We Moved!!!!

Hello to one and all!

After months of preparation, we have finally made the move from Vienna to Old Town Fairfax. We love our new space and invite you to stop by and check out the new digs. For those of you who admired our old office, find peace knowing that Ann has worked her usual magic and our new building looks even better! We can honestly say that this is a vibrant, exciting, and wonderful place to carry on our tradition of providing families with the highest quality educational services possible.

Please accept our open invitation to visit any time you're in the area. As the new kids on the block, we're still in awe of everything Old Town Fairfax has to offer (including a Panera in the near future!!).

We hope to see you soon!!!

3923 University Avenue

Fairfax, Va 22030

ph. 703-934-8282

fax 703-934-1222

SOLs are WHEN?!?!?!?!

Sweaty palms, racing heart rate, nausea, dry mouth, and muscle spasms. No, it's not the flu that's going around - it's Test Taking Anxiety, and it's a very real problem for many students---no matter what their age. As we get closer to SOL's and other standardized tests, you may begin seeing more of these symptoms in your children and their friends.

Test anxiety is a major factor contributing to a variety of negative outcomes including psychological distress, academic underachievement, academic failure, and insecurity (from Helping Students Cope With Test Anxiety)

Here are some tips on how to reduce test anxiety:

1. avoid cramming, develop good study habits and good test taking skills. This involves proper time management, long term planning, and a good understanding of a child's learning style

2. encourage and practice different forms of relaxation techniques - deep breathing, stretching, etc.

3. as parents, evaluate and praise children's academic progress over a period of time rather than on one single test score

4. consistently develop good sleeping habits and maintain a healthy diet and exercise regularly

5. as teachers and parents, we can prepare students for tests by fully explaining directions, the scoring of the test, the time allotted for the test, and even give practice tests

6. encourage the child to not compare him/herself to other students while taking the test

7. be aware of the developmental levels of students and recognize when test anxiety is out of control, because more serious anxiety-related problems could be present

What the Tutors Say...

As the director of tutor management, I recently released a survey to all current tutors for their feedback on our services and support. I was pleasantly surprised by the response that this questionnaire generated and am proud to say that our tutors are happy tutors.

While Educational Connections strives to maintain impeccable client satisfaction, we want to ensure that our tutors feel valued, heard, and understood as well. While this improves the relationship between tutors and students, we ultimately (and possibly selfishly) want to preserve the positive relationship between the staff here at the learning center and our employees first and foremost. Without that, we would not be capable of offering the quality services that we do.

I'd like to mention that tutors who responded to the survey rated our level of support as a 9.6 on a scale of 10. While it is true that not all tutors responded, I felt giddy as I calculated the total. It's a great feeling to know that you are part of such a wonderful team effort. While we aren't often physically with our tutors, we want them to know we're always behind them. And they do!

Like they say in the commercial...
"Great instruction comes from happy tutors. Happy tutors come from Educational Connections."

Ok, maybe that's not exactly how it goes, but it is pretty close--at least in our experience!