Jill Lerner - Founder

Jill founded Learn with the Best in 2001. Having moved to North Carolina 11 years ago, Jill is originally from Southern California where she earned an Advanced Bachelors degree in Psychology from Occidental College.

She went on to earn a Masters of Arts degree and North Carolina Teaching Certification in Special Education - Learning and Educable Mental Disabilities - Kindergarten through 12th Grade, in 1998 from NC State University and a North Carolina Early Childhood Credential from Wake Tech Community College in 2007. Jill taught self-contained special education classes Kindergarten through 3rd grade for Wake County for about 5 years and then was a resource teacher and compliance specialist in a Montessori setting for 2 years.

Currently, Jill tutors students in preschool through 8th grade, manages her fabulous staff, and advocates for families to help them navigate the North Carolina special education system. Jill is married, and she and her husband have 2 magnificent children (Simon and Eli) and a terrific beagle (Potter)!

“I feel privileged to work with students and families in an educational capacity every day of my life. I live for the light bulb moments which are seen very frequently in our one on one tutoring program.”

Cindy

Cindy is the program instructor for our School Age PALS groups, which are social skills and pragmatic language based groups for both boys and girls with autism and other disabilities in grades K through 8.

Cindy holds a Master’s Degree in Speech / Language Pathology and was a speech-language pathologist in the Massachusetts public schools for 3 years.

In 2004, Cindy packed up and moved south to escape the blustery New England winters! Currently, she is an ASHA Certified speech-language pathologist in the Wake County Public Schools and tutors children preschool through grade 6.

Working in Wake County Public School for over 10 years, Cindy makes an amazing impact on the lives of many children on a daily basis.

When Cindy is not at Learn with the Best, she enjoys laughing with friends, playing with her dog “Fenway”, and reading.

Tamra

Tamra is currently in her 10th year of teaching 1st grade, having been named Teacher of the Year at her school in 2008-2009. She has had the opportunity to tutor children of all ages since college. Originally moving here from Kansas, Tamra has found North Carolina to a great place to live and work and now, she and her husband are raising a wonderful baby girl, Ellie Kate.

Tamra received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Washburn University, in Topeka, Kansas in 2002 and a Masters of Education in Reading from Meredith College in 2010. In 2010, Tamra also received her National Board Certification, which is a fantastic achievement!

This 4th year Learn with the Best tutor states:

"Working with students on an individual basis is a great experience, and it is very beneficial to their learning."

Robin

Robin has been a teacher of Spanish for over 30 years in the New York City Public Schools. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College and a Master of Arts degree from Hunter College, both in New York.

Robin most recently, and for over 25 years, taught at a middle school in Queens, NY . Robin really enjoys imparting her love of Spanish on her students. She has lived in Spain and studied at the University of Madrid.

“Spanish can be fun, and all you need is a little help to get you over the rough spots!! Hasta la vista!!”

Rebecca

Rebecca comes to us from upstate New York. She graduated from SUNY Cortland with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in the Psychology of the Exceptional Child.

Rebecca moved to North Carolina in 2001 and in her first five years, she did a lot of different work with children with disabilities. In 2004, Rebecca began teaching a Pre-Kindergarten self-contained class for children with Autism.

Outside of the classroom, Rebecca enjoys spending time with her family who have all moved to NC also. She loves to run and plans on participating in her first marathon in September, 2009.

Tatiana

Tatiana graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education for grades K - 8. She went on to earn a Master of Arts Degree as a Reading Specialist while teaching in the Cleveland Public School System. While working for the Cleveland Public School system she taught second, fourth and fifth grades.

In 2005, she decided to move to North Carolina to escape the "lake effect snow.” She was a 5th grade classroom teacher and a Title I Literacy Intervention teacher for the Wake County Public School System. While working with the Wake County Public School System she served on many committees that focused on school and student improvement.

Tatiana has been a camp counselor and tutor for many years. She has the mind set that you must know who you are teaching and be flexible with teaching to meet the needs of all students. Tatiana loves working with kids and seeing them grow as learners.

Tatiana currently tutors with Learn with the Best and is the Lead Elementary Specialist for the Learn with the Best Private School.

Kelly

Kelly grew up in New Jersey and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education. Her first four years of teaching included Preschool Inclusion through second grade in New Jersey.

Kelly has been teaching first grade in the Wake County Public School system for over six years. She is an elementary specialist and has been tutoring students K - 3 with Learn with the Best. Kelly was named Teacher of the Year at her school for the 2010-2011 school year!

Teaching is her passion and tutoring is a great way to do what she loves in a one-on-one setting.

Kelly is married to her wonderful husband Dave.

Kelly speciliazes in elementary education.

Cara

Cara comes to us from Atlanta, Georgia where she graduated from Georgia State University with a Bachelors of Science in Early Childhood Education. She has taught in second and third grade classrooms. She is currently certified to teach in Georgia and North Carolina.

She is originally from New York and then journeyed out to Florida, and has since then been making her way back up the East Coast. She has taught in Durham Public Schools and has gained experience and knowledge in grades Pre K-through fifth specifically working with underprivileged students in low performing schools. This gives Cara a diverse teaching background that has helped her address the needs of many types of learners.

Cara enjoys working with students on all different instructional levels. She uses creative tactics to help students not only accomplish their individual goals but build confidence to become even more successful.

Dave

Originally from St. Louis, Dave has twelve years of teaching experience as a high school English teacher. He has experience working with students of varied skill levels, from remedial freshmen to Advanced Placement seniors.

Dave has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Missouri and is currently a full-time graduate student in literature at North Carolina State University. Prior to his experience as a high school teacher, he worked in an elementary school as classroom assistant and special education aide.

Aside from classroom teaching, Dave has tutored students for the SAT and ACT tests and has coached basketball at the middle school and high school levels. Dave is new to area and has certainly enjoyed getting to know this community through working at LWTB!

Alanna

Alanna received a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a Masters of Science in Materials Science & Engineering from Northwestern University.

All throughout college and thereafter, she has had experience teaching students math, science, and physics both as a tutor and as an assistant TA. Alanna has been tutoring students in these subjects since 2005.

Alanna escaped the cold of the Chicago winters to Raleigh in 2010 and currently works at WebAssign, a company providing instructional tools to students in math, physics, and chemistry. Outside of work, Alanna enjoys gymnastics, learning ballroom dancing with her fiance Sean, and playing her dog (Mila) and rabbit (Mabel).

Jessica

Jessica graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Severe Disabilities, All Levels and Master of Science Degree in Special Education Administration while teaching in the Shrewsbury Public School System. She has also completed doctoral course work for her PhD in Education Leadership. While working in Massachusetts, she taught at a private residential special education school, a day school, a collaborative and for the Worcester and Shrewsbury Public School systems. She has worked with and taught children from PreK to High School, as well as working with adults and vocational training.

Jessica has over 12 years of experience working with children with special needs and working with students in the general education classroom. She enjoys working with students on all instructional levels. Her focus as an educator is recognizing the needs of the whole student balancing an emphasis on physical, emotional, social and intellectual growth. She is a firm believer in that "Everyone and everything around you is your teacher."

In August 2010, she and her family decided to move to North Carolina to escape the brutally cold winters and mounds of snow in Massachusetts despite she and her husband both being born and raised in MA. She has decided to return to tutoring and teaching after taking a year and half off to be a stay-at-home mom to a beautiful, 5 year-old little girl. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, hiking, working out at the gym and taking group fitness classes, especially Zumba. She hopes to compete in her first sprint distance triathlon in June 2012.