Kathy Brecht, of the Crowsnest Pass, is kickstarting a local tutoring business called, Above Grade Level. Brecht is a franchisee of Above Grade Level which is a tutoring company aimed at helping students from Kindergarden to grade 12 become the best students they can be . With a proven, involved, systematic assessment and evaluation into how a student learns and what areas they are struggling in, they can improve the students abilities and find out where the problem areas are. "We also offer a free evaluation which has a $150 value, so there is no charge to get the evaluation. Once we find out where they need help we start from their assessed current grade level and build them back up with material that has been researched for 30 years with Above Grade Level." says Brecht.

With the one on one tutoring process, the site boasts that a student in the program will increase their grade level by a minimum of +1, although a +2 grade level increase is not uncommon.

There is a long hiring process involved with tutors as it is important that the tutors indeed do have the ability to tutor in the right areas and subjects. Once the tutor, who is evaluated and trained, is hired, they are paid a competitive wage to come to a childs home and begin the tutoring process. The tutors can help from K-12 in math, K-8 in English and they can tutor high school physics and chemistry, as well as high school essay writing.

The business is intended to cover all of Southwestern Alberta and is the first time Above Grade Level has been implemented in the province. "I'm trying to get tutors in every community so that everyone in Southwestern Alberta can benefit."

She has always had a passion for teaching and has proven it with her 20 year long career at Blairmore’s Nippon Institute and Technology. She was interested in working from home and saw a FaceBook post that lead her to the tutoring company which she hopes to have up and running completely within the next two weeks.

Brecht urges anyone interested in becoming a tutor to do so as there is a large demand from parents and students looking for assistance. " There are a lot of students who feel they need tutoring but there are not that many tutors."

If you are looking for a tutor for you or your child, are interested in becoming a tutor or for more information, you can contact Kathy Brecht at 403-753-0776 www.abovegradelevel.ca or kathy@above gradelevel.ca.