by Mike Gonzalez, The Monitor, Originally published 6/2/09

Education was never a big part of Donald Duane Lovestrand's life. That is, until last week when he graduated with honors from South Texas College.

Lovestrand, 38, grew up in North Dakota where he was home schooled for 10 years while helping at the farm where his family raised more than 3,000 pigs and dairy cows. Lovestrand said. His parents never stressed the importance of education; they focused more on the daily chores and grind of the farm. Lovestrand graduated May 24, receiving his diploma for two associate's degrees; in secondary education and in interdisciplinary studies.

Lovestrand said his education story began in unlikely fashion.

In what turned out to be a blessing in disguise, a back injury led Lovestrand to Weslaco chiropractor Dr. Robert Bishop, who suggested that Lovestrand go to college. "He said, ‘Try it,'" Lovestrand said. "It was never for me because I was home schooled and my parents never encouraged me in any way shape or form to go to school." Away from any form of education for more than 16 years, Lovestrand enrolled at South Texas College in 2005 and took a bulk of his courses at the Mid-Valley Campus.

Lovestrand said describing his early college career as "difficult" would have been putting it mildly. "I didn't know what algebra was," he said. "I couldn't tell you what the parts of the cell were in biology. I didn't know how to take notes. It was overwhelming."

He thought about giving up, but his past experiences led him to persevere. He went through life supporting a wife and two children through all manner of jobs, from a truck driver to knocking down trees and moving appliances.

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By Dan Cherry, Daily Telegram, originally published 5/9/09

A daily, in-house tutoring program has earned Blissfield Middle School a state-level 2009 Education Excellence award.

The Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) and program sponsors will present the award to school representatives May 18 at a luncheon in Bath, north of Lansing.

The award is for the school’s Developing Responsibility Is Vitally Essential (DRIVE) tutoring program, and is given through the MASB in the category of improving student achievement for at-risk students.

Since its start in 2005-06, DRIVE has dramatically reduced the number of incomplete and failed assignments, according to Mark Wilson, Blissfield Middle School principal.

Winners of the education award, including Blissfield, go on to be considered for the state-level “Michigan’s Best” award, which includes a cash prize to help further the program’s goals.

Before the program was implemented at Blissfield Middle School, there was an average 66 failing grades per marking period across the middle school, Wilson said.

By the next academic year, 2006-07, the number of failing grades per marking period dropped to less than two dozen.

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By Joyce Hanson, crain's new york business.com, originally published on 5/22/09

Paying staff four times the competition’s going rate may seem like a crazy formula for success, but the strategy works for test-prep firm Manhattan GMAT.

When founder Zeke Vanderhoek used his savings and a credit card to start his business in 2000, he earned $50,000 that first year. By 2008, the firm grossed $10 million because, he says, Manhattan GMAT hires only instructors who score in the 99th percentile of the Graduate Management Admission Test, and it pays them $100 an hour.

“The idea that teachers are a core part of the experience of learning is not an original idea. The only innovation is that we were willing to pay for it,” says Mr. Vanderhoek, a Yale grad and former Teach for America teacher at I.S. 90 in Manhattan.

He stepped down as chief executive of Manhattan GMAT in 2007 to start up a charter school in Washington Heights, where he will duplicate his formula by paying teachers a salary of $125,000.

Though no longer involved with Manhattan GMAT’s day-to-day operations, Mr. Vanderhoek remains on as “something like a chairman,” noting that his company is not really into titles. He had this same flexible attitude at the start when supplementing his teacher’s income by tutoring everyone from elementary school students to M.B.A. applicants. Over a few years, he received so many word-of-mouth referrals from GMAT test-takers that when he left Teach for America in 2001, his business was already up and running.

Manhattan GMAT has tapped into the recession-proof market of test-takers who want to ace the exam and get into the best business schools so they’ll be M.B.A.-ready when the economy picks up. Far from viewing high staff pay as an indulgence, the firm sees it as an essential.

Chief Executive Andrew Yang says the firm’s formula depends on three key variables:

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by Cynthia Beudette, Muscatine Journal, originally published on 5/14/09

When Bob Giddings answered a request to tutor Muscatine High School students, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Since then, he’s been learning a few things himself. After helping one young man search for the answers to a history assignment, Giddings said hearing the student say he was actually beginning to like history was a meaningful breakthrough. “That made me feel really good,” said Giddings, 76.

Giddings had also been concerned about the age gap between him and the students. However, “I found that acceptance was not a problem,” he said. Giddings said Kathy Brooker, director of Muscatine Connected, a non-profit educational foundation, invited him to tutor in the new MHS component recovery program.

Brooker said the program helped 20 students catch up on their credits this semester. “Those students will never say, ‘I’m a high school dropout,’” said Brooker. “And this isn’t just about grades, it’s about having the confidence to know you can succeed. And success breeds success.”

That works with the tutors, too.

Brooker said their enthusiasm inspires other adults to become volunteers. The component recovery program was developed by Brooker, MHS principal Bob Weaton, MHS associate principal Diane Campbell and Keith Pogemiller, department leader of student services.

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by Meredith Kolodner, NY Daily News Staff Writer, originally posted 4/19/09

A city-funded volunteer program with a great track record of helping struggling elementary school kids learn to read is on the chopping block.Experience Corps, which uses local retirees, has helped hundreds of children who could barely read reach grade level within one school year - showing a 60% higher improvement rate than their peers. The city put up $400,000 this year, but that money ran out in December.

"She wasn't reading to me at all before the tutoring," said Iesha Lewis, whose daughter Heaven is a first-grader at PS 129 in Harlem, where the average first-grade class has 26 kids."She would read 'cat' and 'dog,' only words that are so common," said Lewis, 22, of the South Bronx. "I was extremely worried. I really didn't know what was wrong."Heaven began the program in the fall and her proud mom says she now comes home and reads books almost every day after school."I couldn't do any of the quizzes because you had to be able to read the book, and I couldn't," said Heaven, 6. "Now I can read the hard books."

A new study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis looked at 23 schools in three cities, including New York, that have the volunteer program.About 94% of the students qualified for free lunch and were black or Latino. A quarter were English language learners.Reading comprehension gains were the same regardless of ethnicity, income level, gender or language ability.The tutors are given 30 hours of training, about $60 per week for lunch and transportation. They work with students one-on-one and in small groups.

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