School Tutoring
Tutors can help you excel at school
School tutoring can help students gain a grasp on subjects they struggle with, or excel at subjects they're already good at. Tutoring services match trained educators with students who want to perform better in the very subject areas the tutor specializes in.
Who Can Benefit from Tutoring Services?
While it's often true that struggling students have the most to gain from after-school tutoring services, successful students can benefit from them as well. For example, the PSAT standardized test is usually written by high school sophomores and juniors, but exceptional students at lower grade levels can also write it to be considered for the prestigious scholarships that an excellent performance can lead to. Thus, an eighth-grader or high-school freshman seeking to write the PSAT would get a lot out of a tutor who could guide them through the questions and subject matter.
Similarly, while math tutoring can help a student falling behind to catch up with his or her classmates, there are many competitive math events held around the country. A student preparing to participate in a mathematics competition might want to enlist math tutoring services to help improve and sharpen their skills.
What to Look For in a Tutor
First, you should look for a tutor or tutoring service that specializes in working with students that match your child's age and grade level. Specialized middle-school tutoring and high-school tutoring companies have the knowledge and experience to get the most out of students who are grappling with grade-specific challenges.
While online tutoring is available and can help students in need of a little extra push to get through a difficult subject, the in-person experience is considered superior by most educators. Look for reputable companies that have been in business for a long time and are highly regarded by local teachers. Many tutoring services require that the people who work for them have education degrees as well. However, this is a matter of preference and depends on the grade level and age of the student being tutored. A college junior majoring in English is perfectly capable of being a seventh-grader's reading tutor.
Interview individual tutors or, if that's not possible because tutors are matched up with students on an availability basis, interview the company's manager or hiring director. Your gut instincts will be your best friend when it comes to choosing school tutoring services – if a tutor feels right, he or she probably is; if a tutor feels wrong, move on to someone else.
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