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Built on Mastery: The Founder Story Behind MasteryPrep

  • May 18, 2026

MasteryPrep began with a simple realization. 

When Founder and CEO Craig Gehring started tutoring students after earning perfect scores on both the ACT and SAT, he noticed a pattern that traditional test prep didn’t fully address. 

“Students weren’t doing well on the test not because they forgot [the content], but because they never really mastered the skill to begin with,” Gehring said in an episode of the “Teaching Learning Leading K-12” podcast with Dr. Steven Miletto.

Instead of racing through review materials or relying on shortcuts, Gehring found students needed time, clarity, and deliberate practice. “We need to slow down, take things one at a time, master one thing at a time—and we can win,” Gehring said.

That belief became the foundation of MasteryPrep and continues to shape the company.

  • A School-First, Equity-Driven Model

From the beginning, MasteryPrep has taken a different path than most traditional test prep companies. Rather than selling directly to families, MasteryPrep partners with schools and districts to ensure preparation can be accessed by all students. 

“We work with schools to design a program that works within the confines of the school day,” Gehring wrote on the MasteryPrep Blog. “That’s why we deliver our Boot Camps during school hours.”

This school-first approach reflects a clear priority for MasteryPrep: helping districts support students who are close to college readiness but need targeted support to reach benchmarks. 

“Our sweet spot is the student with a 15 or 16 who’s trying to get to college readiness,” Gehring said on the podcast. “That’s the problem schools are trying to solve.”

“Students weren’t doing well on the test not because they forgot [the content], but because they never really mastered the skill to begin with."

Craig Gehring, Founder and CEO, MasteryPrep
  • Early ACT Offerings Rooted in Classroom Reality

MasteryPrep’s first offerings were shaped by what teachers and students actually needed in real classrooms, rather than by a one-size-fits-all product roadmap.

In the first iteration of Practice Testing for the ACT, students completed paper practice tests using mailed-in scantron forms, while Curriculum for the ACT provided structured, mastery-based instruction, as it still does today.

Then came Boot Camps for the ACT, high-energy workshops that helped students finish strong without adding work for teachers and staff. Rather than passively reviewing content, students practiced strategies in real time, building confidence, stamina, and test-day readiness under realistic conditions.

  • Extending Readiness Support Across the School Year

As schools looked for ways to reinforce college-readiness skills throughout the school year, MasteryPrep Bell Ringers were designed as short, focused classroom warm-ups that reinforced foundational reading, grammar, and math skills. By embedding daily practice into instruction, students could build the core skills assessed on the ACT long before test day arrived.

MasteryPrep also began offering professional development workshops that equipped teachers with practical strategies for reinforcing test-taking behaviors and skills and differentiating instruction in their own classrooms.

We soon expanded our offerings as districts asked for the same support across the SAT and other high-stakes tests. Over time, MasteryPrep’s instructor pool grew to support multiple assessments nationwide, allowing schools to rely on a single, trusted partner. To date, MasteryPrep instructors have delivered more than 10,000 Boot Camps across the country.

Our solutions reflect a consistent philosophy: start early, teach skills explicitly, and support both students and educators.

Timeline
  • A Pivotal Moment: COVID and Accelerated Innovation

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted in-person learning nationwide, MasteryPrep faced a familiar question: how to preserve instructional quality when delivery methods change. During this period, the team rapidly expanded its digital offerings, launching online Practice Testing, virtual Boot Camps, fully online Professional Development, and the company’s first Online Courses for the ACT, SAT, and TSIA2. 

Instead of long, passive video lessons, the Online Course experience emphasized microvideos that simulate a conversation rather than a lecture, along with guided practice and adaptive pathways aligned with the skills that matter most on test day. Together, these offerings were built to mirror the structure and effectiveness of in-person instruction while adding new tools for engagement and progress tracking.

The shift reflected another long-held belief. “We’re listening to school districts…and we try to meet the district where they are and give them a solution that works for them,” Gehring said on the podcast.

  • From Individual Products to Integrated Support

As MasteryPrep has grown, so have district needs. Our full product suite now includes Bell Ringers, Boot Camps, Practice Testing + Online Course, Professional Development, and Curriculum, offered as bundled solutions for the ACT, SAT, WorkKeys, TSIA2, and select End-of-Course assessments.

Our solutions bring together instruction, practice, services, and reporting in a cohesive experience, and the result is an integrated platform that preserves flexibility for schools and districts.

Today, MasteryPrep partners with more than 3,000 schools and districts nationwide. But the mindset remains the same as it was in those early tutoring sessions: focus on mastery and build systems that serve all students, not just the highest scorers.

2013
MasteryPrep founded by Craig Gehring
Founded in 2013 on the belief that students succeed on high-stakes tests when instruction prioritizes true mastery.

Rather than selling directly to families, the company partnered with schools and districts to expand access to college readiness support and help ensure all students benefit from high-quality preparation.

2014
Curriculum for the ACT launched
Marked the company’s first full instructional curriculum aligned to college-readiness standards.

Practice Testing for the ACT (paper only) launched
Students completed paper practice tests using mailed-in Scantron forms.

2015
Boot Camps for the ACT launched
Instructor-led, in-person workshops designed to build confidence, stamina, and test-day readiness.
2016
Bell Ringers for the ACT launched
Daily classroom practice designed to reinforce foundational college-readiness skills.

Professional Development launched for the ACT
The first edition of MasteryPrep’s ACT-focused PD for teachers is released.

Boot Camps launched for the SAT

2017
Professional Development expanded to the SAT
PD for the SAT launched to support educators preparing students for SAT success.
2020
Practice Testing launched online
Enabled faster score reporting, skill-level insights, and scalable digital delivery.

Curriculum for the SAT launched

Online Course for the ACT launched
Designed to mirror in-person instruction while supporting virtual delivery. Expanded to SAT and TSIA2 in late 2020.

Fully virtual Boot Camps, PD launched

2021
Boot Camp for the TSIA2 launched
2022
Curriculum for the TSIA2 launched
2023
Boot Camp and Curriculum for STAAR launched
Marked MasteryPrep’s expansion into comprehensive STAAR and end-of-course readiness support.

2024
End-of-Course (EOC) readiness solutions launched
Expanded MasteryPrep’s readiness offerings beyond Texas with diagnostics, online lessons, and targeted EOC support for multiple state assessments nationwide.
2025
Strategic partnership with ACT Education Corp. launched
Included launch of ACT Online Prep, Powered by MasteryPrep—a next-generation ACT platform combining ACT’s assessment content with MasteryPrep’s digital learning tools.

Acquisition of Sirius Education Solutions
Creates a Texas-specific pipeline from STAAR achievement to college and career readiness.

More Posts

A District Leader’s ACT®/SAT® Readiness Audit: 6 Questions That Matter

Use this list of questions and downloadble checklist to evaluate your district’s readiness to support students on the SAT or ACT.

Read More »
May 8, 2026

Helping Families Navigate the ACT®: A MasteryPrep Guide for School Leaders

This guide outlines practical ways principals and school leaders can communicate clearly, consistently, and effectively with parents about the ACT.

Read More »
May 1, 2026

7 Questions School and District Leaders Should Ask Before Choosing Test Prep Support

These seven questions are designed to help school and district leaders make more informed decisions when evaluating test prep support.

Read More »
April 22, 2026
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Copyright 2026 MasteryPrep. All Rights Reserved. ACT® is the registered trademark of ACT Education Corp. Some items in MasteryPrep programs are the copyrighted content of ACT Education Corp. and are reproduced with permission. SAT® is a trademark of the College Board. MasteryPrep LLC has no affiliation with College Board. MasteryPrep SAT programs are not approved or endorsed by College Board. The Texas Success Initiative Assessment 2.0 (TSIA2) is an ACCUPLACER® exam, which is a trademark of College Board. MasteryPrep has no affiliation with College Board or the Texas Success Initiative (TSI). WorkKeys® is a registered trademark of ACT Education Corp. The WorkKeys programs are not approved or endorsed by ACT Education Corp.

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