About Us

Philosophy

Our philosophy is simple yet inspired: Students who develop self-understanding gain self-confidence and make educational progress. Everything we do is informed by that philosophy so we build the kind of supportive relationships that are necessary to progress in learning. Simple subject mastery is only a starting point; our students are taught to evaluate and overcome or compensate for learning challenges. We work hard to match each student with the most suitable tutor, learning specialist or other specialist, so we consider learning and teaching style and even personality.

Once we determine an individual's learning profile, we develop a plan, and then continually evaluate its effectiveness, changing when needed. Our staff has the flexibility and broad skills to overcome immediate impediments to educational progress, all the while developing and fine-tuning longer-term strategies for success. We work collaboratively in order to take advantage of our staff’s experiences.

History

QWERTY began informally in 1976 as an independent tutoring and education consulting firm, with services offered by Learning Specialist, Mark Carey, M.A. Mark had broad experience in a variety of formal education settings, including several roles at the Children’s Health Council. That, and his early recognition of the role that computer technology could play in the lives of struggling students led him to establish a private learning center, which he named for the computer keyboard. QWERTY Writing Center opened in 1986 with the goal of providing a broad range of education consulting services. These included one-on-one academic tutoring for school support and remedial or enrichment skills, diagnostic evaluation of students' aptitude and achievement, educational program design in concert with schools and other professionals, training in educational applications for computers, and leading staff development and parent information seminars.

In 1998, Michael P. Perez, M.S. joined Mark in affiliation, and under Mark’s auspices and training, began providing tutoring services in the areas of high school science and mathematics, writing, study skills and organization. Michael’s previous tutoring work during both his undergraduate and graduate school experiences and as an SAT math teacher, his formal education in engineering and psychology, and his passion for teaching meant that QWERTY could offer instruction in broader subject areas to an increasingly diverse student population. QWERTY Writing Center became QWERTY Education Services and in 2001, became a corporation when Michael and Mark formed a partnership.

As demand for services grew and as Mark began a transition to Hawaii, QWERTY began to recruit outstanding learning specialists, educators and psychologists to join in affiliation. In 2009, so that Mark could devote his focus to the development of Kaulele Education Services, his private practice on Kauai, Michael assumed leadership of QWERTY.

QWERTY continues to provide premier tutoring and educational evaluation and testing services to Peninsula families, including working in conjunction with teachers, schools, and other education and student health professionals in the Silicon Valley.