By Ian Rappaport
Staff Writer
A passion for teaching has lead to a local advanced placement teacher Greg Kloes creating a small business with his father in order to provide extra quality assistance to his struggling students.
Advanced Placement European History teacher Greg Kloes and his father Chuck Kloes have created “Ace The AP Exam” as a private tutoring business for students taking the class. The program aims to help students prepare for the AP test in May.
“The business was an idea my dad and I had to offer quality help to students in AP Euro,” Kloes said. “He has tutored a lot of my students over the years and now there is a greater need for quality tutoring that most groups can not provide.”
Greg Kloes was pushed to start the program after seeing the the national results of the AP exam posted online by the official College Board. Thirty to thirty five percent of students in the course nationwide are unable to pass. Due to Kloes’ high pass rate, he felt that he should offer his program to students outside of Costa.
“When I came to think about that statistic I was blown away,” Kloes said. “Any teacher who had a consistent fail rate of 35% in a classroom for a long term setting would be questioned by the administrative staff. If I have a pass rate of 93%, then I can take what I know and develop a business that could help other students in the surrounding communities and help them also pass the test.”
Chuck Kloes is the main tutor for the program. He taught AP European History for 25 years. He is currently retired and was interested in bringing his knowledge to struggling students.
“Mr. Chuck Kloes has a lot of experience and brings a different perspective than his son,” sophomore Maddie Horn said. “The program is really one on one with its small groups, so Mr. Kloes is asking you questions instead of just saying things, making the whole experience very interactive.”
Kloes first opened his business in Spring 2012. Since no one in the program has been able to spend a whole year in it before the AP Test at the end of the year, it is difficult to measure the quality of the program. However, many students participating feel it has been very beneficial.
“Group tutoring with Mr. Kloes senior has definitely refined my skills in comprehending the lessons as more of a story rather than a textbook,” sophomore Derrick Compas said. “Another great part of the group is a socratic seminar style discussion where difficulties within the text are openly talked about. This helps my understanding of the material immensely.”
According to Kloes, his business is just starting to gain momentum with students. Kloes is only offering his service to students in the Manhattan Beach area, but Greg Kloes aims to change that by putting the programs’ lectures and lessons online.
“We are trying to put together a tutoring system that i could put online so that students from across the United States could look at it and watch the videos and get the same type of help from me that my students get from our group here,” Greg Kloes said. “We are trying to reach out nationwide eventually and help students pass the test.”
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