A Word About Our FAQs
Following are answers to some common questions we receive from parents and caregivers about Fit Learning St. Louis. For more detailed information (including curriculum-specific queries), check out our comprehensive Parent’s Guide to Fit Learning St. Louis, the curriculum and services pages, and our blog posts. At any point, feel free to reach out directly to lab director Janice Smith to discuss your specific situation and answer any additional questions. Janice can be reached at janice@fitlearningstl.com or (314) 246-0540.
A message from our founders: Fit Learning is not a franchise or conglomerate. We are a highly specialized program that provides unparalleled services to every kind of student. A website cannot fully capture the uniqueness of our methods and the quality of services we provide. We approach every learner as a unique case and develop a custom curriculum to meet their specific needs. After browsing the website for general information, we strongly encourage you to contact us to have a personal conversation with you about your child.
Location and Getting Started
- Where is Fit Learning St. Louis located?
- Can I visit before enrolling?
- Does Fit offer online tutoring for families outside of St. Louis?
- How can I get my learner started at Fit?
Our Approach and Methodology
- How is Fit Learning different from traditional tutoring programs?
- Is Fit Learning’s approach based on ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis)?
- What kind of training do Fit’s learning coaches have?
- I see the terms fluency and cognitive fitness mentioned on your website. What do these mean?
- Can Fit Learning help kids who have executive functioning challenges?
Who Fit Learning Serves
Programs Overview
- What subject areas does Fit Learning offer tutoring in?
- Can my child work on more than one subject at a time?
Sessions, Scheduling, and Policies
- Do families need to complete any type of homework or practice outside of learning sessions?
- How do you keep learners from getting bored?
- How often should my child attend tutoring to see meaningful progress?
- What is your policy on canceled or missed sessions?
- Do you offer intensive schedules during the summer break?
Results and Investment
- How long does it take to see results from tutoring at Fit Learning?
- What happens if my child doesn’t make progress at Fit Learning?
- Will my child lose their progress after they finish their enrollment at Fit Learning?
- Do kids enjoy tutoring at Fit Learning?
- What type of standardized testing do you use to track learners’ performance?
- How does tuition work at Fit?
Still have questions about tutoring in St. Louis?
Location and Getting Started
Where is Fit Learning St. Louis located?
Fit Learning St. Louis is centrally located in Creve Coeur at 10425 Old Olive Street Road, LL4. We’re right near Lindbergh and Olive — close to the AMC Creve Coeur 12 theater and the Creve Coeur Government Center. Our learning lab is just minutes from Highway 270, offers plenty of parking, and is conveniently positioned to serve families across St. Louis County.
Many families choose our Creve Coeur location because it’s easy to reach from Ladue, Clayton, Town and Country, Chesterfield, Ballwin, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, Olivette, University City, Des Peres, St. Charles, and other nearby communities. We also serve learners from Parkway, Ladue, Clayton, Kirkwood, University City, Brentwood, Webster Groves, Pattonville, Rockwood, Maplewood, Lindbergh, and St. Louis City school districts.
Prefer online support? We offer virtual tutoring for St. Louis-area families and those outside the metro, including students in Columbia, MO, Springfield, MO, and Illinois’ Metro East communities such as Edwardsville, Collinsville, Belleville, Columbia, and O’Fallon.
Ready to visit our Creve Coeur lab? Contact us at (314) 246-0540 to schedule an observation.
Can I visit before enrolling?
You bet! Contact Janice to set up an observation at the Fit Learning lab in Creve Coeur, conveniently located in West County. Our address is 10425 Old Olive Street Rd LL4, Creve Coeur, MO 63141. We’re easily accessible from Ladue, Olivette, Clayton, Town and Country, Chesterfield, Ballwin, and many other St. Louis-area communities.
Does Fit offer online tutoring for families outside of St. Louis?
Absolutely. Fit’s method works remotely as well as in person. So, if you’re looking for private online tutoring in the St. Louis area (or beyond), our precision teaching online service could be a great solution. Many St. Louis parents opt to do hybrid arrangements, with some sessions in person and some online. This flexibility allows us to continue serving families across St. Louis County and beyond. You can learn more about Fit’s distance learning program here.
How can I get my learner started at Fit?
It’s easy to get started. Just reach out by phone or email to schedule a comprehensive skills assessment. Your child will come in for a few hours of testing, depending on the areas being evaluated.
After the assessment, you’ll meet with Janice Smith, our lab director, to review the results. You’ll receive a detailed written report and personalized recommendations. There’s no obligation to enroll — many families use the data on its own or share it with teachers or IEP teams.
If you decide to move forward, you’ll complete a brief intake form and your child will be added to the waitlist. Once enrolled, they’ll work one-on-one with a certified learning coach in 50-minute sessions, four to five times a week. A typical enrollment takes about 10–13 weeks and is fully tailored to your child’s needs. You’ll get quick updates after each session, plus emailed progress reports and milestone check-ins around the 15- and 30-hour marks so you always know how your child is progressing.
Our Approach and Methodology
How is Fit Learning different from traditional tutoring programs? (Or, why isn’t traditional tutoring working for my child?)
If your child has already tried tutoring without lasting improvement, the difference often isn’t the amount of instruction they received — it’s what the instruction focused on. Most tutoring helps kids get through tonight’s homework or the current classroom unit. That can help in the moment, but it often doesn’t fix the real problem, so kids stay stuck and keep needing help year after year.
Fit works differently. We don’t reteach classroom content or hand out worksheets. Instead, we use scientifically validated assessment to identify and rebuild the missing foundational skills — the ones limiting progress across reading, math, writing, and critical thinking. Our approach blends learning science, precision teaching, direct instruction, and ongoing assessment to create real, lasting change. Following are just a few things that set us apart.
- We treat the cause, not just the symptoms. We identify and fix root skill gaps instead of chasing each new unit or assignment.
- Everything is personalized. Goals and curriculum are based on your child’s unique assessment data, and instruction is continuously adjusted based on measurable progress — not guesswork.
- We focus on fluency. Learners don’t just “get it”; they master skills so they can use them confidently and quickly in any setting.
- The results speak for themselves. On average, kids gain 1–2 years of academic progress in as little as 40 hours. (In other words, what school takes a year or more to achieve, we accomplish in three months at Fit.)
- By the time they leave Fit, learners feel capable, confident, and prepared — not just caught up. Our goal isn’t to help a child finish today’s assignment; it’s to build the skills that make all future learning faster, easier, and more successful, long after tutoring ends.
A more detailed breakdown is available at our blog post on How Fit Learning Stands Out From Other Tutors. We’d love to talk to you about your child. Contact the lab today to learn more about how Fit is different from every other tutoring program.
Is Fit Learning’s approach based on ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis)?
Yes, in part. Fit Learning’s methodology draws from several evidence-based fields, including Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), relational frame theory, direct instruction, and precision teaching. Our director, Janice Smith, is a licensed and board-certified behavior analyst who helps design and oversee each learner’s program.
Unlike many educational programs that measure only whether a student answers correctly, Fit Learning also measures how efficiently those skills are performed. Accuracy is important, but accuracy alone doesn’t indicate functional mastery. Functional mastery requires both accuracy and rate. Measuring rate allows us to determine whether a learner can perform a skill efficiently enough for it to be retained over time, maintained without frequent review, and applied to increasingly complex learning tasks. This emphasis on fluency is a hallmark of precision teaching and one of the key features that distinguishes the Fit Learning model.
While our methods are informed by behavior analysis, Fit Learning is not a clinical ABA therapy provider. Instead, we are an academic learning center that applies the science of learning to build fluent academic skills that support long-term success in school and beyond.
What kind of training do Fit’s learning coaches have?
Every Fit Learning coach is trained and certified in our specialized programs, including reading, math, logic, writing, and our Lil Fits school readiness curriculum. For reading specifically, our coaches are trained in structured literacy and the Science of Reading — the research-backed approach that’s transforming literacy instruction nationwide.
Beyond their initial training, Fit learning coaches continue to meet high standards through audits and quarterly reviews. Many of our coaches come to us with backgrounds in behavioral science and psychology, giving them insight into how children learn best. We’re proud to periodically host interns from Washington University’s Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences.
But what truly sets our coaches apart? Their passion for helping kids succeed. You’ll notice it the moment your child walks through our doors. Our coaches bring energy, creativity, and genuine enthusiasm to every session. They’re the ones cheering your child on, celebrating breakthroughs (big and small), and making learning feel like play rather than work. Think of them less like traditional tutors and more like personal trainers for your child’s brain — resourceful, encouraging, and quick to adapt to what your child needs in the moment. Want to meet the team? Check out our team page to learn more about the coaches who will help your child thrive.
I see the terms fluency and cognitive fitness mentioned on your website. What do these mean?
Fluency is synonymous with being an expert, where demonstrating skills appears to be second nature. With the type of training that Fit provides, students become experts in core skill areas. This allows them to effortlessly complete classroom and homework assignments. Even more, when students achieve fluency across the core skills, they experience an actual transformation as a learner. A fluent foundation produces learners who demonstrate cognitive fitness – or the ability to learn and perform as an expert in any academic setting on any type of task. Additionally, they can engage with the material in such a way that they actually begin learning new things. Ultimately, students who are cognitively fit tend to be agile, flexible, focused, perseverant, confident, determined, and able to think critically.
For more information about fluency, check out the blog post on The Science of Fluency: Why St. Louis Kids Excel Faster at Fit Learning.
For a closer look at how Fit’s method can strengthen learners’ executive functioning, check out our blog post on Executive Function Skills in Children: Why They Matter and How to Improve Them.
Who Fit Learning Serves
What kinds of learners benefit from tutoring at Fit Learning St. Louis?
Because every Fit learner works 1:1 with a customized plan, our method helps all kinds of students in grades pre-K through 12, including the following.
- Learners whose grades don’t reflect their real ability
- Students who need to boost skills or scores for private school admissions
- Kids held back by stress, anxiety (including math anxiety specifically), or low confidence
- Children who are struggling in school or just not progressing as expected
- Gifted learners who need more challenge
- Students with a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD, dyslexia, slow processing, or other learning differences
- Learners who tried traditional tutoring without much success
In short: if something isn’t clicking — or your child is ready to accelerate their learning — Fit’s approach can make a real difference. We proudly work with learners from preschool through high school, serving families across St. Louis County.
Programs Overview
What subject areas does Fit Learning offer tutoring in?
Fit’s curriculum areas include reading, math, logic / critical thinking, and grammar and composition, and supplemental literacy services in penmanship and spelling. Our Lil Fits (kindergarten readiness) program is designed especially for younger children. We also have programs for homeschoolers, gifted students, and special needs learners, serving families across St. Louis County and St. Louis City. More information about our curriculum is available here.
Can my child work on more than one subject at a time?
Yes. Many students work on multiple skill areas simultaneously, such as reading and writing or math and critical thinking. During your child’s assessment, we’ll identify the areas that will have the greatest impact on their academic progress and recommend an individualized plan.
In some cases, focusing on one foundational skill first leads to faster progress in other subjects. In other cases, students benefit from addressing multiple areas during the same enrollment. For example, we find that Fit Logic (either our basic or advanced logic program) can be a great booster for reading and math.
Sessions, Scheduling, and Policies
Do families need to complete any type of homework or practice outside of learning sessions?
Nope! Fit doesn’t assign homework. All learning happens during the sessions, so families don’t have to take on extra work at home.
How do you keep learners from getting bored?
Fair question! After all, research shows that learning is most effective when students are having fun.
Fit does the following to keep learners engaged.
- Use a 1:1 approach that’s highly interactive, multi-sensory, stress-free, and personalized (no small group learning)
- Incorporate lots of reward, reinforcement, and celebration – including an awesome prize tower
- Hold fast-paced sessions led by credentialed learning coaches who are pros at motivating students
- Use an individualized curriculum that meets students right where they are
awesome prize towerHow often should my child attend tutoring to see meaningful progress?
Fit Learning is designed to be an intensive program because consistent, frequent instruction is one of the key factors that drives meaningful academic growth. To help students build and retain new skills efficiently, we recommend attending a minimum of four days per week. For families seeking the fastest possible progress, five days per week is the ideal schedule.
This level of intensity allows students to build momentum from one session to the next, strengthening learning through repeated practice and minimizing the time between instruction. Rather than relearning skills after long gaps, students continue building on previous sessions, helping them achieve lasting improvements more efficiently.
What is your policy on canceled or missed sessions?
Because consistency plays a big role in how quickly learners build fluency, we encourage families to keep sessions as regular as possible. However we understand that schedules don’t always go as planned. We will make up 10 days of planned absence when provided 10 business days of notice – plus two bonus days will be rescheduled for any reason.
Do you offer intensive schedules during the summer break?
The summer months are some of the most popular times for families to enroll at our Creve Coeur lab. Our standard enrollment model is designed to achieve 1-2 years of academic growth in roughly 40 hours, and many parents choose an intensive summer schedule of up to 10 sessions per week starting in June. This allows students to close critical learning gaps and build massive academic confidence before the new school year, without the added stress of daily homework competing for their time.
Results and Investment
How long does it take to see results from tutoring at Fit Learning?
Results are apparent on a learner’s second day at Fit! (The first day of an enrollment is used for baseline videos and additional tests to pinpoint grade-level for standardized tests.) After each session the learner leaves with a written note reporting the number of times they earned a personal best. A progress report is emailed home after 15 and again after 30 sessions sharing how we’ve moved the needle on the tests that we are progress monitoring. Differences in confidence are often reported after the first few weeks.
More information about our learning outcomes is available here.
What happens if my child doesn’t make progress at Fit Learning?
One of the advantages of the Fit Learning model is that progress isn’t left to guesswork. Every student’s performance is measured continuously using objective data, allowing our learning coaches to make instructional decisions based on results rather than assumptions. If a student isn’t progressing as expected, we identify the reason and adjust instruction accordingly.
Because of this data-driven approach, meaningful progress is the norm. Across learners with a wide range of abilities, diagnoses, and educational backgrounds, Fit Learning students average 30 percentile rank gains on standardized tests measuring functional grade level during a single enrollment. These gains are achieved in approximately the same number of instructional minutes students spend in school over the course of one week.
Ultimately, families determine whether the program is a worthwhile investment. The majority choose to re-enroll because they see measurable academic growth, increased confidence, and meaningful improvements that extend beyond tutoring sessions into the classroom and everyday learning.
Will my child lose their progress after they finish their enrollment at Fit Learning?
Traditional tutoring progress fades because it relies on short-term memorization to pass tomorrow’s test. Fit Learning focuses entirely on fluency (accuracy + speed + endurance). Brain science shows that when an academic skill is trained to fluency, it shifts from short-term working memory into long-term permanent storage. Because your child masters these skills to the point of automaticity — just like riding a bike — they retain the material long-term and can easily apply it to higher-level concepts when they return to the classroom. Our assessment pinpoints exactly which skills need to reach fluency for your child.
Do kids enjoy tutoring at Fit Learning?
Yes — in short, Fit learners have fun! The sessions fly by, and there are great prizes to celebrate their personal bests and keep the motivation flowing. Even more importantly, the skills mastery (or competence) they gain leads to overall increased confidence and higher self-esteem.
We use research-based, standardized tools to track each learner’s growth from the start and throughout their time at Fit. These assessments help us tailor instruction and show real progress — both compared to a child’s past performance and to peers their age. One of the main tools we use is curriculum-based measurement (CBM), a well-established, norm-referenced measurement method for tracking skills in areas like math, reading, writing, and early literacy. We chart this data so families can clearly see gains and national percentile rankings. We also use other trusted tests, like the CUBED literary assessment, to get a deeper look at reading and language skills. All of this information guides goal-setting, keeps sessions targeted and efficient, and provides concrete proof of growth.
A more detailed discussion of the various assessment tools we use is available in the Parent’s Guide to Fit Learning St. Louis.
How does tuition work at Fit?
After meeting with the Director to review your child’s assessment results, most families choose to start with a 50-hour enrollment, paid in three monthly installments. A traditional enrollment usually takes about three months, though some learners benefit from a more intensive schedule of up to ten sessions a week. Tuition varies depending on your child’s schedule and any available discounts; lab director Janice Smith can walk you through all the details.
At first glance, Fit’s tuition might seem higher than traditional tutoring, but it’s truly a different experience. While other programs can take years to show results, Fit learners typically gain 1-2 years of academic progress in just 50 hours. (In other words, what school takes a year or more to achieve, we accomplish in three months at Fit.) Each enrollment includes personalized sessions, data review, and behind-the-scenes collaboration to make every minute as effective as possible.
Unlike most tutoring that focuses on homework help, Fit Learning targets the root of learning challenges, building the foundational skills your child needs to catch up and stay ahead. Our team includes licensed and board-certified behavior analysts who are experts at helping kids thrive. Fit isn’t just tutoring — it’s an investment in your child’s confidence and long-term success.
More information on this topic is available in our blog post Should I Invest in Tutoring for My Young Learner?.
Fit Learning St. Louis
10425 Old Olive Street Rd, LL4
Creve Coeur, MO 63141
(314) 246-0540
Serving families in West County, Ladue, Clayton, Chesterfield, Ballwin, and the Greater St. Louis Metro.