Mathnasium learning center to open in Centerville

A Springboro couple plans to open the Dayton area’s first Mathnasium in mid-August at the Centerville Place Shopping Center.

The learning center at 977 S. Main St. in Centerville will provide supplemental math instruction to students in grades 1-12, through SAT and ACT test preparation.

“Mathnasium is for remediation, for just staying current and for enrichment — catch up, keep up, get ahead,” said Glenn Mikaloff, who co-owns the franchise with his wife, Susie. The name equates the center to a gymnasium, where people go to strengthen their math skills, he said.

Mathnasium will employ 10 to 15 part-time instructors, depending on enrollment, Mikaloff said. They are likely to include college students, retired teachers and current teachers looking to make extra money, he said.

Centerville’s Mathnasium will be the fourth franchise in Ohio, with existing locations in Canton, Blue Ash and West Chester. It is the first franchise for Mikaloff, a metallurgical engineer who spent 40 years working in the steel industry, and his wife, a mathematician who taught middle and high school algebra.

Entrepreneur magazine this year ranked Mathnasium Learning Centers at number 102 in its Franchise 500.

Founded in 2002, the California-based company has about 380 centers in North and South America, Europe and Asia, including nearly 300 in the U.S.

The curriculum is based around the Mathnasium Method, a proprietary system that developed over three decades by co-founder Lawrence Martinek, a consultant to public and private schools. His goal was to provide students with the strong mathematical foundation they need to succeed.

“It stresses being able to do problems mentally and really understanding the guts of math,” Mikaloff said.

Students are assessed to determine their level of math knowledge. They then receive a personalized learning program to follow with help from a trained math tutor.

Mikaloff hopes to open Mathnasium on Aug. 19 to coincide with start of the school year. The center will operate Monday-Thursday after school and early evenings, and Saturday mornings and early afternoons. For more information, visit Mathnasium.com.

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