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I think the post by alisasny (#7) is very much on point, and gives a clue as to how you might fix the problem yourself. Nearly all schools have a fixed curriculum, and they keep moving the whole class along it, even if a few kids are totally lost. Their efforts, and unfortunately the efforts of a lot of outside turoring organizations too, are designed to get the child to earn passing grades in the onward-marching curriculum. Trouble is, that rarely translates into mastery or confidence on the part of the child.

The fifth-grader who is getting Ds or Fs in math or reading, may need to be focusing on 2nd grade level math or reading in order to build a foundation for mastery, but schools and tutors usually only back up a year or so in the curriculum, or else back up further but then rush the trip forward, in order to get the child's grades at the current grade level up to Cs or Bs.

I don't know the specifics of your child's situation, but I'd recommend asking yourself first, whether it matters if your child gets Fs. A school grading system's assessment of your child, is not necessarily the assessment scale you should focus on. Try sitting down with your child, and figuring out at what level his mastery actually is. If he's in 4th grade and his mastery level is kindergarten or 1st grade, fine. Start from there. And if your child is making progress at mastery, ignore the 4th grade Ds and Fs. What matters is if your child is mastering the next step from where he's starting. If he's mastered 1st grade level material, and then masters 2nd grade level material, he may still get Ds and Fs in 4th grade, but that doesn't matter. And you should make that clear to both school officials and your child. Make clear that you are the ultimate authority on your child's education. If the school is assigning mandatory homework and "projects" that aren't effective for your child's academic progress, tell the school point blank that he won't be doing the assignments and that they are not to criticize or chastize him for not turning them him. Have him spend homework time on the things he really needs to be doing.

Why thanks : )

Another bonus of the program was that while we he was in school and doing Sylvan, Sylvan was in constant touch with the school regarding his math class. So by the end of 6th grade we were only up to the 3rd grade level in math at Sylvan so math at school was useless. He attended class daily at school but we got him excused from homework. He then went 6 hours week almost all summer. We still had about 20 hours to go when he started 7th grade but by then he was scoring in the 11th grade level in Math. The 11th grade level came from the specific multiple choice test he took at the end of the program. So while he probably could not do a lot of the math he was able to reason out the correct answer. Not bad at all.

Sadly I just threw out the entire SYLVAN BINDER with the exact test results. We were doing fall cleaning and well I just threw it out. But now in 8th grade he is doing pre algebra with no questions asked of us. I actually think he likes math now and understands it.

In addition his ability to spell and his penmanship has improved to legible form.

I really believe he needed a program such as Sylvan to restore his confidence. After so many years of math classes with out a clue he was lost and it effected his overall performance.

They also pressured me to do a 36 hour study skills course. I seriously did think about it. Ruled against it based on how he is currently doing in school and knowing my son and his abilities.

GovernmentShrinker: question since you seem very up on this subject.

Other day he is doing his homework and his room is nearly dark. He does his homework at a normal table and desk in his room. I go to turn on the light and he says he can't concentrate with the light on. He was doing math at the time. Ever heard of this?

You said your son did the entire pre evaluation?

If so you should now know at what grade level your child is on in all subjects according to those tests to form a basis if you decide to try and tutor him at home yourself.

I don't know how tough your situation is but we really could not take one more day of crying at the table over homework harming our son further with our anger. Sylvan was a blessing for us, albeit an expensive one.