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Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Review: Services and Reviews
September 30, 2024

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Review: Services and Reviews

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics is one of the oldest educational service providers in the Tri-State Area covering Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania that aims to ensure that each student is offered support aligned with their individual learning style, age, and needs. The company offers both in-person and virtual teaching services, with focus on the former. Back to Basics covers a wide range of services and works with various beneficiaries, but is it really worth it for schools, districts, students, and adult learners?

This Back to Basics Learning Dynamics review looks at the company history and mission, the services available to different customers, the staff background and qualifications, the pricing structure, and the geographical coverage of the company. The article also takes into consideration Back to Basics reviews by students and teachers to evaluate the quality of services. Finally, it concludes by introducing three of the top Back to Basics alternatives for schools and students with various needs.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for comprehensive e-learning services used by school districts and schools across the nation, check out Fullmind.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Overview

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics provides in-person and online educational services to schools, districts, state agencies, and individual learners. Available services include but are not limited to tutoring, test preparation, virtual teaching, summer programs, adult education, and teacher professional development.

Beverly Stewart, an experienced teacher at the time, founded Back to Basics Learning Dynamics in 1985 as a one-person tutoring service. The company has its headquarters in Wilmington, DE. Today Back to Basics has grown into the largest provider of educational services in the Tri-State Area including Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. The company mission is to deliver unparalleled 1-on-1 educational support conducive to each individual’s learning style regardless of age and to inspire personal growth. Back to Basics focuses not only on the educational aspect of the process but also on building children’s and adults’ self-esteem in order to make a difference in their lives. The company also aims to contribute to the needs of regional communities by offering high-quality, inclusive services to schools, districts, government agencies, and businesses.

At the moment, Back to Basics serves more than 20,000 students in Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Services

Back to Basics provides a wide range of educational services which mostly focus on in-person instructions for students and adult learners in addition to some virtual teaching. Beneficiaries include both institutions such as schools, school districts, and government agencies and individuals like students, parents, and learners of all ages.

The most popular services delivered by Back to Basics include:

  • Private in-person tutoring for students
  • On-demand virtual torturing for students
  • High School Entrance and AP exam prep for students
  • ACT and SAT prep for students
  • Educational consulting for students and parents
  • Psycho-educational testing for students, schools, and districts
  • Summer programs for students and teachers
  • Adult education and tutoring for learners of all ages
  • Private school for high school students
  • Virtual teaching for districts
  • Professional development for districts
  • Homebound teaching for districts
  • Speech/language evaluation and therapy for districts
  • Corporate and healthcare education for professionals
  • Translating and interpreting for businesses and state agencies
  • Educational services for state agencies

Following is a detailed overview of all Back to Basics educational services by recipient category:

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Services for Schools and Districts

Schools and school districts in the Tri-State Area are one of the main clients of Back to Basics. The company offers a range of services that benefit districts and schools including:

  • Professional development: Back to Basics Professional Development Programs are custom-made for the specific needs of educators, staff, and administrators at each school. They cover the latest developments in methodology, curriculum, and social and emotional wellness. These programs help educational staff enhance their skills and learn how to create a positive, progressive school and classroom atmosphere for all students.
  • AIM Pathways for Delaware Educators: Back to Basics AIM Pathways courses help with professional learning around the science of reading and assisting in building background knowledge in literacy. These courses allow educators to develop professional skills, but they are not graduate classes and do not provide certification.
  • Homebound services: Back to Basics homebound services, also referred to as supportive instruction, comprise an alternative educational program delivered at home in addition to serving students awaiting expulsion. The company offers Nationwide school district contracts for homebound services at all grades and in all subjects.
  • Psycho-educational testing: Back to Basics provides psycho-educational testing, including bilingual options, for children and adults using sophisticated test measures. Testing is performed by licensed clinical psychologists on staff in Wilmington, DE. This service helps analyze the style in which a student learns, student’s strengths and non-strengths, and learning differences. Tests include IQ, academic achievement levels, visual-motor, learning disability and giftedness screening, attention deficit disorder screening, verbal and visual memory, and visual and auditory perception.
  • Speech/language evaluations and therapy: Back to Basics is capable of providing school districts and schools with part-time and full-time speech language pathologists that can assess, diagnose, treat, and help prevent speech, language, cognitive-communication, voice, fluency, and other related disorders. The company also offers occupational therapists who can identify students in need of assistance and perform occupational therapy.
  • Virtual teaching: Back to Basics offers virtual teaching services to school districts to solve teacher shortages. Virtual teachers deploy practices that simulate traditional teaching and ensure that students play an active role in the learning process. Lessons are designed to be engaging, interactive, informative, and interesting.

It’s worth noting that while Back to Basics Learning Dynamics provides some core instruction and virtual staffing services to schools and school districts, this service is very limited as it’s just one of the many educational services offered by the company. The main focus remains on in-person education rather than online teaching.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Services for Students and Parents

Another major group of Back to Basics beneficiaries includes students, parents, and adult learners.

Back to Basics provides the following services to students and learners:

  • 1-on-1 private tutoring: Back to Basics offers customized tutoring services in Wilmington, DE, Maryland, and southeastern Pennsylvania. 1-on-1 tutoring is available 7 days a week in more than 60 subjects and is always provided by the same tutor to help build rapport and knowledge of learning and teaching styles. Tutoring can be conducted in the student’s home, school, office, summer school, after-school care, or in the Back to Basics Education Centers in Wilmington or Newark. Subject areas include math, science, social sciences, arts, music instruction, foreign languages, business, communication, corporate, life skills, and test preparation.
  • ACT and SAT test prep: Back to Basics’ tutors provide a customized approach to preparing for ACT and SAT including 1-on-1 instruction, test-taking strategies, scored practice exams, and personalized attention to reduce test anxiety. Tutoring packages comprise 16-hour SAT or ACT packages and 32-hour SAT or ACT packages.
  • ACHIEVE testing: Back to Basics offers ACHIEVE grade level testing as part of all tutoring packages. This program is designed to measure whether students are meeting the standards in their current grade as well as to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student. ACHIEVE includes multiple-choice assessments for 1-12 grade in reading/language arts and math in addition to selective grade levels in science and social studies.
  • Psycho-educational testing: Back to Basics provides psycho-educational testing services for both children and adults that are delivered by licensed clinical psychologists. Results can be used to maximize student’s success by analyzing and identifying their learning style, strengths, challenges, and learning difficulties. The resulting reports can be used to document the need for special services, take extended-time High School Entrance and SAT exams, evaluate entrance into a gifted program, and accommodate through 504 Plans.
  • High School Entrance and AP exams: Back to Basics offers tutoring prep designed around each Delaware school’s testing criteria to help students complete a High School Entrance Exam (HSEA) for acceptance, placement, and scholarship eligibility determination. Tests include the ISEE, Terranova, HSPT, and SSAT. This service is provided as a 28-hour package administered over the course of 10 weeks.
  • Educational consulting: Back to Basics connects parents with educational consultants for students experiencing difficulties with academic or social settings and for those transitioning between schools.
  • Summer programs: Back to Basics runs two summer programs within the Nationwide Department of Education: for promising future leaders and for current educators. The Nationwide Future Education Leaders Program is designed for current students and recent graduates exploring a career in education and seeking exposure to state government. The Educators as Catalysts Program, on the other hand, targets Nationwide teachers and specialists of any experience level looking for exposure to the education policy processes that affect their schools and classrooms.
  • Adult education: Back to Basics delivers 1-on-1 tutoring assistance for adults who want to develop new professional skills to make themselves more valuable to their employer. Options include 60+ subjects, ELL, 20+ foreign languages, organization and time management skills, business writing, computer skills, accounting, basic math, life skills, and others.
  • On-demand tutoring: Back to Basics provides on-demand 1-on-1 virtual tutoring to students whose school districts have enrolled in the program. This allows students to receive tutoring support when they need it, whether at home or at school. Sessions continue between 15 minutes and one hour, depending on students’ needs.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Services for State Agencies

Back to Basics partners with numerous state government agencies to provide educational services to some of the most vulnerable populations. These services aim to improve the quality of life for Nationwide’s citizens by focusing on well-being and self-sufficiency. Some state agency partners include DDOE, DSCYF, DHSS, DVI, DVR, DDDS, DOL, and others.

Available services include:

  • Translating and interpreting
  • Adult learning
  • Psycho-educational testing
  • ELL services
  • E-learning compliance training
  • SLPS and OTS
  • Educational consulting
  • Reading specialists
  • Behavior specialists
  • Special education

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Private School

Back to Basics runs Augustine Hills School, a private school located in Wilmington, DE. This is the only 1-on-1 private school in Delaware that offers the four core curriculum areas of English/language arts, math, social studies, and science in addition to multiple electives including foreign languages, business, psychology, study skills, computer literacy, art, music, drama, and others.

Augustine Hills School comprises:

  • AHS Middle School for grades 6-8
  • AHS High School for grades 9-12

The Back to Basics private school delivers a personalized learning experience that is tailored to the unique learning style, pace, and interests of each student. The focus is on personalized attention, customized curriculum, flexibility, convenience, confidence building, and technology integration.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Corporate and Healthcare Education Services

Back to Basics provides customized corporate education and adult education services to hospitals, healthcare providers, organizations, and companies of various sizes.

Corporate education programs cover:

  • Organization and time management to foreign transferees
  • Cultural orientation
  • Document translation
  • Face-to-face or telephonic interpretation
  • Foreign language programs
  • ASL sign language interpretation
  • E-learning compliance training
  • ELL
  • Computer skills
  • Writing skills

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Translating and Interpreting Services

Back to Basics provides translating and interpreting services that cover 21 languages and assignments of all sizes.

Specific services in this regard include:

  • Nationwide telephonic interpreting
  • Nationwide video interpreting
  • Onsite interpreting in Delaware and Pennsylvania
  • Nationwide document translating

Back to Basics is a member of the American Translators Association and maintains high business standards. The company has a rigorous employment process for translators and interpreters. Translation professionals have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and 3-5 years of experience in the field. Moreover, they undergo a mandatory proficiency test.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Staff

With so many services available, the qualifications, certifications, and experiences of Back to Basics teachers and instructors vary. The company has around 40 instructors for virtual teaching who are state-certified in their respective subjects. In addition, they are involved throughout the educational process via grading and attending parent-teacher conferences. 

Meanwhile, interpreters and translators have at least a bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 3 years of experience.

For all employees, Back to Basics deploys a meticulous hiring process that ensures that staff have the necessary skills and experiences in their field.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Costs

Back to Basics has a complicated pricing schedule to cover all in-person and virtual services offered by the company. The company website does not disclose any pricing information except for the private school. The annual tuition for Augustine Hills School is $28,465 for the 2024-2025 academic year.

For other services, interested users need to get in touch with Back to Basics and get a custom quote which depends on the services, the customer (school districts vs parents vs adult learners), the delivery mode (in-person vs virtual), the volume of classes, and the duration.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Terms

Back to Basics applies different terms to the various services covered by the platform. Interested schools, districts, parents, students, and professionals need to ask for a copy of the service agreement to review before deciding whether to hire the company for their educational needs.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Software

The focus of most Back to Basics educational services is in-person instruction which doesn’t require any software. For virtual teaching and on-demand tutoring, students need to have access to a laptop and video conferencing software.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Reviews

Despite the nearly 40-year history of the company, there are almost no online reviews of Back to Basics Learning Dynamics by students, parents, or school administrators on third-party websites. Thus, before deciding whether to hire this company for their educational needs, it’s a good idea for potential customers to connect with others who have used their services and ask about their experiences.

Nevertheless, some online Back to Basics Learning Dynamics reviews can be found on:

  • Google: 4.8/5 stars based on 101 reviews

In their positive reviews, happy parents highlight the helpful and passionate tutors, the effective tutoring strategies, the supportive staff, the knowledgeable instructors, and the real results.

Meanwhile, negative reviews of Back to Basics Learning Dynamics reveal poor policies, last-minute cancellations of tutoring services, rude instructors, unprofessional staff, and lack of proper communication.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Pros and Cons

A diligent review of Back to Basics Learning Dynamics shows that receiving educational services from the company comes with some advantages and disadvantages that interested customers need to consider when making a decision.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Pros

The main pros of hiring Back to Basics include:

  • Diverse educational services for different types of learners
  • Potential to serve the needs of both institutions (schools, school districts, state agencies, and businesses) and individuals (students, parents, and adult learners)
  • Provision of both in-person and virtual teaching services
  • State-certified instructors for virtual teaching

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Cons

The most considerable cons of working with Back to Basics are:

  • Lack of comprehensive virtual educational services available nationwide
  • Restriction of some services to certain grades only
  • Geographical scope limited to the Tri-State Area
  • No pricing information

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Availability

Back to Basics’ headquarters are located in Wilmington, DE. Many of the tutoring services are provided in the Nationwide Educational Center in Wilmington, but tutoring can also take place at school, daycare center, office, summer camp, or the student’s home.

Back to Basics educational services are available in the Tri-State Area covering Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. This limited geographical focus is necessary as most services are delivered in-person rather than virtually.

The school districts where Back to Basics Learning Dynamics is most widely used include:

  • Delaware Department of Education, DE
  • Christina School District, DE
  • Red Clay Consolidated School District, DE
  • New Castle County Vocational Technical School District, DE

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics Alternatives

While Back to Basics provides a wide range of educational services, the focus on in-person teaching and learning and the limited geographical scope make the platform a suboptimal choice for some schools, districts, and learners. Thus, many institutions and students, especially those outside the Tri-State Area, need to look elsewhere for virtual learning opportunities.

Following are the top alternatives to Back to Basics Learning Dynamics for different services and various users:

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics vs Fullmind

Fullmind is the best competitor of Back to Basics for e-learning services provided to schools and districts. The company focuses entirely on virtual educational services which are delivered synchronously via real-time, interactive sessions that inspire engagement, communication, and interaction.

Fullmind offers core instruction, supplemental instruction, and virtual staffing for K-12 grade students. Services are available nationwide and cover all core subjects in addition to multiple electives. Importantly, the curriculum is customized to the needs of each district to ensure smooth transitions between in-person and virtual instruction and vice versa. Tutoring services are personalized to the requirements and learning style of students for maximum efficacy. Instructions are available 1-on-1, in small groups, and to entire classes.

All Fullmind instructors are state-certified. During the hiring process, teachers are diligently selected and vetted to guarantee the highest standards of teaching. Instructors are fully immersed in the school community when filling teacher vacancies through real-time communication, staff meetings, and parent-teacher conferences.

Fullmind has the capacity to work with diverse students including homebound students, students in suspension, and students with learning difficulties.

Fullmind pricing depends on purchased services and is designed to be affordable and competitive.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics vs Stride

Stride is an umbrella company that provides various online, blended, and in-person services in the educational space. Similar to Back to Basics, they work with many different stakeholders that include school districts, schools, students, parents, adult learners, professionals, businesses, and military personnel and their families.

Stride offers online public schools, online private schools, virtual libraries, staffing, homeschooling assistance, virtual tutoring, credit recovery, career readiness, professional development, and others. A major drawback of the Stride approach is that they use their own custom content which is not aligned with the requirements and standards of each district where they operate. This can lead to significant knowledge gaps for students in schools where Stride works.

On the positive side, Stride teachers are state- and content-certified. They have experience in online teaching and learning in addition to receiving specialized training in this regard.

The cost of Stride services is generally not publicly disclosed. It depends on the exact services, the customer, the amount, and the duration.

Back to Basics Learning Dynamics vs Proximity Learning

Proximity Learning is another alternative to Back to Basics that focuses more heavily on e-learning solutions in line with current needs and demand. The company provides services to districts and schools rather than individual students and adult learners.

Proximity Learning services cover virtual instruction, online tutoring, virtual schools, and online summer schools. They are available for K-12 grade. Courses include core subjects, electives, AP courses, and world languages. Similar to Stride, the company uses its own content which creates a gap in the knowledge of virtually taught students compared to their peers who receive in-person education within the district.

Proximity Learning instructors are state-certified. They are experienced and aim for offering engaging experiences to e-learners.

Similar to Back to Basics and its other alternatives, Proximity Learning does not provide estimates of the costs of their services on the company website.

Bottom Line

Our detailed Back to Basics Learning Dynamics review shows that the company offers very diverse educational services which mostly focus on in-person teaching with some options for virtual learning. While Back to Basics is able to solve some traditional challenges in the educational space, its services fail to address more recent problems such as teacher shortages and the need for quality e-learning opportunities nationwide. Services are largely limited to the Tri-State Area with some online options available in other locations. Moreover, pricing information is not disclosed, and there are only around 100 online reviews by customers despite the long history of the company.