My wife and I purchased an online at home ISSE practice test for our daughter on 10/24/2020. When we hadn't received anything about how to sign up for the test, my wife spoke to Lori twice on the phone- once she said she was on vacation and it slipped through the cracks. The second phone call was that she had our daughter confused with someone else. After the second time speaking with Lori over the phone, we still hadn't received any instructions on how to download the practice exam, and sent a follow up e-mail again requesting the test. Again nothing. At this point we had to get a practice test from another provider (Pasadena Learning Center in Altadena, they're amazing) as it's been over a month. On 12/4/2020 we contested the PayPal charge and only then is when Lori immediately sent the link information and via e-mail saying that we must have not seen her email, dated 12/4/2020 lol. Very unprofessional. I wish I would have read the negative reviews on here before signing up with them because it's exactly what we experienced. read more

Lori is most accommodating. Tutors are excellent! Very helpful whenever needed. Hspt prep as well read more

My daughter had been in tutoring for a year and prepping for the HSPT, specifically, for four months with someone other than Learning Ladder prior to taking her first practice test in the fall so it was disheartening to see her initial results. I was concerned that 3 months wouldn't be enough time to improve her scores to the level necessary. When Laurie, the owner, spoke about starting the company after struggling to find the right person to work with her son years prior, something resonated with me and I knew Learning Ladder would be the right place to work with my daughter. She started one on one tutoring immediately, and then went through the boot camp for the 3 weeks prior to the exam. The tutors just had a way of connecting with my daughter so that she was able to understand the material. She actually enjoyed going to tutoring! In 3 months, she was able to double and in some areas triple her scores. They even helped in preparing her for the interview process. Learning Ladder was flexible, able to work around her extracurricular schedule and is reasonably priced. Special thanks to Brian and Russell who worked with my daughter. She was accepted to all three schools where she applied! She's continuing to tutor in preparation for the math placement exam and it will be the first place we turn for any future tutoring needs. read more

Lori, the owner, is either fraudulent or sloppy with her bookkeeping. In three separate incidents she lost my credit card number, charged me for the wrong number of sessions then confused my account with someone else's! I marvel at how easily she makes up false excuses. Steer clear of this establishment! read more

Just the most amazing tutoring center! The people are so friendly and there are so many tutors available to help. Such a great environment and my son's grade has gone up ever since we started at the Learning Ladder! read more

I paid Lori $825 in Oct of 2017 for SAT classes for my son. I received one email from her that stated she would get back to me regarding scheduling these classes and I was never able to get a hold of her again. Fast forward a year, I asked for a refund since I purchased services she never provided and she has been giving me the run around for an additional year saying she has to reach out to her accounting team, etc etc. I STILL DO NOT HAVE MY MONEY BACK. Stay far away... she is fraudulent and I will be seeking legal reimbursement. read more

I have been a client of Learning Ladder for almost 4 years and have referred more than 10 people- all with positive results. Both my children took the HSPT and ISEE for the perspective high schools they applied to and both scored extremely well. Each were accepted to all the schools and were able to chose the one that best fit their needs. Ms. Juma has an excellent group of tutors that cater to the individual student. Our favorite is George for math, but all of them are excellent and gave advance degrees. Ms.Juma is caring, supportive, honest and informative. The location is great too. My son is planning to take the SAT and will be getting a tutor from Learning Ladder as well next year. Learning Ladder doesn't just prepare your child for the standardized exams to attend high school and college, but also offers tutoring in individual subjects as well. What I enjoyed about their boot camps in the summer is how Ms. Juma taught the kids how to be confident in their interviews for schools that require a meeting with the perspective student. The location is centrally located and they offer weekend, and evening session. Many of my son's friend take the bus to the location, which again is a plus when both parents work. Learning Ladder also has a diagnostic exam in a test like setting, which is graded. That was a plus for my children because it showed their strength and weaknesses. Learning Ladder is NOT affiliated with any college or high school admissions. What Learning Ladder ensures is your child has the tools, resources and information to take the exam. Best of luck! read more

After having researched other support options for my 5th grade daughter, I settled on Learning Ladder. My daughter needed extra help comprehending math in particular. Lori, the owner/director, seemed to offer the most comprehensive support. 1 to 4 tutoring, a 3 week program (daily 9-3, I believe it was) that included a well balanced total program including math, language arts and a community service project. Sounded great. (community service project was making blankets for the homeless.) When I went to the location to drop off my daughter - my heart dropped. It was a small cramped room. Two folding tables with chairs around all sides, butting up against the chair behind it, making it nearly impossible to squeeze into the last available seat. Bookshelves and particians flanked the tables making it feel even more cramped. Lori welcomed my daughter with a big smile. That was nice. Me in my surprise and shock stuttered, ".... is this... the... location... they'll be studying in?" I felt heavy in my heart. Leaving my daughter here for several hours during the summer every day for 3 weeks?! Then I thought... maybe this is just what she needs. Unfortunately, it didn't get any better. Actually - she learned to play chess. That was great. My daughter is an average student. We don't push for all A's... but for her to have an understanding of her work and to do the best she can. Typically she gets some A's, mostly B's and occasional C's. After 3 weeks of "learning", according to the test results, improvement was less that 8%... and Lori tested her twice because she couldn't believe the results were so uncommonly low. She suggested maybe the low scores was because this IS the best my daughter could do. I think it's because Lori was busy with other things not paying attention to the progress of the children. We paid almost $1000 and lost hours of time to be told after 3 weeks, this is the best she can do. 1 to 4 instructor/student ratio didn't matter at all. How could she have missed this if she truly was paying attention to how well her "instructors" were reaching (or weren't reaching!) the student? My husband and I met with Lori after all was said and done. Lori is well aware of how very unsatisfied we were and are. During our conversation, Lori responded condescendingly. She said a couple of times, "I'm not a bad person" which has to do with what....??? Truly frustrating. Because I couldn't ask for my daughters TIME back, we asked for a refund, suggesting we'd accept half because she was there trying to learn something. She offered another week of tutoring or one on one tutoring at a discounted price. (!?) And why would we do that?? read more

A great, supportive staff that helped my daughter prepare for her high school entrance exams. Assistance often went beyond test prep and included tips for the interviews and advice for parents. read more

The Learning Ladder Director and Staff were a tremendous help in tutoring and preparing my son for his high school entrance examination (HSPT). He was accepted into both private high schools we applied to. They help with tutoring, test prep tips, mock interviews, and dress recommendations. We are very grateful for their support in the entire process. We look forward to enrolling in another session to prepare for the Math placement test. I would highly recommend them! read more

I signed up my daughter for the winter boot camp and HSPT test prep tutoring for 12 sessions. All the tutors that worked with her were helpful, professional and great! I will definitely be using them again as they tutor for all subjects. The staff are very accessible and helpful and they provide great information and preparation for getting into private high schools beyond just scoring well on the entrance exams. They help with the entire process. My daughter worked primarily with Gor but Jack and Eric were also good. Thank You Lori and staff!! read more

I wouldn't recommend this, based on my experience in 2012/13. It's not that they can't tutor: the girls are nice and generally prepared, even if they really want to spend a big chunk of your child's time chatting with each other and texting. It is the complete lack of accountability at the office, an unwillingness to admit when they make mistakes and then take responsibility for fixing them that makes me mark them down. We were scheduled for tutoring for a time when the office was going to be closed (but they didn't tell us that), scheduled for testing as a special thing during the holidays, (but they didn't tell us it was a special time) and then phone calls were ignored, emails unreturned and in the end, it really made no difference to my daughter's grades because there was no real effort to evaluate her progress. Being offered that the owner had a good relationship with the admissions folks would have been a plus, but we had no confidence that she would actually do what she said she would, based on our interactions. There are other, better choices. read more

Learning Ladder was a great experience for my children in the preparation for HSPT. My son scored 99% while my daughter tested at 96%. Both got into the high school of their choice and received merit scholarship offers from all the schools they applied to. We are extremely happy with Lori's center and her willingness to work with our kids' busy schedule. Definitely recommend it if you are looking to improve your children's test scores. read more

My son, a 12th grader, needed help with Math to raise his already good grades to maximize the bump points he needed to secure in his AP classes. Lori was very nice and accommodated us immediately. George was phenomenal and really helped my son achieve what he was capable of. We are very thankful! read more

I have been tutoring with the Learning Ladder for several months and I have had nothing but good experiences. The tutors are very well informed and the director is very caring. The center is also very reasonable when it comes to last minute scheduling. Would recommend to anyone looking for quality tutoring! read more

My son attended the HSPT boot camp. We were very happy with the training and individualized attention. They really care for the students and want them to succeed. My son was helped throughout the process and was very confident he would succeed. It's a great learning center who truly cares about the individual succeeding. read more

The owner, Lori, has personal problems. She seems to fancy herself a second mom to her young clients and is not truthful. I ignored slight issues like comments about how she thought my 14-year-old son should have a jacket, but quit after she called the police to report a missing person when he didn't show up for his tutoring session! When I confronted her, she told a different story to what the police told me and justified her actions rather than apologizing. Too bad. The tutoring was going ok. read more