Tutor business focuses on one-to-one work

Working one on one with students — that, according to Dave Hibbs, is the perfect learning setup.

“You get instant feedback,” he said. “Anybody in education knows it’s the ideal situation.”

The idea of tutors working with individual students, in students’ homes and around students’ schedules is what attracts Hibbs to Club Z! In-Home Tutoring Services. Hibbs, 43, is the Club Z! Flathead Valley area director.

Unlike some other franchises, which put small groups of students with tutors, Club Z! pairs individual students with individual tutors, Hibbs said. All of the part-time tutors he has hired are either certified educators or have a bachelor’s degree in the subject matter they tutor.

Those subjects include everything from study skills to advanced math to ACT and SAT test preparation. Club Z! tutors can help students of all ages, Hibbs said, from preschoolers through adults.

Hibbs first encountered the Club Z! franchise about five years ago while working at an education consulting business in the Seattle area. He became a tutor who primarily helped students learn good study skills, although he also tutored a few students in middle school math.

Four years ago, he moved to the Flathead Valley and spent three years as an administrator at Kalispell Montessori Elementary.

But Hibbs never forgot the Club Z! model, and eight months ago, he decided to bring the franchise to the Flathead.

“I thought that the model would work well here,” he said.

Hibbs said he had seen cases where, when students were struggling in school, their parents felt at a loss about how to help them. Having qualified tutors available to work one on one with those students could be a solution, he said.

Even considering the recession — and the county’s current 10.8 percent unemployment — Hibbs said he thinks there is a local market for Club Z! services.

He said tutoring prices start at $27 an hour and go up according to subject matter and grade level.

“I charge more for calculus than elementary reading,” he said.

Tutoring services are growing nationwide. In a recent New York Times article, Steve Pines, executive director of the Rockville, Md.-based Education Industry Association said spending on tutors is growing at more than 5 percent a year.

That’s down from 8 to 10 percent annual growth in 2007, the same year the tutoring industry was estimated at $5 billion to $7 billion a year, according to education research firm EduVentures, which was cited in the same article.

Hibbs was confident enough in the Club Z! model that he resigned from his position at Kalispell Montessori to work on the tutoring service full time. His is an administrative role, overseeing several qualified tutors.

“I now have about 10 [tutors] I would be willing to call,” Hibbs said. “I probably have 25 who have all their credentials ready to go.”

The key is finding the right tutor, he said. He first needs a tutor qualified to help the student with the subject matter. Then Hibbs looks for the tutor who relates best to the student.

Establishing rapport is an important part of the process, he said. It helps students discover that they, too, can learn, and that learning can actually be fun.

“They see they don’t have to hate every moment in math class,” he said.

Typical sessions last about 90 minutes and take place a couple of times a week in the student’s home, Hibbs said. That way tutors can work around students’ often busy extracurricular schedules.

At the end of every session, tutors report to the student’s parents on the material they covered.

Rather than introducing new material, Club Z! tutors work from whatever curriculum the student is using in school, Hibbs said. Before school started this fall, he met with several school principals to let them know his tutors are available to work with students.

Tutors also try to talk with their students’ teachers to understand what has been happening in the classroom, Hibbs said. Parents sign a release allowing tutors to talk with the teachers.

“I’m not in the business of public-school bashing. I think they do a tremendous job,” he said. “We’re here to help, not compete.”

For additional information, call 756-2223 or visit www.clubztutoring.com/mttutor.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.