I was so excited to peek around the curtain of Applerouth's own great and powerful Wizard of Oz, Andrew Spring! As our Senior Staffing Manager, Andrew is the mastermind behind all tutor-student matches. His other responsibilities include interviewing prospective tutors and making hiring decisions in all of our markets, which means he knows our tutors better than almost anyone at Applerouth. From the moment they apply to tutor with us, Andrew is observing how they interact with others, how they meet deadlines, and whether he can rely on them to make students feel supported and encouraged. Andrew has a background in sociology and strongly values relationships, which informs the way he views the tutor-student match - it's not just about numbers.

Andrew may keep logistics in mind when he matches a tutor to a student, but he's more interested in the intangibles, like personality. Here are Andrew's top five factors for an amazing tutor-student match:

All Applerouth families fill out a student profile questionnaire (SPQ) before the tutor assignment process begins. Oftentimes parents are the ones to fill out the SPQ, but Andrew loves it when students take charge of the process:

We pride ourselves on our emphasis on strong pedagogy, and that philosophy shows up in how we match students as well. You might say that we match tutors with students the way IECs match students with schools! Andrew knows that the best match for a student might not seem obvious to a parent, but there's more to a match than a tutor's academic background: