MasterMind Prep is now hiring tutors at schools in North Carolina for our free after-school tutoring programs. These programs are not online but are offered at local schools. In addition, we are hiring tutors for our live online tutoring programs. Click here to see our current job openings and to apply.

MasterMind Prep will provide free tutoring services in reading or math to disadvantaged students in many of the lowest-performing schools in our home state of North Carolina starting this fall. These services will be face-to-face with tutors in the schools and will take place after school. To be eligible, students must be enrolled in a school labeled by the state as “in need of improvement” and must be eligible for free and reduced lunch. Watch our video to learn more.

MasterMind Prep provides free tutoring in reading and math to students in qualifying schools in North Carolina.

Are you looking for 8th grade summer reading material for your child? This book list will help keep your student’s mind strong even when school is out of session.

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card

This sci-fi novel follows the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, a young boy who is sent to an outer space military training facility to be educated in the art of war.  This story resembles a very futuristic Harry Potter and has a stunning twist at the end.

When My Name was Keoko, Linda Sue Park

Linda Sue Park tells the tale of two young siblings growing up in Korea under Japanese occupation during WWII.  Sun-hee and Tae-yul struggle to preserve their Korean tradition and heritage under the strict fascist regime.

The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas

This classic French tale of teamwork and heroism is sure to inspire your rising middle schooler.  The Three Musketeers serve Louis XIV and fight against the evil Cardinal Richelieu in this action-packed adventure.

The Giver, Lois Lowry

Renowned children’s author Lois Lowry pens this coming-of-age tale of Jonas, a boy who inherits a role in his town known as the Keeper of Memories.  The Keeper of Memories is the figure who keeps memories of pain and suffering for the population so that the rest of the town may be spared them.  Jonas must decide whether the cost of protecting his friends from these memories is worth the personal price that he must pay.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Lewis Stevenson

Mr. Hyde is an ordinary doctor who discovers a drug that unleashes Dr. Jekyll, his wild, uninhibited, animalistic alter ego.  This classic novel has roots in psychology and philosophy and is a great place to start your eighth grader thinking about some of the mature decisions that adults face.

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkein

Originally published in 1937, this beloved Lord of the Rings prequel tells the story of how Bilbo Baggins came to acquire the Ring of Power.  Filled with memorable characters such as Gandalf the White and Gollum, this book will get your student excited to see the movie of the same name slated to be released in 2012.

Trouble, Gary Schmidt

Henry hikes Mount Katahdin with his best friend and dogs per his brother’s dying wish, but finds himself accompanied by his brother’s Cambodian killer.  This story of forgiveness and understanding will touch all who read it.

The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton

This classic novel explores the role of class and social divides in the 1960s.  Ponyboy is a proud Greaser who regularly fights with the preppy Socs until his friend kills one, forcing Ponyboy to reexamine the role of divisions and black-and-white thinking in his world.

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Guy Montag is a fireman, who in this universe start fires to burn unwanted books rather than put them out.  Fahrenheit 451 deftly explores the role that technology and censorship play on our lives as Guy begins to see the valuable role of books and learning.

Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson

This historical novel follows the tale of Isabel, a slave sold to a couple in New York who then spies for the Rebels during the Revolutionary War.  Chains is an action-packed tale of heroism that is both inspiring and educational.

Social networks are among the emerging technologies that are increasingly being  the classroom to augment and improve students’ educational experiences.  For example, students in the Unified San Marco school district in Northern California are now using the Internet to showcase their work in English classes.

Computers in the classroom make it easy for students to type their work.  When they are finished, these students, already well-versed in social networks such as Facebook, sign on to a district-specific, password-protected website to post their assignments.  Once they have posted their work, other students are then able to comment on stories, essays, and poems produced by their classmates.

Teachers indicate that this has lead to a rise in the quality of work produced by students since they know that their peers, not just their teacher, will be reading their finished products. One middle school teacher remarked, “With social networking, they share their work with a whole class. They care a lot more about it and are willing to do things to make it special.”

Additionally, a grant has allowed the district to purchase digital cameras, allowing students to augment their written work with digital photographs and videos.  Students are taught how to take pictures and edit video in order to create interest in their assignments.  Teachers believe that this will help their students grow to be the next generation of web designers, developers, and photographers.  English assignments are no longer solely language-based, but multimedia-based as students share videos, pictures, and music with one another.

Students have had positive feedback for the program.  One eighth grader said, “Everybody has their own point of view on writing.  I revise a lot more and I’m really paying attention to every word that I put down.”  In addition to the extra care that students put into their work, they also benefit from having more than one person read their essays.  Students critique and provide feedback on each others’ work, helping students to see multiple viewpoints on an assignment where they might have only received one opinion (and one grade) before.

The experiment has shown results on state tests.  In the three schools where the technology initiative was implemented, writing scores rose from 64.6 percent to 80.3 percent in one year.  The program is showing positive quantitative as well as qualitative results.

Technology is redefining the way we think of education, and MasterMind Prep seeks to embrace that change.  Through our innovative webcam technology, we can provide in-home tutoring at an unparalleled value.  Please call us to discover how we can help your student excel in the classroom through our unique tutoring services.

In today’s increasingly competitive academic world, there’s a tangible pressure on students. It’s no longer good enough to just get good grades. If students want to get into a top-tier college, they have to be well rounded.

So with that in mind, parents often invest in sports, music and art lessons for their children, hoping that these activities help them get an edge. These activities and groups do, after all, teach children life skills such as leadership, teamwork and responsibility. But unfortunately with all of these extracurricular activities to choose from, parents often dismiss or completely overlook the need for academic tutoring.

You might reason that your child can learn all he or she needs to know within the 7-8 hours spent in school daily. But the truth is, to ensure that your child performs to his or her academic potential, supplemental tutoring is often necessary. With the help of a tutor, children learn important learning-related skills that they can use to stay on top of their academic goals. A child’s natural intelligence can only go so far; tutoring and academic coaching can help push a child to either catch up, keep up or get ahead for a particular subject.

Many times, tutoring is seen as a tool that is only beneficial to struggling students. While it is true that tutoring can help students who are behind or struggling, it is also a great way to increase the productivity, efficiency and academic health of good students.

Our online tutoring programs can help to contribute to your student’s academic success. Equip your child with the skills that will help them excel both in and outside of the classroom.

Laptops are common in office buildings and college classrooms, and today, computing power is available in the palm of one’s hand. However, one area of life that has remained relatively stagnant, technologically speaking, is high school. The Montvale School District in Montvale, New Jersey would like to change that.

Montvale has been giving each of its high school students a laptop for seven years now, and they say the difference is extraordinary.  Now, instead of taking notes on paper, students pull out their laptops and type on Microsoft Word.  Students report that this is both more efficient and easier to organize; one can never lose their notes unless the entire computer goes missing.

Teachers rave about the laptops as well.  Director of Curriculum Erik Gunderson said that “most of [their] subject areas have broken away from textbooks,” as students opt to read a digital copy of the book on the laptop’s screen instead.  Students say that it is easier to carry a backpack with a laptop than it is to lug around as many as fifty pounds of books.  Additionally, the high schools’ teachers have become more efficient too.  Now, instead of walking to different buildings to speak with their colleagues, instructors can Skype or video chat them, leaving more time to plan lessons.

The laptops have not only made the students and teachers more productive, they have improved the overall learning experience.  In math, the students actually create geometric figures on-screen.  In science classes, the students measure data and experimental results real-time.  In English, students share documents with one another in order to peer-edit papers.  One Italian class is actually held very early on Friday morning so that the class can videochat with youth in Italy.

Mastermind Prep is proud to continue this tradition of technologically advancing education through its unique one-on-one video tutoring system.  Through the use of webcams and Internet connections, your child can be tutored in math, reading, or SAT prep at an affordable price. Just like Montvale School District, we believe that technology should enhance a child’s educational experience.  Please contact us to discuss how we can best suit your educational goals.

Is the achievement gap between the U.S. and academically top-performing countries causing the equivalent of a permanent recession? The answer is ‘yes’ according to Eric A. Hanushek, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

Hanushek recently conducted an analysis for Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance. His findings show that closing just half of the performance gap with Finland, whose students consistently outperform most developed countries, could add more than $50 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product by 2090.

In his study, Hanushek calculated the economic value of effective teaching. He compared the impact of more-effective teachers on student achievement with the impact of students’ achievement levels on their lifetime earnings. By gauging the isolated the impact of teachers on student achievement, he found that “the quality of the teachers in our schools is paramount;  no other measured aspect of schools is nearly as important in determining student achievement.”

Hanushek calculates that a highly effective teacher (in the top 16 percent of the teaching force) will shift the typical student’s lifetime earnings up by more than $20,000. Thus, by replacing the least effective 7 to 12 percent of teachers with those of average effectiveness would “move the United States to the level of the highest-performing countries in the world, such as Finland.”

Improving our teaching force would require changes in employment practices, recruitment, compensation and retention policies to identify and compensate teachers based on their effectiveness. However, such changes have the potential for higher economic growth and enormous gains in gross domestic product.

We agree that our schools have the potential to perform on a much higher level. However, we don’t believe the answer lies in just paying teachers more money. Part of “teacher effectiveness” is providing them with proven teaching methods, well-designed curricula and intensive training based on scientific research. These tactics have allowed Mastermind Prep to consistently deliver highly effective instruction. What do you think is the best method for improving teacher effectiveness?

No matter how many brochures you read or websites you visit, there’s nothing like visiting a campus to help you truly get a feel for the school. Talking with admissions counselors, teachers and students and taking a stroll through campus grounds and dorms will give you a better glimpse of what your life would look like a a particular college and help you determine whether it is the right fit. Once you identify your top school choices, take a chance to sit down and establish a travel plan. Here are a few things to remember for each visit:

• Arrange an interview with an admissions officer or sign up for a group session.
• Take a campus tour and pay attention to dorms, libraries, student unions and athletic facilities.
• Talk with students and ask them how they spend their time (studying, socializing, exercising, etc).
• Ask to sit in on a class and stay afterward to ask questions to the faculty.This will help your child to gauge whether the courses/majors suit his or her interests.
• Have your child read the student newspaper or other student publications and to look for groups and activities he or she might be interested in.
• If possible, attend a sporting event or schedule an overnight visit with a student to get up close view of student life.

Picking the right college is an important decision and the visiting process gives your child a chance to “interview” each school and determine whether it’s a good fit.  It’s a chance to experience the college life first-hand so that you and your child can make an educated decison.