"An Ideal Tutor..."

 

I highly recommend Mr. Casten and "Casten's Keys to Learning" as an amazing tutor that helped our son's academic progress immensely upon our return to Elmhurst.  We moved back to District 205 during John's second grade year, and discovered we had some academic "catching up" to accomplish--partially because our former school district was not as rigorous as Elmhurst schools.  

 

We started out working on both math and language arts.  As we caught up in math, we focused specifically on reading fluency, spelling strategies, reading comprehension, and writing practice.  We measured progress through timed reading drills, MAPS progress, in class scores and teacher/tutor observations.  

 

Mr. Casten did a great job getting to know John, and specifically tailoring his lessons to be both interesting and right at his level.  He talked to John's teachers to get a good idea of specific areas where we needed to focus tutoring.  As a District 205 teacher, he's in tune with the district standards, and we worked to get John to where he should be performing academically.  He made it fun by using IPad games to reinforce spelling concepts the last few minutes of each session.  The whole experience raised John's academic performance, and therefore his confidence in school.    

 

After a year, John had caught up to his peers and district standards, and to a good level on his standardized tests.  I appreciated Mr. Casten's candor when he suggested that it may be time to be done with tutoring because John had made such great improvements.  

 

Mr Casten would be an ideal tutor for any child that has some catching up to do academically.  I highly recommend his services for both summer and school-year tutoring.  

 

Jennifer Frahm

(Lincoln Elementary School)

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"As a Result..."

 

My 4th grade daughter always struggled with the "summer slump". Reading is a struggle for her and as a result, her assessments from Spring to Fall always showed a steep decline. She was always starting the year in a hole.

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We chose to participate in Mr. Casten's online program and 4 "in-person" meetings with a goal of keeping her at the same baseline assessment score from Spring to Fall. We were easily able to fit the work in at our pace -- mixed in with lots of fun summer activities and family travel. It was great being able to complete the work from anywhere!

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Mr. Casten would comment on the questions she missed and give her some great reading strategies to do better the next time. I'm proud to report that her 5th grade scores after the summer with Mr. Casten were the highest they'd ever been. It made a huge difference getting her started off strong and giving her some much needed confidence.

 

We've recommended Mr. Casten's services to friends and are planning to participate again this summer.  

 

HS

(Elmhurst, IL)

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"Direction & Feedback..."

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My son said he liked the layout of how the online tutoring was done and thinks it was helpful. It helped me as a parent to have a teacher provide direction and feedback rather than me needing to figure out what to assign or follow up on what was actually being completed. It made the summer academic practice so much more pleasant and I appreciated not needing to be as hands on because there was very little reminding required on my part.

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"Extremely Happy..."

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Our goal for our son this summer was to continue working on his reading skills in order to prevent the summer slide. This goal was not only met, but exceeded because he increased his scores in reading fluency! Also, I was very pleased with how Mr. Casten customized the sessions to my son's needs as well as my intentions. Overall, I'm extremely happy with my son's progress and results of tutoring with Key to Learning! I would highly recommend it to anyone.

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"Interesting & Fun..."

 

My son loved being tutored by you as you made it interesting and fun. You found subjects he was interested in and that helped with his learning. The use of technology was incredibly helpful too.

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"Objectives Met..."

 

We did on-line only tutoring, and were pleased with how the process was setup, and once the kids got the hang of it they were good to go. Our objectives were met for both kids, and areas that need continued work were specified. Feedback videos were very helpful! I think on-line coursework is good practice for what the kids will be doing in school long-term.