Our History

A History of One-to-One Learning

It started in 1973 when George and Judy Tenney arrived in Houston.

Judy, a gifted teacher, had experience helping students improve academic results in a one-to-one setting.  Equally important, George had worked in sales, including time in school admissions.  

Judy began working with students one-to-one before and after school.Some students needed help in earning their GED, while others were looking to improve their GRE scores for nursing school. In both cases, the one-to-one attention helped them succeed. 

The Tenney School began when both George and Judy realized that some students would benefit significantly from a school based on one-to-one instruction. George worked to find and enroll full-time students while Judy handled the instruction. Over time, enrollment grew and more teachers were hired.  

The Tenney School became an accredited school in 1979.

Even as the school has grown and evolved in the last 47 years, the foundation of the program remains rooted in one-to-one instruction. It’s the philosophy which George and Judy recognized as so beneficial for the initial group of students with which they had worked.

We interview each student before enrollment, assessing the child’s situation and ability to determine whether Tenney teachers and staff can foster academic confidence and strengthen study skills.

George and Judy Tenney retired in 2010. The school is now run by their son, Michael Tenney.