Hello! My name is Janet Uribe and I am a former public school teacher who dropped out of the traditional teaching system because I struggled with the idea of sending kids forward to the world with gaps and self-confidence issues.
As a child, I had gone to some of the best schools in my state, only to find myself in the predicament of not being able to read by the 2nd grade. I had no idea why I was being promoted to the third grade, and when I got there, the standards were even higher. It was demoralizing and it impacted my confidence and self-esteem in a negative way. I eventually paid close attention to the phonetic structures in our English words, and I TAUGHT MYSELF TO READ! IT CHANGED MY LIFE, and it changed the lives of thousands of children as well!
I became a teacher with a mission to support those who did not necessarily learn in a typical way. While teaching, I had so many students that I KNEW I could help. However, the conventional systems came with state benchmarks, federal standards, and restricted curriculum that was built as a model. It was not built for the individual learning needs of children. I decided to leave the school systems and pursue the work of transforming children's lives.
I have worked as a private teacher and went on to own my own corporate educational franchise, where I ranked among some of the highest increases in the nation for ACT and SAT. Having worked with students across the United States, I currently focus my in person efforts in Austin, TX.
After great success with my educational franchise, I opted to sell my company to find more life balance as a mother, and I launched my own local reading company, Reading Skills Center.
At Reading Skills Center, I work with 80 - 90 in person students a year. Because my methods are based on intervention measures, I only work with my students about 3 - 6 months and then set them sailing with a new educational foundation, new grades, new confidence and capacity to read in all settings.
If you would like an educational consult, an academic screening, or if you would like advocacy services for you child, please contact me at (737)351-2505 or email at info@readingskillscenter.com.
Do you have more personalized questions that you would like to ask on behalf of the needs of your child? Or, are you looking to see how Reading Skills Center can be of service, feel free to email us!
We do not teach the current material your child is struggling with? Does that sound counterintuitive? IT IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK! Children who are struggling with work, tests, homework, and who are disengaged with school typically already have skills gaps and have developed a false identity of who they are, how they perform, and do not see their truest potential. We make it a point to identify the areas of need and build a scaffolded and personalized curriculum that builds their skills and confidence. Starting with the child's emotional state as it relates to school is key, so we also build a curriculum that helps them see their strength/potential and build from there.
We start by assessing your child's academic skills with an assessment. We use data and look for patterns that we then use to build an academic plan and curriculum that is specifically catered to your child's needs. These programs start at their comfort level, while strategically building in their next skills in a scaffolded way. Meeting the emotional needs and building a growth mindset is key to growing, so we gradually design and build curriculum that helps get your child's skill up to grade level and potential. We typically describe traditional tutoring like a bandaid on a broken bone, however, Reading Skills Center is more like the cast on the broken bone. Our approach and teaching these skills combined with frequency makes it so that you can have an autonomous student who looks forward to going to school.
Yes! However, we would like to clarify that this is done with direct and indirect practices. Believe it or not, our academic process models and mirrors what our brain must do in order to exercise and work the executive center. We teach our kids and their brains to gather information and structure it for evaluation. Regulation is a natural process that happens when once can evaluate the information to modulate, control or adjust with action and response to that event or stimuli. This type of instruction is used in a scaffolded way in our program by building stepping stones in our curriculum.
Kids who have any difficulty with with learning or find a specific task laborious will often times emotionally and cognitively disengage. Therefore we structure our programs to gradually build skills and confidence to help regulate task engagement and emotional obstacles that show up during learning.
People who struggle with executive functioning also happen to have the ability to hyper focus , but mostly in things that they are good at or the things they are interested in. We make it a point to make our kids and teens better at their skills so that they can show up with their super power and show less resistance to the academic and learning process.
On average, we typically see our students increase their skills 1 - 2 full grade levels in a 3 - 6 months. Sound impossible? Check out my testimonials down below!
Specifically, how does that translate to school?
Once we get your child to read with confidence and strength in their comprehension skills, then we see them read everything that way. This applies to books, homework, classwork, information content, and even testing that is required to enter college.
Last year (2021), we had 34 students score in the "Did Not Meet Grade Level" or "Approaches Grade Level" grade level for the reading portion of the STAAR test. This past July and August, 33 of my 34 students' parents reported back the their student officially scored in "Meets Grade Level" or "Masters Grade Level" score range! This included children who had repeatedly failed the STAAR test for multiple, consecutive years, students with learning disabilities, dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD.
Why is the STAAR (or other standardized test) such a big deal?
While we do not personally feel that the STAAR is a good measure of a child's intelligence or potential, it does serve as an extra data point for us to understand what type of material is in need of further development or support for a student. Standardized tests are meant to help schools assess performance, instruction, benchmarks and standards. However, they are not necessarily used to improve a child's specific skills in a specific academic skill area.
Having a background in test prep and reading intervention, I have a note to share with you. The ACT and SAT are based in the same exact skill that is required on the STAAR or other standardized tests. You can assume that the objective reading scores and percentile ranks you see on these elementary or middle school leveled tests will be the same or similar to what they will score on the college entrance ACT or SAT.
What matters most?
Your child's emotional state, their self-perspective, and their self-esteem is priceless! We make it a point to work on the whole child, build their perspective of self, improve their confidence and master skills so that they feel more capable and creative. This creates a new environment at home, a new outlook on schooling, and a relationship with learning that is life altering!
Most students, who require additional support with schooling, will spend years going to a tutor. We are different because we reinforce the foundation so that students can get where they need to be in their academic skills, and can maintain more autonomy the rest of their schooling years. Our program is a bit more rigorous with time investment, but we rarely see our students longer than 3 - 6 months for a program, unless there are severe or multiple learning disabilities.
A note from our founder, Janet Uribe:
Through previously owned educational companies, and my own "in person" students, I have gotten the results mentioned above, thousands of times! My individualized curriculum and methods continue to prove true! Plus, I make it a point to be a really good time! LOL! I love to play and cut up with the kids!
Most kids do not like going to school after school, or they may not like going to school in the summer. Prioritizing connection and rapport with each one of our students helps them rise to their potential. However, we also make them proud of their own efforts, rather than looking for external validation. The combination makes them want to show up for themselves! 😊
Another qualification:
I have worked in the public school sector and the private education field, and I currently also work as an educational advocate. This experience has created understanding of where our systems are not built for every child's unique learning style and potential. This awareness, coupled with knowledge of the skills that are needed to read and perform in the higher education setting have helped me structure programs that are built for a student to pursue their future with greater ease and confidence.
As mentioned, rapport, identification of student need, and confidence building is key. Children who are disinterested in a topic or activity, often find that specific topic or activity it to be difficult. Children, and humans in general, are built for learning and curiosity, but that spark can be lost when they start to identify with grades, difficulty of a task, or scores that tell them that they are less than the standard. This is perhaps the greatest obstacle I help heal for my students. All of us deserve to feel great about ourselves, and when I think about how many kids are asked to go to a place where they do not feel confident, my heart connects with them, and I make it my mission to change that experience.
Contact us at (737)351-2505 or email at info@readingskillscenter.com so that we can help you pin point if we are a good fit for your child. If we are, we will schedule an academic screening and go over the results with you. Parents typically feel relieved after being able to identify those underlying academic skills that are making reading or subject matter difficult at school. We will discuss a plan of action and begin your child's new trajectory towards confidence and making school easier.
My 9 year old has been doing tutoring for about 3 months and has made huge strides on her reading, writing, and comprehension. She recently did a STAAR practice test at school and was in the 99% for mastering her grade level in most categories now. She has really struggled with the STAAR test previously. Her teacher wrote me to tell me how impressed she was with her progress recently. Not only has she improved in these areas, but it is obvious that her confidence in doing this work is much improved. She is so excited to come tell me how few questions she missed. Janet and her team are amazing. My daughter doesn’t complain about going to tutoring like she did with previous things we tried. We are so grateful to Ms. Janet and her team for making learning fun, building her confidence, and improving where she is at academically in such a short time. Ms. Janet is incredibly knowledgeable on how to educate children and honing in on what each individual child’s learning needs are. Thank you Ms. Janet and your amazing team. You have been a game changer for our family.
Update:
My daughter went from the low end of meeting grade level to 96% (mastering) in language arts!!! I believe that was with only 4 months of tutoring!!! I’m ecstatic. I think the test is kind of silly but it is the only real measure I have to see her progress. I know she worked really hard for this, but I just had to thank you for your guidance and all the help you have given her. I’m so thankful for all that you do. Thank you!
-Kyla Carlson
"We are so thankful and still amazed at progress our 8 year old had with Ms Janet’s help. Just a few months, 1 hour a day his reading went from a first grader level to being ready for 3rd grade. He was stuck and demotivated to pick up a book or read at all even tv captions, labels, signs. He now is a confident 3rd grade reader and has gone to read longer chapter books and writing research papers this year. We feel so blessed to have heard of Ms Janet and plan to continue to check with Ms Janet to make sure he’s at his reading level yearly. Truly a gift, thank you for sharing your knowledge to help so many young readers."
-Aline Hornkohl
Janet has been an amazing resource for our 4th grader. Our daughter was falling behind in math because of the rapid progression and effects of COVID. Janet is patient, kind and supportive in a way that my daughter understands. Her favorite day of the week is her Mrs. Janet days!!
My daughters confidence has grown so much due to Janet identifying exactly where she is struggling and developing a very helpful plan to raise her up. We cannot recommend Janet enough. She has been a life saver for us!
-Heidi Golden
My daughter worked with Janet for a year when she was in 2nd/3rd grade. She had been struggling quite a bit with reading in 1st and 2nd grade and did not enjoy reading very much. It was affecting her academically. With Janet’s help, she improved drastically. She began to like reading and was doing much better during her writing and reading blocks at school. At the end of 3rd grade she was diagnosed with dyslexia. By 4th grade, she had gone from a 1st grader that cried every day that she had to read 15min for homework, to reading 400pg chapter books for fun. She scored in the top 1% in Texas on the STAAR Reading Language Arts test. She is now in 5th grade- carries a book with her most of the time and truly loves reading. She is academically successful in all subjects and is planning to continue in PACE Math in middle school and chose to take Advanced Language Arts. We are so grateful to Janet and her proven record of success with students. She goes above and beyond for her students and was even willing to join us for ARD meetings with the school. She is patient and kind and brilliant and will advocate for your kid. I cannot thank her enough for what she has done for us.
-Erica McMillen
Janet is amazingly engaged with her students. She quickly figured out what actually motivated our child, then customized a learning program where she felt empowered. Our child bragged about her learning accomplishments after each session. We cannot recommend her highly enough.
- Jenny Krall
Our family loves Ms Janet! Our son was struggling academically in several areas and was needing additional help that the school couldn't provide. We have seen huge improvements across the board in math, reading comprehension and writing. The school tests their math progress throughout the year and he has grown 80% faster than the national average. His confidence has also grown (which we are also so grateful for!). She does a fantastic job pinpointing where the learning struggles are and making a very personal individual plan for each kid. She has truly been so helpful!
-Dawn Barrett
"Three years ago my daughter, Maddie was struggling with reading, her 1st grade teacher told me during our parent/teacher conference that she was behind, reading at a late Kindergarten level and that the majority of the class was ready to move forward, so Maddie would need to get additional help so she wouldn’t fall farther behind. I immediately asked around for tutor recommendations. Several people on Facebook gave me their high school kid’s names. I knew that’s not what I needed to look for, and eventually was told to see Janet Uribe.
I contacted Janet and we scheduled an evaluation. When my daughter, Maddie and I got to her home, my daughter was a little nervous. Janet answered the door and said to my daughter “Hi Maddie, my name is Ms. Janet, do you know what I do?! I make school easier.” Janet exudes genuine kindness, care, humor, enthusiasm, confidence and knowledge. Janet took the time to connect with Maddie before even starting the evaluation to make her more comfortable and also to read the child, gauging where they are and meeting them there. The evaluation pinpointed a few areas that Maddie needed help with, Janet came up with a game plan and was ready to get started. Janet is not limited by school politics or required curriculums, she develops a very intentional plan for each child. She likes to tackle the plan, and once the child accomplishes it, the child is ready to stop tutoring. Maddie started going to Janet for tutoring November 2019 reading at a late Kindergarten level and two months later, she was reading at her first grade level. We saw a huge difference in her reading and most importantly, her confidence. We could have stopped tutoring a couple months later, but we had come so far, Maddie and Janet had momentum and Maddie loved going, so we kept going as much as we could through the summer to avoid another summer slide.
I was so thrilled to find such a wonderful person to teach my daughter, Janet is the kind of teacher you hope and pray for each year. Maddie is a vivacious and bright child, but when she was having a hard time with reading, her confidence suffered. She didn’t want to read at home very much or in class, and the math word problems became a struggle. She decided she didn’t like reading or math. Janet loves helping kids regain their confidence and love of reading and in turn, learning. That is exactly what happened with my daughter, one year later exactly, at our 2nd grade parent/teacher conference Maddie’s teacher said to me, “Well you know your daughter is a fantastic reader and reads well above grade level, so we’ll move onto math..” I had to stop her and ask her is she could repeat that, and I told her how far Maddie had come in the past year. Her teacher couldn’t believe that she was ever behind, and that she was reading at a late third grade level at that point in second grade.
Maddie has now been working with Janet for the better part of two and a half years and is now reading at a late 4th grade level. She has needed some additional help with math, and Janet has helped her significantly with it. I asked if she could help Maddie get ready for the STAAR test, and Maddie passed it this past Spring.
We have absolutely cherished having Janet in our lives as an incredible teacher and friend. She considers all her students friends, and that is one thing that differentiates her from so many others.
Our family highly values and appreciates Janet as an individual, she is incredibly kind, trustworthy and dedicated. Our family also value and appreciate her teaching skills and techniques so highly that we had our son evaluated by her and have Janet tutoring him now as well. Anytime I hear a friend asking about a tutor I immediately give them Janet Uribe as the answer. Neither of my children dislike going to Janet’s tutoring, I’m fact they’re enjoy it because she is a joy to be around, she makes them laugh while they learn. My kids know they are not just another student to Janet, she gets to know them and their interests, which makes her a better teacher and them a better student. She invests in them, and they invest in her, there’s is a mutual bond.
Janet has a real skill of identifying a struggle and developing a specific curriculum and technique (which will likely be different for each kid based on their strengths and areas of development) that will clarify the area of struggle and make sense to the child. It can be tough when Janet has exposed the area(s) of struggle because her curriculum will be concentrated on developing that area, but she does so in the most caring and direct way, while making sure that the child has some confidence boosters along the way. Janet’s tutoring sessions are intentional- she builds rapport with the child, and genuinely cares if the child grasps the ideas. It truly is a process that Janet has thoughtfully mastered. "
-Natalie P.
Austin, TX
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