At the board's regular Oct. 17 meeting, the San Jose Unified School District Board of Education approved a $295,000 funding allocation to Gardner Academy that will fund the school's work with the international education development company Sylvan Education Solutions.

Sylvan will come to the Gardner campus and set up an after-school reading program called the Achieve Reading Plus Tech Instruction Program.

"We're in a unique position with the No Child Left Behind law," said Gardner Principal Nico Flores.

The school has been "targeted" by the state for academic improvement, leading to the school's search for state-approved vendors that work with schools to provide academic services and programs. Flores said Sylvan was the best qualified to meet the school's needs.

"We're targeting our kids who are scoring lowest in reading and who are deemed as coming from economically disadvantaged households," Flores said.

Sylvan Education Solutions (SES) was developed through Sylvan Learning Systems Inc., which is headquartered in Baltimore, Md. SES's website states that the company received several requests from schools to provide the same services as Sylvan Learning Centers—a center recently opened on the corner of Lincoln and Minnesota avenues—to low-income students. When SES provided reading and math services to Baltimore schools, the success catapulted the tutoring service into the national arena, the website states.

According to the minutes of the Oct. 17 regular session meeting, SJUSD Deputy Superintendent Don Iglesias said that in addition to the reading program, Gardner Academy would arrange for opportunities for the school's teachers to be trained in Sylvan teaching methods.

Flores said the school will provide the classrooms for tutoring, and SES will provide the teachers and teaching equipment. He added that the reading program is scheduled to begin Dec. 2 and meet after school for about two hours, Mondays through Thursdays.

"We have between 144 and about 200 kids being evaluated," Flores said. "We're in the formulation stage, so we're working on getting parents' permission."

Gardner Academy is primarily a bilingual school, but Flores said SES would be teaching only English reading skills.

The Sylvan Learning Center at 1399 Lincoln Ave. is the fourth center to open in San Jose. It's so new it's not yet listed on the company's website.

"We just opened up," said a center spokesperson. "We're in the process of developing relationships with the local schools."

So far, though, the Lincoln Avenue Sylvan Learning Center has about 25 clients, made up of children and adults enrolled in reading and math courses. Prices depend on the program and the number of tutoring hours needed to reach a student's academic goals. The Lincoln Avenue location has five credentialed teachers, who are trained in Sylvan's techniques and methods.

Gardner is the only school within the San Jose Unified School District that has partnered with SES.