Accelerated Learning Center, a tutoring center, opens in Centralia

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Accelerated Learning Center, a one-on-one tutoring program based in the Longview-Kelso area, has just opened a site in Centralia.

Started in January of 1999 by retired teacher Mike Mendenhall and his wife June, Accelerated Learning has trained tutors use the Direct Instruction model in working with children, teens and adults improve their skills in math, reading, spelling and other subjects, as well as test preparation.

"We really feel there's a need here," June Mendenhall said of opening the new location near the Texaco station on Mellen Street. "Where other communities have a learning center, and even Longview has a Sylvan, there's just nothing like this in the area."

Accelerated Learning has worked with students aged 4 to 62 years, giving additional help in any area in which a student needs to catch up or wants to excel in, she continued. In addition to lessons to help children and teens catch up in school, the center also has highly skilled teachers for higher-level topics, she said.

"We like to think that we are a complement to the schools and to help them do the things that they don't have the funding, or the hours in the day, to do," she said.

The new center officially gave its first lessons on Friday. Students who live closer to Centralia than Longview are already making use of it, she said.

Summer hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., then change once the school year begins. Individual instructors, who go through a three-day training period in the instruction method, usually also have flexibility to meet in evenings or even sometimes on weekends, she added.

According to program materials, hourly lessons range from $35 to $44, depending on how many sessions are prepaid for, if the student has a sibling already at the center, or if instruction is given to a small group. Families don't need to sign any contract and can pay for individual lessons.

The assessments, nationalized tests Mike Mendenhall used while working in school districts, examine students' abilities in math, reading and spelling, as well as their potential, June Mendenhall said. Certification is required for giving the tests and analyzing the results, which are compared against national samples, she said.



Direct instruction model, or system of teaching, was developed by Siegfried Engelmann and Carl Bereiter in the early 1960s; instruction programs evolved from following work by Engelmann and Douglas Carnine, professor of education at the University of Oregon, co-authors of "Theory of Instruction."

Components include scripted lessons, high involvement by the instructor and student in teaching and learning, field-tested materials, constant progress feedback and a positive attitude, according to program materials.

Accelerated Learning Center's motto is "Success through one on one teaching," and the owners and employees believe that, she said.

"We really believe in the kids and that they can do it, it's just that they haven't been taught in such a way that they understand it," she said.

"We have a guarantee that if a student doesn't progress at least a grade level in 30 lessons — that's about three months — then we'll give them at least 10 free lessons," she said.

Such a circumstance has arisen only once, with a very handicapped student, in working with about 225 students, she added.

The Accelerated Learning Center will offer free initial testing for interested families from 10 to 5 p.m. Friday at the site, located next to the Texaco station on Mellen Street in Centralia. The nationally used tests normally cost $190, but a special of $95 for taking and getting an analysis of the results will go until mid-October.

For information, telephone 330-8053.

Julie M. Graham covers education and religion for The Chronicle. She may be reached by e-mail at jgraham@chronline.com or by calling 807-8232.