Corporate Information

1. How long has your company been in business?

Socratic Learning was developed at the University of Illinois and has been in business for over five years. Originally, Socratic Learning was used for professional development, as a tool to support teachers who wanted to continue their education. However, teachers would often find it difficult to attend all the sessions, so the company began an online technology to support these individuals.

2. What schools has Socratic Learning, Inc., provided services to?

Socratic Learning has successfully provided educational services to schools all over the country in a wide variety of districts. For instance, we have had outstanding results in Plano, Texas, the Bronx, NY, Gary, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois.

3. Has your company partnered with any other company or organization?

Yes, we have several partnerships: The National Urban League, Sally Ride Science, The National Society of Black Engineers, The National Association of High School Coaches, and The Network of Hispanic Administrators In Education.

4. How much does the service cost?

Given the complexity of education funding, we have a variety of solutions to meet different budgets. Contact us and we'll find a budget that could work for your school or district.

5. How can we get Socratic Learning, Inc., in our school or school district?

Please discuss our service with the administrators of the school your child attends and ask them to contact us. Our company was founded by educators. We're proud of our service and really want to have an impact on the quality of education in our country.

Pedagogy

6. What grade levels does the service cover?

We've had success as early as third grade all the way to adults - for instance, teachers who use our service for professional development.

7. What subjects are covered?

We cover all the core subject areas: mathematics, language skills and writing, as well as science.

8. Is pre and post testing available?

Yes, there are over forty assessments on every grade level. Each is aligned with the ISAT and ITBS.

9. How is the effectiveness measured per student who uses your program?

Every student has an individual on-line record. Every session is captured in its entirety. You may follow the progress of a student from their first efforts to the most recent session. With over forty assessments in each subject and at each grade level, we track student progress on a bi-weekly basis.

10. What are the assessment tests aligned with?

Our tests are aligned with the standards of the state the student comes from. Moreover, the assessments are also aligned with the ISAT and the ITBS.

11. What benefits do the students get from using Socratic Learning, Inc.?

In just twenty five hours you will see marked improvement in their understanding of a subject. In addition, even when the students are working on algebra or science, they continue to work on their communication, comprehension, and writing skills. They truly enjoy learning by using the latest computing technologies.

12. Does your company provide assistance to teachers?

The relationship between the teacher and his or her students' online sessions is critically important. We work with a student's teacher to create an individualized lesson plan for each student, and provide regular reports to the teacher so that he or she can chart the progress made in the tutoring sessions. We also provide some models to teachers to enable them to easily incorporate tutoring into the overall educational experience of their students. In addition, the teacher can always go online and communicate with the tutors directly.

13. Do you have materials for students with learning disabilities?

Yes, online tutoring is often an excellent medium for students with learning disabilities. Tutors have the time to work one-on-one with a student - a luxury that even the very best classroom teachers rarely have.

14. Are students able to access the site on their own?

Yes. They are able to access the site any place that has access to the Internet.

15. Do you provide the curriculum?

We support the exact curriculum that your school already uses. Our work is to explain and reinforce the existing curriculum, not to confuse the student with a different pedagogy.

16. How do you keep students interested in the service?

Students become active learners, communicating with the tutor, answering questions and exploring simulations. Our service offers the kind of intense, one-on-one instruction that many students need and almost all of them really like. Students also feel a greater sense of control by using a computer to interact.

17. How are students monitored?

In a school or after-school environment, we have an on-site facilitator to supervise every session. We also ask the student's classroom teacher and parents to review the sessions. Finally, we review the sessions.

18. How often do Socratic Learning Staff Visit schools?

We will help get you set up and visit as frequently as necessary to ensure that the service is running smoothly and helping the students. Most important, we are always available in person simply by contacting us at our office or mobile phone.

19. How does Socratic Learning's service compliment the other programs used at the same school?

In almost every way that you could use "Highly Qualified" instructors, you can use our service. Furthermore, every area that uses core subject skills can benefit from our service.

Tutors

20. What time are tutors available?

The tutors are available from 8AM to 9PM EST. However, if an entire class wants to work on the same subject at the same time, with a 48 hour advance notification we can have tutors available for each individual student.

21. What qualifications do your tutors possess?

Each tutor has proven expertise in the area he or she covers. All tutors have college degrees; seventy percent have a master's or Ph. D. Equally important, each has been thoroughly trained on how to be an effective online tutor. Each tutor is trained to constantly probe, support, explain, question and assess. You simply cannot find that with artificial intelligence or with the college students other companies use. Furthermore, we have a group of master teachers that review the sessions and look to constantly improve the instruction.

22. Are there Spanish speaking tutors available?

Yes. We have Spanish speaking tutors available. As we grow, we expect to expand dramatically in Spanish-language tutors.

Security

23. Does your company do background checks on tutors?

Every single tutor has a background check. In addition, since all the tutors' online interactions are archived, our master tutors regularly review sessions, and we encourage the students' parents and teachers to review the sessions as well. Of course, no personal contact information is ever permitted between tutor and student.

24. What if a student uses improper language or etiquette when communicating with the tutor?

When students interact with us, they are learning how to use the Internet as well as their specific subject matter, so student behavior online is actually quite important. If a student acts improperly, the tutor will notify us and we will promptly notify the student's teacher and school administrators.

25. How secure are logins and passwords?

We value the privacy of all of our users. The only individuals that will have access to passwords are the school administrators and teachers. Parents will only have access to their own child's password. Students will have a unique name and password which will enable them to access only their own information. Socratic Learning will not share or provide a demonstration of this information to anyone else.

26. What if we do not want to let our students use this program outside of school?

We can limit access to our tutors to school hours. In this way, students will not be able to access the tutors at all on nights or weekends.

Technology

27. Is software needed?

Our service is based on free software that is already installed on virtually every computer one could buy: a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape, and a Flash software "plug-in" that enables animated, interactive content to appear in the browser. Most browsers already come with Flash already installed. If not, typically the browser will automatically install Flash when it needs to. In any case, both the web browser and the Flash plug in are free and easily available.

28. Is a technician available if needed?

Yes, if a problem arises, our technician will visit the school site and make computer repairs. However, under CPS guidelines, our technician cannot make repairs or adjustments to the school's server.