Mary Printz teaching a five-year-old boy

By Teagan Rasche

Learning gaps

Playing catch-up: big demand for summer tutoring

Jul 9, 2021 | 4:36 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It’s another day in the office for educator Mary Printz who runs the tutoring service Accelerated Potential Academy.

Printz is overloaded this summer with students needing help.

“Previously we were focused on not as much on catch-up skills, we were focusing more on getting them ahead,” Printz said.

Playing catch-up is a result of the pandemic. Printz is seeing a lot more people this summer than in previous years.

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As students switched to online learning, many ended up three to six months behind their learning levels.

“I see a lot of them so there’s definitely some gaps,” Printz said. “Gaps in their literacy skills, foundational skills, letter-sound connection, letter-sound knowledge.”

Students in kindergarten to Grade 3 are needing Printz’s help the most.

One mom, Jennifer Beck, said her two youngest children, ages 7 and 8, will be getting academic help this year.

“They just need extra support the last year and a half especially in the early developmental school-age years,” Beck said. “That there’s been a gap, none to the fault of the teachers.”

Beck says the teachers have only been working with the hand they were dealt.

Another mom’s five-year-old son, Pierce, also worked with Printz.

Jenelle Lesmeister’s says even though her son isn’t in grade school yet, she wanted him to have a good base before starting kindergarten this year.

“We’ve seen a significant difference in just his confidence and his learning skills,” Lesmeister said. “We really just wanted to give him a little boost before he goes back to school in the fall to increase his knowledge and confidence.”

With many activities cancelled because of the pandemic, Lesmeister says her kids haven’t developed strong social skills they would’ve otherwise learned.

“It’s impacted all of the children emotionally, socially and of course academically,” Printz said. “But with our younger ones, those early years are so crucial for establishing that foundation for numeracy and literacy.”

Printz says the biggest thing parents can do is address the learning shortcomings now so students aren’t playing catch up during the rest of their education.