When Nathan Kastner and Owen Hill met as colleagues at Loudoun Test Prep (LTP), an award-winning tutoring company serving the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, it seemed serendipitous. Despite coming from entirely different worlds—Owen, freshly out of graduate school with a master’s degree in mathematics, and Nathan, a New York University trained songwriter with a background in politics—they immediately saw eye-to-eye on the principles of teaching that have come to form the bedrock of Kastner Hill: learning should be fun; great teachers should also be mentors; a student is more than a score.
Over the course of their years working together, Nathan and Owen’s belief that results are best achieved through compassionate teaching and a holistic approach to student engagement has only been reinforced. The numbers speak for themselves: at LTP, they saw a combined average increase of roughly 200 points per student on the SATs and even saw a number of students increase their scores by more than 400 points. More importantly, though, students routinely commented that Nathan and Owen had not only improved their scores, but had also given them a new outlook on learning and life. Parents frequently reported that their children were given a new sense of confidence to succeed academically and beyond. Soon after moving to Austin, Texas, Nathan and Owen decided to set up shop and continue their track record of mentorship and tutoring success.
At Kastner Hill, we believe that success extends beyond the test. We strive every day to be more than just tutors and to always remember that a student is more than a score.