Children of the Valley

Pi Plus Tutors has joined forces with Children of the Valley to bring extra academic support to elementary students in Mount Vernon.

“We are very excited to be working with Children of the Valley again this year,” said Brian Forster, President of Pi Plus Tutors. “They do great work with the children in the Skagit Valley area and we are glad to bring additional education support into the equation.”

Children of the Valley (COV) is a program that was begun by Bethany Covenant Church in September of 2006 to aid the increasing number of low-income families in the Mount Vernon neighborhood. They provide a safe, educational place for children to learn after school for children who qualify for free lunch through their elementary school.

“We want to offer a program that any parent would want their child to be a part of,” said teacher Kristi Rodriguez. “One that is safe, well supervised, that offers healthy food and caring adults to help with reading and math skills.”

This extra academic support is where Pi Plus comes in. Pi Plus Tutors brings a focused element of aided learning to the COV program. Not only does Pi Plus bring a staff of qualified teachers and tutors, they also bring a significant curriculum library to enrich the students further than possible simply with homework help.

“Our curriculum library and testing materials allow us to assess the strengths and weaknesses of each student and develop a learning plan that will help each student most effectively,” said Forster.

This curriculum also allows many Hispanic parents to become more involved in their child’s learning as many of the programs are available in both English and Spanish.

“Having materials available in English and Spanish will be fantastic for us,” said Flora Lucatero, Program Director at COV. “This allows parents who only speak Spanish to have a better grasp on what their children are learning and allows them to become more of a participant in the process.”

“Working with Children of the Valley is a wonderful experience,” said Forster. “They are trying to do they best they can for the children in their community and we are happy to aid them in every way that we can.”

Meet a Pi Plus Tutor - Marina Vasvary

Marina Vasvary is a Pi Plus tutor in the Mukilteo area. Marina earned a degree in Microbiology from the University of Calgary before moving south of her hometown of Vancouver, B.C. to the Mukilteo area.

Marina, like many of our other tutors, was inspired to teach from an early age. Her father, a theoretical physicist, taught Marina the joys and satisfaction of math and science. “I’ve always loved Math, there was always a definite answer. I knew whether I was right or wrong.” When Marina got to college she discovered something more interesting than the right answer, bacteria. “I was hooked. They are so small but so complicated.”

Marina’s favorite part of tutoring is the confidence that comes with having the right answer. “I like to know that I can help them gain confidence. They start to smile. When they start they are so stressed and often unhappy because of it. When they start to do better they smile more. They are so excited to tell me how they’ve done, they can’t wait.” This confidence allows for more than better grades on math tests. “There was one girl that I had tutored in Math but her English and Reading grades were going up because of her confidence. Her mom was thrilled.”

When Marina is not working and tutoring she enjoys the outdoors, usually with her dog Zoe at her heels.

Supplemental Education Services Program

School is now back in session throughout the country and while for some this means new clothes and reconnecting with friends, for many students it feels like staring into the abyss of a dark tunnel with no light in sight.

When the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction released the list of schools failing to meet standards during the 2009-2010 school year, over 300 schools, many of them in the local area, made the list.

These schools were not making “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP) as required by the state, a policy stemming from the now defunct No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The AYP is determined by looking at a combination of High School Proficiency Exam and Measurement of Student Progress scores, graduation rates, and attendance records.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has teamed up with many private and district organizations to improve the AYP of these struggling schools by using Supplemental Education Services (SES) and working with educationally “at risk” students in one-on-one and small group environments.

“The Supplemental Educations Services program allows us to address these epidemic problems on a smaller scale, one student at a time,” said Brian Forster, President of Pi Plus Tutors. Pi Plus Tutors is a Puget Sound based tutoring company that has tutors all over Washington State working with the SES program.

“The districts and the government have to see the problem in terms of numbers and percentages”, said Forster. “But the teachers in the classrooms can directly see impact of the issue on the faces of children who are being told to succeed without being given the tools.”

The SES program works with low-income children that attend these AYP failing schools and provides one-on-one and small group tutoring after school from both private and district providers. Supplemental Education Services operates under the umbrella of Title I, a national act that distributes federal money to the schools and students who are most in need.

"As an elementary school teacher, I am thrilled that this program allows tutors to work one-on-one with students.  It is what every teacher wishes they had time for,” said Kristi Rodriguez, Pi Plus Tutor’s NW Regional Director. “Being a tutor as well, I know that individual attention makes a difference in the success and confidence of my students.”

To qualify for free Supplemental Education Services tutoring a student must be on free or reduced lunch and attend a Title I school that has failed to meet AYP standards for two years and is at Level 2 status. The SES enrollment window is only open for a short time as the first windows close by September, 30.  For information about how to join the Pi Plus Tutors team, and to find the list of schools that are eligible, visit www.piplustutors.com

Meet a Pi Plus Tutor - Marie Schimke

Marie Schimke is a tutor in the Seattle/Bellevue area. Marie is a career student who persues knowledge in every aspect of her life. She has a B.A. in Spanish and in French from the University of Oregon. She got her Masters in Teaching from Pacific Lutheran University. From there she attended California State University, Domingeuz Hills where she received a M.A. in Teaching of English as a Second Language. She also has a degree in Visual Arts from Fort Lewis College. However, with all of these degrees, she still says that her favorite subject to learn and teach is history. “We can’t move forward unless we listen to the past.”

The love of history and learning was taught to Marie at a young age. Both of her parents were educators so they talked and taught around the dinner table. “In fact that’s still what we talk about when I go home. We talk about our students and the best ways to teach them.” Marie’s father taught Washington State and Native American History in high school. 

“He had a very hands on approach to history.” Marie talks about how once, when teaching about the Bella Coola tribe, her father took his whole class out to the track. He explained about a native test of strength and worthiness where warriors were made to run a distance with their mouths full of water. If the tribe member was able to finish the distance with water still in his mouth then he was proved worthy. Then he brought out a jug of water and told the class that anyone who was able to run a mile with water still in their mouth would receive an automatic A in his class. 

Marie currently teaches college classes as well as working with her Pi Plus Students. She enjoys the chance to teach all different age groups. “Fortunately for me, all of my kids have been great. With the younger kids we would play a bit first to help them get ready to learn and to let me get an idea of their mood that day. I love to see them brighten up when I come to teach them. They are so full of innocence and excitement.”

Outside of the classroom, Marie has a different passion, Tennessee Walking Horses. She shows her horses nearly every weekend from April to September.

Learning Through Music

Ever since the early 90’s, the rumors of the “Mozart Effect” have circulated like a quick-fix solution to our country’s mathematical woes. All of a sudden parents believed that if they played classical music to their kids when they were young they would naturally grow up and succeed in math. While many studies have found a positive correlation between music and learning, it is not as simple as listening to a little Beethoven. 

Studies out of the University of California, Irvine by field leader Dr. Gordon Shaw in the mid to late 90’s looked into the “Mozart effect” in depth. Multiple studies were done on different age groups to see how much of an effect that music could have on the brain. The results of these studies showed that the preschoolers and grade school students who were given piano or keyboard lessons in addition to their math problems improved by 34% over their peers in the control group. They proved to be especially strong in their temporal-spatial reasoning skills.

Shaw’s studies, as well as several others, point to increased temporal-spatial reasoning as the key connection between music and learning. Temporal-spatial reason is the ability to visualize spatial patterns and mentally manipulate them over a time-ordered sequence of spatial transformations. Or more simply, it’s is the ability to see patterns in both time and space. This skill is stronger in many children who study music because it is indirectly taught as they learn different scales and types of notes. Rather than simply seeing a fraction on paper they are able to see, hear, and experience it on another level through half and quarter notes. 

Playing an instrument can also be instrumental in fostering good habits for the future. The practice and dedication it takes to play a musical instrument is a skill that can be learned at a very early age. Far earlier than a child is able to comprehend most mathematical concepts. These skills can become invaluable to a student trying to learn a difficult subject. 

What the studies generally don’t emphasize is that students gain a great deal of enjoyment from their music studies. Music brings enthusiasm, creativity, and group participation into the classroom. Music is foundational to the goal of producing well-rounded and balanced young adults.

While many studies show that playing music helps develop certain parts of the brain, the good study habits will be far more valuable to a student as they grow and tackle problems for their rest of their lives.

Word of the Week

Quixotic:  foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially: marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action

Defined by Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary


Young people tend to have quixotic dreams about the future that are usually tempered through experience.

New Washington State Math Requirements

We were extremely excited to see this article in the Mukiteo Beacon. We believe that it is extremely important to inform parents and students of the new requirements.. 

Too often our students come in after they are already struggling and already feel like they have dug themselves a whole that they cannot see out of. We hope that those students who struggle with math know what these new challenges are and seek out the help they need to rise the occasion.

Welcome to the Pi Plus Tutors Blog!

Welcome to the Pi Plus Tutors Blog!

This blog will be an place to come for educational articles, fun brain-teasers, information about upcoming Pi Plus Tutors events, and links to other informational sites.

At Pi Plus Tutors we look to connect inspired children with passionate educators to give them the one-on-one attention that they need to succeed and the confidence to carry them through any challenge.