of her own, but is very close to her students at Rainbow Library (“Shout out to JAAAMK!”). She is “passionate about motivating kids to improve on their math knowledge and challenge them intellectually. Mentorship is important for the youth, and [she] plans to be a better role model for them. We should love nature, each other, and most importantly, ourselves.”
Part of what makes Angela such an effective tutor is her ability to relate to students, which she does through references to memes and social media. “[She loves] making connections to social media with mathematical problems. It makes homework more relevant and [creates] entertaining situations. Seeing the light bulb above their heads and watching their gears work makes [her] proud that they’re utilizing their critical thinking skills.” But more important to Angela is the trust the children have in both her and themselves.
When she’s not tutoring for Andson or working in our Piggy Banks, she enjoys gardening, playing video games, improving her culinary skills, spending time with her friends, and traveling whenever she can. Lately, she has been planning road trips to all of the country’s National Parks. Most recently, she visited Cathedral Rock and Great Basin National Park.
She also has an impressive menagerie of pets, with 7 chickens (Beignet, Brioche, Baguette, Biscotti, Tiramisu, Sesame, and Pistachio), 2 rats (Ratnor and Ribbon) and a salamander (Lucio).
Finally, if there is one piece of advice Angela wants to leave her students with, it is: “Let’s get this bread, so believe in yourself more often!”
Gordon McCaw Elementary is one of Andson’s newest sites. Andson has agreed to maintain their funding so students can finish out the year in their after school programs. The school will soon to be transitioning into a magnet program. Not only will they be implementing our after school tutoring, but we will be assisting them in the process of finishing out their original curriculum before they begin the shift into new classroom material. This exciting new material will be centered on STEAM curriculum, which stands for science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics. Andson will be at McCaw on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30-4:00 p.m. with seven teachers and one support staff. These CCSD certified instructors will be helping grades 2-5 with homework and will provide small group tutoring. After this academic portion, students are provided a meal by Three Square, and then participate in a self-selected enrichment activity. During these times, the tutors will also be encouraging students to participate in setting goals for themselves to track their progress throughout the tutoring.
Unique to McCaw Elementary is the School of Mines. Current principal, Jennifer Furman-Born took us on a short tour and proudly told us all about it. What started as a paper mache project in 1998 has turned into quite an attraction. Teacher Janet Bremer along with then principal, Janet Dobry shared this vision. Today, with the help of community partnerships, students all over the valley can experience a simulated mine and learn about Nevada mining and history.
For more info on the McCaw School of Mines, please visit www.mccawschoolofmines.org.
Andson operates after school programs in several locations, three of which are Zone schools: Hollingsworth, Sunrise Acres and Vegas Verdes Elementary Schools. This month, we are focusing our spotlight on Vegas Verdes Elementary School.Andson’s Homework Help and Tutoring program is dedicated to offering homework help and tutoring from licensed tutors for every student at Vegas Verdes' after school program by partnering with City of Las Vegas’ Safekey Program. The purpose is to provide academic support by assisting students directly with the homework concepts they may struggle with in class each day. Andson provides tutors and aides Monday through Thursday to work with 3rd and 4th grade students.
To learn more, please take a look at the short video below:
December’s spotlight is on Jim Bridger Middle School. The magnet program at Bridger Middle School provides so many incredible opportunities for the students, exposing them to careers in the fields of robotics, aerospace, aviation, biomedicine, and computer technology.
Andson is committed to helping the students at Bridger reach their full potential and excel academically. By providing after school tutoring, we can ensure each student is working at grade level and is able to participate in all that the school has to offer.
Please watch the short video below to learn about this fantastic partnership.
As the school year comes to a close, we are finishing up the last week of our Homework Help and Tutoring program until fall. As we wrap up, we are providing pizza and drinks to show our appreciation for all of our students’ terrific efforts at each site, as well as handing out certificates to students to acknowledge their successful completion of our program.
And, believe us, as the test results come pouring in, we see more and more how their hard work has paid off this year!
We are also doing a grand drawing of all the stars of the month at each site, and the winner will receive a summer pail of goodies, which includes passes to the Discovery Museum!
We just want our students to realize how important their efforts throughout the school year are to us, and we eagerly await seeing them again in the fall.
As the school year comes to a close, we want to give a shout out to one of many extremely exceptional tutors, Loretta Lee at the Agassi Boys & Girls Club. Our kids at Agassi typically receive a Three Square Meal at 5:30; however, many students are hungry prior to that time due to their long school days.
Loretta and her husband have an outreach program, and she offered to bring daily snacks in for the students. So, they have been graciously providing a nutritious snack for the students after Homework Help time.
Thank you Loretta for going out of your way to be thoughtful and ensuring that our kids never go without a snack.
You go above and beyond just being a tutor to them.
It’s that time again – time for our third and last Aimsweb test this school year! Although our kids might not be too thrilled about it, we certainly are because it’s from these tests that we are able to find out how far our kids have come - academically, that is. A year-end assessment is critical to meeting our goals, so it’s vital to our continued success.
Students complete the Aimsweb math portion first, as a group, and the one-on-one reading test second. Depending upon group size, the testing process takes from 30 minutes to one hour. In an effort to maintain testing consistency, we conduct the testing at our tutoring locations.
Our kids will be elated to know yesterday was the last day of testing, as it lasted from April 23rd to May 7th, but the actual tutoring and homework help will last until May 15th.
Now it’s time for us to do our part and calculate those results, so that we can continue to successfully monitor our students’ improvement and use these results to improve our program to ensure they get the best tutoring come fall.
Congratulations Pam Charles, April’s “Tutor of the Month!” Pam has been working with kindergarteners and 1st graders at the Boyd Boys & Girls Club since the beginning of the school year, and she says she has really enjoyed working with them, especially because they are so cute, full of energy, and learn so quickly. Pam can see a huge difference in her students’ skill level between the beginning of the year and now!
One thing that really stands out about Pam is the quote that’s listed on the bottom of her email.
Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t…you’re right. –Henry Ford
She explains she chose this quote because she is a stronge believer that our attitudes affect everything we do in life, from teaching goals to personal goals.
As Pam put it, “If we think we can make a difference we will, and conversely, if we think we won’t make a difference, we won’t.”
Well said, Pam! And keep believing that you make a difference, because you do!
Strong Start Nevada is a community outreach program with similar education goals as Andson that believes that early childhood experiences lay the foundation for that child’s success throughout life. According to an article they wrote, “Young children’s brains develop 700 synapses [neural connections that support learning and skills] every second. Research shows that children begin developing their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills well before high school, middle school or elementary school.” How awesome is that!? The younger the child, the more the child’s brain will retain information.
The Problem-
Nevada’s children have fallen behind in education. According to Strong Start Nevada, in Nevada we rank 50th in education in the nation. What exactly does this mean?
The Result-
The destructive impact this has on our young adults who are struggling and not keeping up in Nevada’s current education system is limitless. Young adults are ill prepared for the world and work force, and in most cases they are not equipped to meet the standards that industries look for in their hiring processes. How many of our young adults are we talking about?
According to Strong Start Nevada:
At-risk children are:
The Plan of Action-
What do we need to do to better prepare our children in Nevada?
Congratulations to Alijah Elgas (kindergarten), Brianna Bonner (third grade), and Melanie Jimenez (third grade) for winning the Stars of the Month awards for outstanding performance in tutoring at the Boyd Club location! Great job guys for being January’s outstanding students of the month!
Keep up the smiles and hard work!
Laura Bastian is the winner of our January “Tutor of the Month” here at Andson. Currently a speech-language pathologist at William Ferron Elementary, she treats speech and language disorders from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Laura has over 10 years of teaching on her plate and has taught preschool, first and fourth grade, and special education in both middle and high school. She has been both a tutor and a tutoring coordinator for much of that time in both Illinois and Nevada. Laura also has quite the busy life outside of the classroom. When she is not with students, she loves traveling with her family, visiting unique museums, and having one-of-a-kind experiences. Other activities she and her family do together include volunteering across the Valley.
Also near and dear to Laura are her efforts to educate her students about college. Therefore, in order to kindle an interest in college in her students, she has her students currently doing a pen-pal project with her daughter’s sorority at Iowa State University.
Thank you Ms. Bastian for all you do for our students!
With the heavy focus on data and assessment in the youth services area, sometimes it's important to take a look to the qualitative side. The results can be easier to spot and motivate staff and youth both to continue their hard work.
This morning on Lifehacker there was an article featured from the blog, Ready for Zero, entitled “5 Big Mistakes Keeping You in Debt.” These articles come up often, and are usually a solid set of guidelines that most people could allude to all on their own, but don't.
One reason for this in particular stands out in this writeup.
They Forget to Change Their Attitude. This can be one of the hardest mistakes to make and one of the hardest to learn from. The reason is that humans don't like change. For the most part, we're comfortable with where we are right now. But for those of us in debt, usually we have to change our attitude to change our outcome. We have to start thinking in a new way and change how we look at money. The best way to accomplish this is to proactively decide how you'll incorporate new beliefs about your finances into your daily life.
As adults, we’re comfortable. Most of the time, far too comfortable. It’s difficult to imagine changing one’s entire routine or lifestyle - that’s why going to the gym or finding time for a new hobby can be challenging as an adult. What’s important to remember, however, is that these barriers are considerably lower for youth. Fads, games, and even circles of friends have an amazing power to transform a youth’s behaviors very quickly.
Andson works hard each day to move those behaviors and perceptions in youth to new heights - both in Personal Finance and Academics. Some days are more rewarding than others. What we’ve accomplished and witnessed this year in transformations, however, has been inspiring.
A student at one site I personally oversee seemed like he was on a path to medication, an ILP (Individual Learning Plan), and perhaps even counseling or some sort of treatment. A kindergartener, he likely did not receive any early childhood development, and was a distraction to the rest of the group. In just a few short weeks of structure and personalized attention with a tutor - behaviors have changed, the distractions have nearly ceased, and he actually likes doing his homework (gasp!).
Personal Finance and Academics do not have to be chore, they don’t have to be a fight - but we must take the time to invest in attitudinal change. The outcomes are clear, rewarding, and transformation can be seen on the spot.
Believe me, it will come quicker for youth than for most of us adults.
In order to more accurately and effectively monitor the progress of our students, Andson Academics has incorporated the usage of the AIMSweb assessment and diagnostics software into our Academic Support program for the 2013-2014 school year. This tool allows us to benchmark and progress monitor our students to further diagnose the exact areas in which they need the most attention. AIMSweb also gives us the capability to compare our students’ progress to state and national norms much more easily.
Many schools across the country, including Clark County School District, have begun integrating this software into their assessment processes, and most of our tutors are already very familiar with the system. Using the AIMSweb software gives the Andson Academics program a unique advantage over other tutoring programs in southern Nevada.
We are very excited about what this means for our program and the enhanced support that our students will receive with the implementation of this software.
We are excited to report that Andson's Homework Help and Tutoring program has kicked off another year with more locations and some new initiatives! We are on track to have an estimated 1,200 students at 15 sites (anticipated by the end of this year) receiving Homework Help and approximately 500 students receiving small group tutoring assistance. Over the past two years we have done lots of things right. We have put close to 1,000 students on a path to success, benefitting from our free Homework Help and tutoring programs. We have partnered with amazing organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs, St. Jude's Ranch for Children, Communities In Schools and After School All Stars. Our tutored students improve their performance an average of one to two grade levels in all academic areas! We have lots to be proud of!
We want to do even better! Providing meaningful and much needed academic support to more students in interesting and individualized ways is always the goal. Based on feedback from parents, tutors and community partners, we have identified two major areas of improvement this year:
1) Homework Help activities will be more fun, engaging and productive. We are really structuring our locations and separating kids by grade and ability levels while offering incentives and prizes to those who complete their homework correctly. We are providing new and better books and will be introducing educational games as a way to instill a lifelong love of learning.
2) Tutoring groups will be smaller, allowing Andson tutors to really hone in on student needs and develop Individualized Learning Plans. This personalized approach to student needs along with a new system of periodic academic assessments, progress monitoring and benchmarking will help assure that no child falls behind in school.
Overall, at this early stage in the school year, our Tutors and staff are busily working hand in hand to assess, monitor and track student progress. Getting to know our students has been a blast. Stay tuned for more updates…
As we wrap up our Summer Reading Program, our amazing Back 2 Class Bash and approach this new school year - our services are proving to be more valuable to Southern Nevada than ever before. The reality is, as state funding to schools and other entities to provide academic support dwindles, there are less organizations providing tutoring and academic support Andson Academics - which makes our role even more critical.A recent article from Education Week reports:
Many companies that once provided supplemental education services, or tutoring mandated at academically struggling schools under the No Child Left Behind law, are now scrambling to find new streams of income, or have already closed their doors, in the past year. Steve Pines, president of the Education Industry Association, said that at its peak several years ago, about 2,500 companies and other organizations were approved to work with students using supplement-services funding allocated to improve students' academic performance. About half of the state-approved providers are "commercial entities," according to Pines. Other providers are a mix of school districts themselves, followed by community and faith-based organizations. Today, Pines estimates that the number of organizations providing those services has dropped by 50 percent.
Andson did think at one point that we may apply for some of these various funding sources, but we never have. All of our funding has come from Sonia's initial investment. That said, we are focused this year on securing new, creative ways of funding our programming to make sure our commitment to Southern Nevada can continue for years to come. Our extremely supportive Board has clearly made "thinking outside the box," a general principle in regard to garnering support for an initiative for this upcoming year.
With new agreements with the City of Las Vegas for SAFEKEY locations, our 9 other locations through Boys & Girls Clubs, St. Jude's Ranch for Children, and Communities in Schools as well as interest from various other community partners - this is only our beginning. This school year we have agreed to 13 total sites, with two additional sites in discussion.
Although we have a business background and can apply some very atypical strategies to fundraising, programming and curriculum, we continue to passionately operate Andson as the organization it is - one truly committed to our community. We are focused, and ready for this school year!
Another year has passed for Andson Academics! With the closing of a year, we get to hear success stories from our tutors and staff. It has been astonishing how many stories have been given to us but one in particular has caught our eye. Words from a tutor:
When I started at the Boys and Girls Club, I noticed this specific boy. He would make up lies to not do his homework. He would also be rude to other students and even me. With some motivation and little talks once in a while on how important it is to treat others respectfully. I have seen a great change in him. He now does his homework without complaints and mentions how easy and fun homework sometimes is, and has definitely changed his attitude with the other students. I am very proud of him.
Now, that is one story from a tutor, but many parents have noticed changes in their children, as well as how Andson Academics can help relieve the stress on parents.
Words from our parents:
Thank you so much for your help! It really helps with my long work days for Mandy to get homework done at B&Gs Club.
She learned not to be scared and ask for help. There is no shame not knowing something and to be confident that she can accomplish anything.
My child looks forward to doing homework and is staying busy in her academics.
My child has become more eager to learn and is more open to ask questions at school.
Gabriella is excited to read and write. She has more confidence in herself and her abilities. The feedback from her teacher recently has been [that] she participates more and speaks up. I truly believe the personal attention she has received from Ms. Kelly and the other tutors is the reason for this.
Seems more confident about homework and starting to appreciate the importance of learning/education.
Andson Academics not only helps with improving education, but also helps with behavioral issues that could impact education. We are very happy to hear that our tutors go beyond the call of duty to help stimulate the children's minds.
School is coming to an end! Kids are getting more excited as each day goes and they get closer to summer vacation. No more school means no more tutoring until the 2013-2014 school year. Andson Academics has had a very exciting year tutoring more than 500 children at all the Boys & Girls Clubs of Henderson locations, Bridger Middle School and St. Jude’s Ranch. In order to celebrate another successful year, we are giving each location a pizza party, and achievement awards during the week of May 20th for all students and tutors who participated in Andson Academics.
Dates of the Pizza Party:
- May 20th: Bridger Middle School
- May 21st: BGCH Marker
- May 22nd: St. Jude's Ranch (young children)
- May 23rd: St. Jude's Ranch (teens), BGCH Southern Highlands, BGCH Natalie Gulbis, BGCH John C. Kish, BGCH Mary & Sam Boyd, BGCH Montandon, and BGCH Silver Pines
It is the least that Andson can do to thank everyone for a great year. And thank you to everyone who supported us! We look forward to the 2013-2014 school year.
Children’s Education is top priority at the Andson Organization. At the beginning of this semester of school, we had the privilege if being a part of Bridger Middle School and the after school tutoring program. When we started the involvement in the beginning of January, we met with Kalah Washington who took charge. In October 2012, the Las Vegas Sun wrote an article about the amazing job that Kalah does, and the impact she makes as an employee of Communities in Schools. When Kalah walks through the halls of Bridger, the students cannot help but to say, "Hi!". Everyone knows who she is and what she does. The Communities in Schools program is designed to help underprivileged children get the support they need whether it is in school or at home. Kalah offers schools supplies for any child that needs it, including backpacks. If a child needs a new shirt or pair of jeans, Kalah is able to supply it. If the child needs food, Kalah is able to supply canned food for the whole family. Not only does she provide the children with physical goods but she also provides them with emotional support. Kalah counsels the children from school issues to personal issues.
Every Monday through Thursday after school, you will find Kalah inside the school library helping tutor the students. She provides discipline and a nurturing environment for these students that volunteer to be in the after-school tutoring program.
All of us here at Andson have been excited to be a part of what Kalah and Communities in Schools is doing. We hope to keep up the good work and be able to support the community like they do!
Article Information: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/oct/13/nonprofit-group-picks-where-schools/
In light of the ongoing teacher cut-backs and increased class sizes, we continue our commitment to fill the void of supplemental education and help families meet their child's individual needs. In collaboration with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Henderson, we are providing FREE tutoring in Reading, Math and Science to students K-12. This year, our after school tutoring program also includes homework assistance Mondays thru Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30pm at seven locations across the valley - Southern Highlands, three Henderson sites, Apache Pines, North Las Vegas and at St. Judes Ranch for Children in Boulder City.
Andson's academic tutoring available at these BGCA locations:
Apache Pines Club | 9552 West Tropicana Avenue | Las Vegas
John C. Kish Club | 104 Drake Street | Henderson
Marker Club | 1030 Center Street | Henderson
Mary and Sam Boyd Club | 1608 Moser Drive | Henderson
Montandon Club | 2627 Donna Street | North Las Vegas
Southern Highlands Club | 10900 Southern Highlands Parkway | Las Vegas
