Elite Traveling Tutors was created out of a desire to make educational enrichment accessible to all. Established on Sept. 8, 2021, when the doors of many schools across the country remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia-based company provides affordable face-to-face and virtual tutoring services.
The company, which is run by a family of educators, including sisters Karina El Bey and Penny Womack-Jackson and their mother, Elite created a new way to tutor, not only traveling to various locations in Georgia, but also offering virtual tutoring.
In both instances, the tutoring is customized to ensure that students feel empowered by their academic experience.
“We have observed a lack of direct instruction and insufficient attention to building a strong foundation of basic skills, which is a growing problem nationwide,” Womack-Jackson told The Network Journal. “Our remedial strategies take students back to the basics to help them develop a solid foundation of fundamental skills.”
Elite serves students of all ages. It recently extended its service to college students and those seeking General Education Diplomas (G.E.D.). Tutors travel to students’ homes, or meet students at local libraries or online. Womack-Jackson says the customized tutoring has been a plus.
“There was and is a need for academic intervention. Many parents have insight and recognize it takes more than schools to provide some students with the academic support they need to excel and reach some level of proficiency; this, of course, is where Elite Traveling Tutors comes into play,” she explains.
“We offer a variety of programs, supplemental assignments, computer exercises, etc., to give students extended support, in addition to providing homework assistance…Face-to-face learning will always be a part of our protocol, but we are geared up to increase ZOOM and Metaverse instruction as needed.”
A notable success story involves an eighth-grade student who had been enrolled in math and reading special education classes throughout high school.
“During the time he was with us, his mother sent a picture of his acceptance letter to a dual enrollment program. He went from special ed classes to the honor roll. He’s no longer in special ed. His mother stated, ‘I brought out the math genius in him,’” Womack-Jackson recounts.
Elite’s clientele keeps growing, mainly through recommendations.
“Word of mouth has worked wonderfully for the Elite Traveling Tutors. Our marketing strategies have provided us with some contacts and enrollees; however, word of mouth has been our best tool for business building,” says Womack-Jackson.
Elite is now looking into ways to better help their students catch up academically post-pandemic.
“The Elite Traveling Tutors has a very finite goal of reaching and assisting more students in overcoming academic deficiencies,” explains Womack-Jackson. “Twenty twenty-three is the year more educational deficiencies will present themselves via standardized tests. Unfortunately, the pandemic put those who were behind in school further behind, and many that were educationally on par fell behind. We have increased our level of services by integrating more Zoom and Metaverse classes, some group and some individualized.”
Elite is also seeking to broaden its reach to income brackets beyond the middle class.
“We started out by attracting middle-class working families to our services, but we are trying to expand our services through a nonprofit wing to be able to service everyone,” explains Womack-Jackson.
“The biggest challenge is the cost, and our nonprofit is currently writing grants to offset some of the cost so that we are able to service more students in need of educational enrichment. We service students of all ethnicities as well as students in need of special education services,” she adds.
