Marvin Brown, vice president of business operations for Tutornet, said the program supplements regular classroom lessons. It's a live, real-time Internet tutoring service. Richard Towers, Einstein's principal, said the site is a good resource for students, particularly after school hours. Or if it's too late at night and they can't call their teacher. Students and teachers received instruction Monday and Tuesday on how to operate the site, then were issued free passwords that are valid until the end of the school year.
Instruction is available in English and Spanish.
Lorain A. Pierre, a customer service supervisor and director of Tutornet's introduction into county schools, said the site offers instruction in algebra, biology, calculus, chemistry, geometry, physics and trigonometry. Brown said that in some situations Tutornet can even have an advantage over conventional education. With Tutornet, it's 10 kids to one teacher. You have more individualized attention than you do in some public schools. Tony Cartagena, a student support specialist at the school, said students' reactions to the service have been mixed.