Teacher, Tutor, High-tech Tycoon

By David Hill

On the wall of Jan Davidson's surprisingly unassuming office is a photograph taken by her husband, Bob, on Christmas morning 1979. In it, Jan Davidson watches as her three children gaze in wonder at the newfangled present they have just received from their parents: an Apple II computer. Downright primitive by today's standards, the machine--which came with a Sony black-and-white monitor--was considered cutting edge at the time. But what could three children possibly do with a personal computer?

They never got the chance to find out. That's because Jan Davidson had other ideas for this strange new object. Earlier that year, when California voters approved an anti-tax measure known as Proposition 13, school administrators in Palos Verdes, Calif.--where the Davidsons had lived since 1976--were forced to shorten the school day. Davidson, who had long tutored students in her home, decided to help fill in the gap created by the new tax law by opening a nonprofit tutoring business, which she called Upward Bound. Housed in a leased classroom at a local elementary school, the center offered courses in a variety of subjects, including speed reading, math, and English.

Enter--or rather, exit--the Apple II. The Davidson children barely had time to figure out how to turn the thing on before it was whisked away by their mother. "It went right over to the tutoring center,'' Davidson says, somewhat sheepishly. Pointing at the photograph on her office wall, she laughs at the absurdity--and the fortuitousness--of what happened on that Christmas morning long ago. "Look at my face!'' she says. "Doesn't it look like I'm thinking, 'What can I do...