For Christopher and Agnes Roche, opening a learning center in Naples wasn't the result of spotting a franchise opportunity.

It started years earlier — with their own children.

The husband-and-wife owners of JEI Learning Center of Naples first encountered JEI as parents while living in New Jersey. Agnes already knew the program. She grew up in South Korea, where JEI — short for Jaeneung Educational Institute, the Korean word for "talent" — was founded in Seoul in 1977.

Christopher wasn't nearly as convinced at first.

He was working on Wall Street. Agnes had a career as an attorney. And Christopher admits he was skeptical about sending two already-advanced students somewhere for additional schoolwork after school.

Then he watched what happened.

Their children progressed academically, enjoyed going, and developed stronger study habits. They were able to move through material at a pace that matched their abilities — not simply their grade level.

The business they eventually chose wasn't random. It was the one thing they knew with absolute certainty had worked — because they had watched it work with their own children for years.

From Wall Street and Law to a Naples Classroom

Christopher and Agnes met while attending the evening division at New York Law School, both working full time.

Their careers took very different turns after the family relocated to Southwest Florida. Agnes stepped away from practicing law. Christopher left Wall Street and entered education — becoming a middle school teacher in the Collier County school system before joining Mason Classical Academy, where he currently teaches eighth- and ninth-grade literature and writing.

That classroom experience helped crystallize what he sees as one of the most persistent challenges facing even excellent teachers: time.

Consider a 48-minute class with 25 students.

Even if every minute could be divided equally — which it can't — that's less than two minutes per student. Teachers need to take attendance, teach the lesson, answer questions, check work, and manage everything else that happens in a room full of kids. They're also responsible for teaching to grade level.

A student who has a gap from an earlier grade may need to revisit a prior concept. Another student may already understand the material and be ready to move ahead.

Both students can face versions of the same problem.

The classroom has to keep moving.

That's the gap JEI is designed to address.

This Isn't Only for Students Who Are Struggling

One of the more important things to understand about JEI's model is that it isn't exclusively remedial.

The Naples center works with students from Pre-K through ninth grade in math, English, reading, and writing. Some families come because their child is struggling with a particular skill. Others come because their child is performing well and isn't being challenged enough at the pace the classroom can offer.

The Roches emphasize that JEI isn't only for students who are behind.

Some arrive needing to rebuild skills from an earlier grade. Others are already ahead and looking for a challenge their regular classroom may not have time to provide. Homeschool families can use the center for additional structure and individual instruction as well.

The starting point is the same in every case: find out exactly where the student is.

Before enrollment, JEI administers a diagnostic assessment in the subjects the family is interested in. The results determine where the student should begin in the curriculum — not simply where they're expected to be for their grade, but where the assessment indicates they should start.

Parents know what their child will be working on before they enroll.

From there, students move through the program at their own pace with guidance from an instructor.

And There's Something Parents May Appreciate: No Screens — And a COVID Story That Proves Why

In a world where children already spend significant time in front of screens, JEI has gone decidedly old-school.

The program is entirely paper and pencil based.

For the Roches, that wasn't just a philosophy. It was tested.

When COVID hit and the rest of the world scrambled to move every child in front of a Zoom screen, Christopher and Agnes made a different choice. They drove back and forth to their local JEI center in New Jersey — picking up stacks of physical workbooks from the curb and dropping off completed ones to be graded by hand. Week after week, through the chaos of a global pandemic, their children kept working through their JEI curriculum exactly as they had before.

The result: their children had no learning loss during COVID.

That outcome was not unique to the Roche family. South Korea — where JEI was founded and where the paper-based supplemental learning model has been part of the educational culture for decades — was one of the few countries in the world that also emerged from the pandemic without significant learning loss among its students. The correlation is not a coincidence to anyone who understands how JEI works.

Learning doesn't stop when the school building closes — if the system behind it doesn't depend on the school building to function.

Students work through physical workbooks designed to build upon previous concepts. Lessons, quizzes, and tests remain on paper, giving parents a tangible record of what their child has covered and how they're progressing.

The goal isn't simply to complete worksheets. It's to develop the foundational skills and work habits students can carry into increasingly difficult coursework — building confidence through mastery, then moving forward.

Students typically spend one to two hours per week at the center and complete a small amount of work between sessions. The center doesn't require rigid long-term contracts, though the Roches encourage consistency to get the most from the program.

For Christopher, the Strongest Evidence Was at His Own Kitchen Table

Their oldest is preparing to graduate high school. Christopher says she has reached the 99th percentile academically and scored a 720 on the Reading and Writing portion of the SAT.

He believes the study habits and academic foundation she developed through years of JEI contributed significantly to where she is today — and that those academic results may help the family save thousands on college costs down the road.

Their son recently entered high school and is earning all A's in a demanding classical school curriculum, with the work habits his parents watched develop through JEI alongside his studies.

Christopher is careful about how he frames their experience. He isn't promising every child a particular outcome.

He's saying something more personal.

"I honestly don't think our two children would be as successful as they are without JEI," Christopher said. "I can't offer any stronger testimony regarding the programs than what I saw as a father."

That personal experience — as parents, not as business operators — is ultimately why the Roches chose this particular business when they came to Naples.

They were JEI parents before they were JEI owners.

A Different Option for Homeschool Families

JEI Learning Center of Naples also offers a dedicated option for Southwest Florida's homeschool community, with flexible scheduling and additional opportunities for personal instruction at the center.

The Naples location is also a direct-pay Step Up provider.

JEI itself has been operating for nearly 50 years, founded in South Korea in 1977 and expanding to the United States in 1992. The Naples center is JEI's second Florida location.

The first step is a diagnostic assessment.

Families tell the center which subjects they're interested in, and the child completes the appropriate JEI assessment. Christopher and Agnes then walk parents through the results and explain where their child would begin and what they would be working on before the family decides whether to enroll.

There are no rigid long-term contracts, and the Roches say families can have that initial conversation without committing to the program.

For Christopher and Agnes, that conversation comes from an unusual perspective: they've already sat on the other side of the table.

"We are not salespeople," Christopher said. "We are experienced JEI parents who are happy to share our success story with you."

For Naples parents wondering whether their child needs to catch up, stay on track, or finally get the opportunity to move ahead, that conversation may be a good place to start.

JEI Learning Center of NaplesPrograms: Math, English, Reading & WritingGrades: Pre-K through 9th gradeOptions: After-school and homeschool programs

Getting Started: Schedule a diagnostic assessment

This story was produced in partnership with JEI Learning Center of Naples. Sponsored businesses do not influence Naples News Now's independent editorial rankings or Best Of selections.