Today we’d like to introduce you to LaToya Gibson.
LaToya, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started when I was individually tutoring kids at their homes, libraries and at coffee shops. Shortly after, I got an opportunity in Fort Worth at an elementary. I worked the contract for free in hopes to garner the business. I even sent the school a gift of cookies with my last $50.I was living in Dallas and traveling Fort Worth 4 days a week. That school did not hire us on contract, I had nearly given up during that trial.
However, Texas Tutors persevered and in 2017, we got our first contract with Buckner International which we still offering them an after school literacy program. We feel the sacrifices were worth it.
In 2018, we got our first GEAR UP contract which included nine schools for seven years. We continue to expand and we now serve 25 schools in Texas.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Today’s current times of distant learning has posed MANY challenges.
With distance learning now in place for the nation, Texas Tutors is leading their districts in a new approach to learning. We researched many options that would be most efficient and safest for our scholars and school districts. After much deliberation, we landed on LearnCube as the online resource for our tutors to tap into students for daily learning.
Beginning on April 6, Texas Tutors will roll out online tutoring in 6 of their 11 districts. Middle School will include Reading and Math. High school expands to include Algebra I, English I and II, Biology, and United States History.
Texas Tutors will log more than 800 online tutoring hours per week to service more than 900 Texas scholars via small group online schooling.
Another obstacle is maintaining employment for our extensive bank of tutors. The company has taken great measures to retain all employees in the tutor database. Our goal is to get every tutor back to their pre-Covid 19 schedule by April 20th.
Many of our scholars are greatly under grade level. It is an obstacle, yet what drives our passion. We feel an obligation to get them on grade level in one school year. Texas Tutors overcomes this by hiring amazing people and producing curriculum through Teach to Reach (partner) to close the achievement gap and build scholars up to grade level.
Please tell us about Texas Tutors.
Texas Tutors offers a wide array of educational services including in-school tutoring and test prep. Introducing reading intervention services and specific subject tutoring from a district level through a variety of schools, Texas Tutors has proven success in increasing school scores and individual scholar improvement throughout the state.
We use data to create custom lesson plans based on unique learning needs and individualized requirements in multiple grade levels. We staff certified teachers to guide children through their individual learning process.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
When I was in 6th grade, I had a wonderful teacher that had us create a book using bare books.
We were instructed to write an autobiography. At that moment, I knew I wanted to major in English. It was at that young age that I knew I wanted to assist others in education and help them tell their stores through writing.
This prompted my decision to be an ELA teacher and reading specialist.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3824 Cedar Springs Rd
Suite 504
Dallas, TX 75219 - Website: www.texas-tutors.com
- Phone: (214) 903-0664
- Email: info@texas-tutors.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/texastutors
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/texastutors
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