Creating Delight in Learning!

Richard McManus, Director, Talks about the Fluency Factory

I founded the Fluency Factory after twenty years of dreaming about it, thinking about it, planning it.  I knew that we could use Precision Teaching to make a significant and positive difference in the education of children.  I knew this from both the data I had seen about the effects of Precision Teaching with children in public school settings, and from my own experiences with my children and with students in schools that I consulted to.  The effect of PT on children is so powerful and so immediate that I was confident we could offer a learning center that would quickly restore the confidence and the will to achieve that so many children seemed to have lost.

What I did not expect was that we would see so many children who were already quite confident and hard working—and that we would benefit those children just as powerfully. We have helped those students become even more skilled in many areas of study.

From the first, we planned to serve all students—both struggling students and high achieving students. We use Precision Teaching to enhance the skills and the love of learning in each student. Precision teaching provides a direct measurement that we communicate immediately to the student. They can see their learning from minute to minute, day to day, week to week in clear, graphic terms. Seeing this progress gives the student the confidence that he or she can do more, and that learning does not have to stop, or be bound by present skill deficits.

Here’s what one of our students said about her experience with us.

“Because of the Fluency Factory I have improved many aspects of my education but the thing I felt best about was the confidence the tutors and Richard gave me.  I now feel like I can achieve any goal I set.  Everything is a positive and everyone is always smiling.  The energy and positive reinforcement makes everyone want to succeed, and everyone at the Fluency Factory loves to see you succeed.  For this I am unbelievably thankful to the Fluency Factory for all that they have done to help me."

–Lindsey

Some of Our Success Stories

Since the founding of the Fluency Factory in 2002, we have been able to help many, many students develop an extremely high level of success. One of the great pleasures of our work has been to help students like Lindsey, quoted above, to become much more successful. The steady development of both confidence and skill in these students, and the ongoing delight they take in learning, may be the greatest pleasure of directing this center. Several examples stand out …

Lindsey:  We are quite proud of what Lindsey, now attending Dartmouth College, has achieved. She began her work with us by demonstrating an indefatigable work ethic, but our initial skill assessment showed that she was greatly hampered by a lack of phonemic awareness, by a low skill level in phonics, and by very poor basic math skills. She was working extremely hard but finding herself wading through homework very slowly. Her Algebra II teacher had dropped her because she could not keep up with the class, and she could not keep up with the class because she was spending two hours every night on Spanish. Over the course of one intense summer we helped her to boost her foundation skills by several years, and we provided her with reading skills and the ability to properly hear sounds, overcoming skill deficits that had hampered her growth previously. These new skills enabled Lindsey to lift her GPA to 3.76.  With further work, she brought her SAT scores to high levels as well. I did not know that Lindsey aspired to attend Dartmouth – until I heard the great news that they had accepted her under their early admissions program! She and her family were thrilled by this recognition of her achievement, and so were we.

Sarah:  The story of an eighth grader named Sarah shows how we have helped high achieving students. Sarah was diagnosed as dyslexic, and her mother asked us to work with her on increasing her reading fluency. Sarah had been accepted into all advanced courses, and wanted to take them, but her mom was concerned that she would simply kill herself doing all of the required work. Two of our tutors worked with her to increase her reading skills in a number of two-hour sessions, 32 hours in all. Before beginning the tutoring, Sarah was reading at less than 100 words per minute, but with marvelous comprehension. Our tutors put her through our reading program at a rapid pace.  The tutors were both young women who were amazing at math—and Sarah loved math. So when we designed the program I told the three of them that they could take a fifteen-minute high-level math break in between the nonstop reading instruction and practice.

Three weeks later the tutors told me that they had “accidentally” taught Sarah a lot of Algebra II. Sarah’s family still jokes about her difficult math “breaks” at The Fluency Factory.  Sarah has continued to be an exemplary student – now a senior in high school and doing fabulously well. Here’s a note on how things are going for her now.

“Hi Richard, school has been great. I just entered my senior year and I'm busier than ever. I am currently captain of the varsity field hockey team and managed to balance my schoolwork so well that I am also a member of my school's National Honors Society. My schedule is packed full of academics and I am taking three APs (advanced placement classes) this year, Chemistry, Literature, and Statistics. My sophomore year I took AP European History and for my junior year I took AP Calculus and AP Reading Comprehension. The reading was definitely tougher but I worked hard and got through it! As you well guessed, the math has come a lot easier to me.

Searching for the college that is right for me has been mayhem but it is also a fun experience. I know that I really want to major in the math and sciences, possibly environmental engineering.”

–Sarah

James:  James was perhaps the greatest long-term success of all of our students. He began at the Fluency Factory at age 10, unable to read, write or do any math. He was able to write 17 digits per minute, but you couldn’t read any of them. Over the course of his work at Fluency Factory he advanced an extra year in reading every year. We continued to work with him as the first student at Beal Street Academy, and now he has read all of the Harry Potter novels, as well as a number of other books and plays. He has always set goals for himself and then worked very hard to achieve those goals. Despite severe developmental challenges he has always found a way to meet the goals, and most importantly, he has never given up on a challenge.

“Richard, thank you for your kind gift of beautiful flowers. It has been another wonderful year for James. I really believe you have a special gift that can't be found in just a program of books. If we could bottle it we could solve all the educational problems in this country. We do feel very blessed that you were there to help us with James. We are also hoping that everything goes together for the school this year. It would be a real loss to many. In a prefect world, doing a good job would be enough for school systems to recognize and support the school. Thanks to you for everything. Looking forward to another great and interesting year.”

–James’s mother

Our Tutors

We look for teachers with high energy levels and a track record of helping children develop. Our teachers have extremely varied backgrounds, but the common denominator is their passion for seeing children learn. Every teacher we have ever employed has that in common with the others. That single quality makes everything else possible.

The Fluency Factory trains each teacher to deliver our programs and use the Standard Celeration Chart to assure progress with every student. Our methodology is responsible for our ability to fine-tune our work for each student—but our wonderful teachers each bring powerful strengths and experiences that bring the methods to life.

Every Tutor Goes Through Our Training Program

At the Fluency Factory we train each of our tutors in several highly effective teaching technologies. We provide a data-driven program, using the best possible tools to create the most rapid improvement that we can obtain for each student. Our tutors come to us with a great deal of prior experience and training. Many of them have been working with children throughout their lives—as counselors, baby-sitters or teacher aides. I look for people who want to see children develop and are thoughtful and invested in that development. I also look for people who are willing to learn new ways to teach, and are highly invested in developing themselves as teachers.

Every tutor receives approximately forty hours of training, including training in:

The Maloney Method reading program: This program was the first phonics reading program to include fluency criterion for advancement through the program. Not only is it the most effective reading program currently available, but it is also an excellent model for the integration of Direct Instruction and Precision Teaching. Moreover the sounds used in the program are highly consistent with the Reading Mastery program, as well as Orton Gillingham.

Precision Teaching, charting, problem solving, and instruction: We use several different types of Standard Celeration Charts. We use daily charts for our school students (in Beal Street Academy) and timings charts for our tutoring students (in the Fluency Factory). Teachers learn to read and create both kinds of charts. We also track our own performance as a learning center with monthly charts.

TAGTeach:  We use Karen Pryor’s positive reinforcement system to help our teachers and tutors understand the underlying behavioral forces that change how students perform. This training helps our teachers to understand very small elements of behavior and whether they are increasing or decreasing.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA):  Our tutors are taught important ABA skills to assure that they are able to work with students who have become discouraged and may, at first, be resistant to trying new academic skills. Excellent observation skills and the ability to diagnose the ABC’s (Antecedents, Behaviors, Consequences) are critical to maintain a fast pace of learning with minimal disruptions or resistance. Once students are on board, they become their own best advocates and help to shape the learning that they do.

Precision Teaching

At the Fluency Factory we love Precision Teaching.  We love it because it works and because students love it.  Period.  We only wish that all the schools would start using it and put us out of business.  But until they do, the Fluency Factory is the only place in the South Shore area where your children can be tutored using this highly effective teaching approach.

Here’s how it works …

Fluency:  Many educators erroneously believe that, in measuring student performance, it is okay to simply measure accuracy – that is, percent correct.  Although commonly held, this belief is unfortunately not true.  Instead, it is fluency that is critical to a student’s ability to advance to more complex skills.  Fluency is a combination of both accuracy and speed.   Until a student can give accurate answers quickly (i.e., fluently), that student will not be ready to advance to higher level skills.  Attempts to do so will just lead to frustration, destroying the student’s self-confidence and motivation.  It is something we have seen time and time again in students arriving at the Fluency Factory for the first time.

Measurement and Goal:  To work on building fluency, a practitioner of Precision Teaching measures the speed with which a student can give correct answers.  With regular practice and instruction, speed is increased, until the student reaches a previously determined speed goal.  For example, a reading goal for a fifth grader might be specified as 150 words per minute.

Standard Celeration Chart:  A critical aspect of Precision Teaching is the frequent measurement of the student’s performance.  It isn’t sufficient to occasionally give a test and hope for improvement.  Performance measurement must be directly incorporated into the teaching program.  The results are recorded on a special graph called a Standard Celeration Chart.  The chart shows how the student’s speed progresses over time.  The horizontal axis shows time (e.g., calendar days since beginning the program).  The vertical axis shows speed (e.g., words per minute).

I’ll just mention one thing that can cause panic in those who haven’t taken a math course in a long time:  The vertical axis of the Standard Celeration Chart is in “log scale”.  Eeek!  Don’t worry about the mathematics of it.  All you need to know is that it means this:  A constant percentage increase over time will show up as a straight line on the chart.  For example, if a student’s speed increases 25% per week, the chart will show a straight, upward-sloping line.

Feedback and Change:  In fact, here’s what a teacher using PT looks for in a student’s performance:  a straight line progression upward toward the goal.  If the Standard Celeration Chart doesn’t show that, then a final critical aspect of PT comes into play:  the requirement to change something.  A PT practitioner doesn’t simply do the same thing over and over again and hope for a different result!  If the chart doesn’t show a straight, upward-sloping line, the teacher must find a different way to teach or motivate the student, and then continue tracking the new results using the chart.

Because measurement is incorporated into every lesson, it doesn’t take long before the teacher finds out whether the current approach is working.  There are no surprises after a lot of time and effort have been expended.

And there is something else interesting about PT charting:  the chart itself is a big motivator.  It’s almost like a video game:  The student loves to see the upward-sloping line of increasing performance, and works hard to make it happen.  Learning becomes fun.

Stop By to See Us!

I started the Fluency Factory because I knew this tutoring center could make a positive difference in the lives of our students.  Our teachers share this commitment.  We are proud to say that we have continuously achieved that goal since 2002.

Stop by or call us to see what we can do for your child!

The Fluency Factory

(781) 749-7400