Tutoring centers, such as Kumon and Sylvan, provide organized and tested strategies for improving students’ work. Benefits include very experienced staff, often teachers themselves. There are plenty of resources available and if one tutor isn’t working for your child, another can be requested. However, centers are also very expensive, sometimes impersonal, far away, or not open hours you want. For these or any other reasons, you may choose to find a private tutor willing to come to your home. If so, there are some things to think about when interviewing:

1. Experience:
She doesn’t have to be a retired veteran teacher. Tutoring is a different beast. Teaching experience can’t hurt, but I’m more interested in tutoring experience. Having worked in a writing center is a jackpot qualification. Working one-on-one with a tutee requires the ability to assess an individual’s need quickly. You cannot always prepare for a tutoring session, as you can for a class. You don’t know what issues the tutee had that week in class. A college student with two years experience may be better than a retired teacher. You also have to consider personality and compatibility with your child. Call a center and see if anyone is looking for extra hours as a private tutor!

2. Roles and Goals:
Ask the prospective tutor what she sees as her role or goal for working with your child. Ironically, although you want to improve your child’s grades, grades should never be the focus. If you hear that she will change your D student into an A student, beware! No one can or should promise this. A tutor’s main objective should always be to help the student improve or build on skills that will lead to improvement in grades, hopefully.

3. Teaching Styles:
Yes, style-s, plural. Today’s teachers and tutors should be fully aware that every child does not learn the same, and she should be prepared to evaluate and accommodate your child’s learning style. Ask her what will happen if her approach isn’t working or how she will decide the best approach to use. See my earlier post on "Multiple Intelligences".

4. Assessment:
The tutor should have some assessment tools, especially if she will work with your child for a length of time. The tutor should find basic skills to work on, not just one class assignment at a time. Ask her how she is going to determine what they work on each session. Their meetings can be student-centered, guided by what your child says he or she needs to work on. But the goals and success benchmarks must be clearly defined by the tutor.

5. Communication:
You’ll still pay big bucks for a good tutor. It is reasonable to ask the tutor to stay in direct contact with you and your child’s teacher, if you feel that is appropriate and helpful. This can be done via email or phone. I like email because of the paper trail. The really good tutors will ask to meet with the teacher to complete her assessment of your child’s needs and to plan on goals.

6. Compensation:
You are probably looking at a one-hour session for a high school student. And you may meet with a tutor twice a week or more depending on need. Don't get sticker shock. Make sure to consider background. An experienced tutor with a master's degree will value her time differently than an undergrad, and she should. Deal with a tutor as you would any other professional employee. Remember, you get what you pay for. Just for a frame of reference; I have 10 years teaching experience at the high school and college level, five years experience running a tutoring program and a master's in teaching composition. I'd charge $50/hour or more. However, you can negotiate. Also,you may want to start at two or even three sessions a week but taper off to just one after a few weeks to get up to speed. There are lots of options to discuss. Ask the tutor what she charges and how she schedules. Make sure she can be flexible to fit your needs. Consider a college student whose personality connects with your child and who has good references from teachers or past tutees. She may be very reasonable and flexible!