Khan’s Tutorial
Nayeema Khan:
How has your consumer base changed from when you first opened till now?
When my son Ivan was studying for the SHSAT test, my late husband decided to teach Ivan and two of his friends and help them study for the SHSAT. Ivan and both his friends ended up getting into Bronx Science, the specialized high school of their choice so my husband who was a doctor decided to open up a tutorial center called Khan’s Tutorial. When we first started, it was just this one room in Jackson Heights. We had a big table and two or three teachers helping all the students sitting at the table. Now, about 15 years later, we have branches open in other parts of Queens and we went from having this one small room to the entire third and fourth floor of this building. Although we have other branches open, Jackson Heights is the main branch because it was the first and founding branch. People come all the way from Long Island to study here because of how well known it is. Today, our customer base is as diverse as Jackson Heights itself.
Have you had to add any new products to your store since you initially opened?
When we first started, everyone sat around a big table and we only had one or two teachers helping all the students. Now, we have a HSAP department which helps tutor high school kids or prepare them for the SAT, we have a common core department (which is the room we are in) which teaches students from grades K-8 and we also have a SHSAT department that helps students get into specialized high schools. This year we have helped 386 students get into the specialized high school of their choice.
Have you had to learn any new languages, other than your native language and English, in order to communicate with the community? If so, what languages are they?
The most important language that we have spoken here apart from English is Bengali. Most of our students and parents are from Bangladesh, so it helps make communication easier if our teachers and instructors also speak Bengali so they can communicate with parents. Although it’s not 100% necessary, it helps a lot so we try to hire a lot of Bengali workers.
What is the biggest issue that you are facing as a business?
We don’t really face too many big problems, luckily we have been pretty successful due to our rise in popularity after being around for decades. The biggest problem we face would be not having a lot of kids enroll or show up for classes. Usually, from May to June, we see attendance rates and enrollment rates drop because students are done with all their tests and finished with school but by summer time the numbers increase again. Because of our high success rates and the fact we are offering an important service – education we don’t face too many problems.
How has the community evolved since you first opened Khan’s Tutorial? For example, has the community seen an influx of newer immigrants? Or have wealthier individuals moving into the neighborhood and forced out older residents?
Since first opening Khan’s Tutorial, our community has gone from mainly Bengali to a variety of cultures within our branch. We have seen an influx of Tibetan, Nepali, Hispanic, etc. students who have diversified our community.
What are some similarities and differences between Jackson Heights and Bangladesh?
Jackson Heights, in a way, is a mini version of Bangladesh, with the culture and people flooding the streets. Though, it may not be as packed, as you stroll through Jackson Heights, there are many things that resemble Bangladesh, from the food to the clothing.
How have you seen education standards change over time? Have students struggled more with new common core standards, the new SAT and other major standardized tests?
The introduction of common core provided a challenge for us at first because of how new it is. We all grew up following the old standard so it was hard to adjust and make curriculum for common core. Also since our instructors didn’t learn the common core method when they were kids, it’s slightly more difficult for them to teach it. Our HSAP department feels that the SAT has gotten easier and has become easier to teach to the students. This year is the first year that the SHSAT has changed and nobody is 100% sure about what is going to happen when November comes, but we feel our SHSAT team has done an excellent job coming up with curriculum to prepare the students. We’ve done a great job giving them practice tests we feel reflect the changes in the SHSAT and our instructors are doing everything they can to make sure they do well on the test
