The Tutor Doctor Helps Students Succeed

If your child or teen is lagging behind in a subject and doesn’t seem to be getting the one-on-one help they need, consider Tutor Doctor.
Education consultant Nika Fouquett, who owns the Tutor Doctor franchise for Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Culver City and Mar Vista, knows there is pressure on children to excel on all levels in school, starting as early as kindergarten.
Almost two years ago, she started looking at schools when her oldest son was entering kindergarten. Like many parents, she was caught in the public versus private school dilemma.
“You hear negative information about public schools,” said Fouquet, who also was told that if she didn’t spend $30,000 for tuition at a private school, her son would have trouble getting into a good college.
Since the family income would be stretched thin by sending her sons, now 6 and 4, to a private school, Fouquet felt the unfairness of the system. “Everyone should have the same opportunity,” she said.
During her research, she found a study that compared math scores in private and public schools and showed that those in public schools were slightly higher. One of the biggest differences she found between private and public was class size, with private school sometimes significantly smaller.
Fouquet also started looking at public schools outside of her Mar Vista area and was impressed with Palisades Elementary. “I loved the principal and the school,” she said. Her son was admitted through a lottery drawing.
“We were thrilled with the kindergarten year and my son’s teacher,” said Fouquet said, who volunteered in the classroom and was struck by how teachers are required to manage kids with lots of different abilities.
“Some kids still need a one-on-one with an instructor,” she said. “Schools can’t do it all. I can’t stress it enough: it comes down to parent involvement—you or a tutor.
“My mother pushed me. I saw kids that weren’t pushed and they took a different path,” said Fouquet, who grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from Hunter College in New York City in film arts. She immediately went to work in post-production at the Soho Progressive Image Group.
Moving to Brentwood in 1996, Fouquet took a job as an editor with a production company, Two-Headed Monster, where she worked with numerous advertising agencies. Two years later she met her husband Fred, who works as a film editor for commercials, and they married in 2003.
Fouquet continued to freelance and contemplated going back for her master’s degree in art history. Instead, she acquired the Tutor Doctor franchise, which pairs a tutor with a child in the child’s home.
“We can tutor in any subject,” Fouquet said, “and we are the same price as a brick-and-mortar center. Our rates are fair. I’ve done a survey of our competitors and we want to keep tutoring prices affordable, because there is a need.”
Since she makes the daily commute from her home in Mar Vista to Palisades Elementary daily during the school year (her son will be in first grade this fall and her younger son at a Santa Monica preschool), and also drives her sons to extracurricular activities, Fouquet understands why parents are reluctant to drive to yet another location to meet with a tutor.
“Time is so precious and so limited,” she said. “It makes sense to have someone come to your house on your schedule.”
As a parent, Fouquet also understands that a homework situation can be less emotionally charged if a tutor helps your kids. Her experience has shown that when a parent works with a child, the child may refuse to do the work or will make excuses not to finish it.
“It is frustrating,” Fouquet said. “You just want them to sit down and do the work.”
Fouquet has tutors for younger children as well as for teens and adults. One client is a 33-year-old woman who wants to go back to college, but needs help with geometry and algebra before she takes the standardized tests. Another client is a working parent who wants to make sure her daughter stays on track, and has already booked a tutor four days a week for the upcoming school year.
Tutor Doctor’s tutors are teachers, college students who are studying to be teachers, or referral tutors who have worked at other tutoring services. “I vet all my tutors, which includes doing a criminal background check,” Fouquet said. “I also try to do a ‘magical match,’ but if that does not work for some reason, I can quickly find a replacement.”
Fouquet also has her tutors fill out a report after each session and submit it to her so that there is accountability. “I can see if the tutor is doing what we promised the family,” she said. “I can also e-mail that report to the family at any time.”
Call (310) 748-5700 or e-mail nfouquet@tutordoctor.com.