Looking for a tutor? Tutoring can be beneficial for essentially any child who participates in a course that matches their needs. Courses range from subject specific tutoring, to SAT Prep, to special education tutoring. Once you’ve determined what course work your child needs, it’s time to look for your tutor. But a simple google search will reveal how many options are out there and how daunting that task can be. Whether you go with a company or an independent private tutor, here’s what to ask to find a good one!
1. What training do you have? / What training is required for tutors at your company?
Becoming a tutor only requires a high school diploma or a GED, but there are many opportunities for tutoring education & training that provide tutors with the opportunity to be a high quality tutor. When you’re looking for a tutor, ask what education and training the tutor has or what the company requires of their tutors. Their response will give you insight into the quality of tutoring experience you can expect.
2. What type of student do you have experience working with? / What type of students does your tutoring company typically serve?
When you’re looking for a tutor, it’s important to understand what type of student your potential tutors have experience working with and serving. What grades have they worked with? What needs have they served? If a tutor only has experience serving as an SAT Prep course tutor, they may not be as well suited to teach your 2nd grader to decode a reading passage. If a tutoring company is set up to target serving children with special needs, they may not be as well suited to teach a gifted student in calculus. A background in working with students similar to your own child will be beneficial to look for in a tutor.
3. What are some of your go-to targeted strategies in your area of tutoring expertise? / Are the tutors at your company trained in any specific teaching strategies?
When you’re looking for a tutor, it’s because you’re intending to have one of your child’s needs met. Asking this question will ensure that there is a strong possibility that the tutor will actually be able to meet those needs. If you’re looking for a tutor to teach your child to read, a high quality tutor will be able to list off targeted strategies they use to teach children to read. Some tutoring companies ensure fidelity between their tutors by using a certain curriculum or company-wide teaching strategies. Subject mastery is an indication that they’ll likely be able to meet your child’s needs in that area.
4. How do you communicate with students and families?
Strong communication skills are important for a tutor. They’ll be communicating with your child, you as the parent, the company they work for, and potentially your child’s teacher and other school personnel. They’ll need to communicate on a regular, on-going basis and keep detailed logs of these communications. When looking for a tutor, identify how they intend to communicate with you about scheduling, student progress (or lack thereof), payment, results of assessments, and other things that may come up. If they don’t have a specific answer for you on how and when they communicate, this may be a red flag.
5. What do you love about tutoring? / What qualities do you expect from tutors that work for your company?
The most high quality tutors will have a true passion for learning and instilling the ability to learn in others (your child). Before asking this question, have an idea in your mind about what is important to you in a tutor. Some qualities to look for are passion for learning, growth mindset, ability to connect with children and build rapport, patience, engagement and creativity, strong communication and organization, content mastery, and confidentiality in their work.
Atlanta Tutors is your local source for high quality tutoring and test preparation. We offer individualized, in-home tutoring for all K-12 subjects and personalized test preparation for the SSAT, SAT, ACT, and more.