ATAC

ATAC has been a fabulous resource for our high school age youngster. Alison Staplin, Ph.D. is an excellent tutor who developed a program for my youngster that instilled confidence, improved study skills and gave him/​her a «tool box» of skills and approaches to use now and in the future.
The quality of writing and the fluency of reading continues to excel. ATAC comes with my highest recommendation.

We met with «Allison,» who stated she was the «director.» Our child is in high school and has memory deficits. We needed help with organization and keeping track of assignments. Allison said she would meet with us and choose from available tutors the one she thought would best meet our needs. We met with her two weeks before school started so that our child could have this coordinated before the beginning of the semester. Alison told us that on-​site tutoring was not available at our school, since it was public.
We made a plan and paid this company in advance to communicate with our child’s school and help with organization and homework three times per week. We were told that we should not communicate with the school directly, but let ATAC handle all tracking of academic work for our teen.
Three weeks into the semester they had not attempted any contact with any of six teachers or the counselor. It turned out Alison had never placed our child, she had been doing the tutoring herself, then wanted to switch, three weeks in. Part of her rationale was that this tutor was available to meet at school.
She then asked us to contact the school for her to make the arrangements and reserve a place to meet. (?!) This new tutor had many mannerisms and a style our child was not comfortable with. In addition, she didn’t possess the subject knowledge in advanced algebra we needed.
There was still no contact from ATAC to our school, despite our discussing concerns that this was almost a month and specifically requesting they do it that week. We requested another tutor, but was told this wasn’t an option.
All this was with Allison. She merely told us the tutor’s perspective on the meeting and failed to address any of our concerns. She said she thought the problem was all about «difficulty with change.» She blamed the fact that we had discussed our concern re: the fact that they hadn’t contacted the school yet just prior to the tutoring session, saying we had upset our teen and that this influenced their emotional state and willingness to accept the new tutor. She also said our child was not cooperating with their requests.
We had a list off 5 – 10 very specific things that had occurred during the session with the tutor. Not one was acknowledged as valid.
If we didn’t have all the other issues with Allison and her credibility I’d be more inclined to trust her assessment. as it is, though, she comes off as unprofessional, unable to handle criticism, disrespectful and dishonest. She seems unable to organize her work load, but also unable to acknowledge mistakes.
Worst of all, we’re left with a very tough academic situation. We had been told to not contact the teachers and school and leave it to ATAC. We paid them over $ 1000.00. We’re left scrambling to find a trustworthy professional service a month into the semester, and our child is missing work and grades due to lack of support. This organization has had a great reputation in years past. Allison is a new addition this year.
At this time I can’t recommend ATAC to anyone. Your child’s education is too important to entrust to people who won’t handle it with care or be honest about their mistakes