Tutors for Toddlers

Call it kindercramming. These days one of the fastest-growing markets for after-school tutors is preschoolers and kindergartners, whose parents are hoping that if their kids learn to read before first grade, it will ultimately help them get into college and get good jobs. Anxious moms and dads are no longer satisfied with traditional nursery school, which many see as a glorified romper room that focuses too much on learning through play. And of course, after years of Baby Einstein marketing, some parents have become convinced that the more math and reading skills their tots master, the better. Srinivas Rao, a veterinarian in Columbia, Md., began sending his daughter Sanjana to after-school tutoring last summer, shortly before her third birthday. To his delight, he soon found she could not only count the 14 dots on her homework work sheet but also write 14 beside them. "I didn't think kids could just learn that overnight," he marvels.