4 Questions Parents Should Ask a Private High School Tutor
For high schoolers who are struggling academically, a private tutor might be able to provide the extra one-on-one help that a student needs to succeed.
"I think tutoring can be a fantastic supplement to the efforts that a student is already putting in at school," says Ross Wolfson, the school counseling department chairman at Westborough High School in Massachusetts.
That said, he says parents and students should also look at all available options, including those offered at the school, such as extra help sessions with a teacher or peer tutoring.
Get tips to [determine if your teen needs tutoring. ]
But if parents and teens decide a private tutor is necessary, they should consider potential tutors carefully. Families can ask the following questions of prospective tutors to determine if they will be a good fit.
1. How much experience do you have tutoring students at a comparable level?
Just because someone has experience tutoring, doesn't mean they have the experience needed to help your student.
"Regular biology is different from AP biology," says Ann Dolin, a former teacher whose company Educational Connections Inc. offers private tutoring services in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.
A student who is seeking help for an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate course, for example, will need a tutor with a higher level of expertise, she says, so parents should ensure that the potential tutor has experience working with students at that level.
2. How would you address academic issues my teen is struggling with?
Parents can get students involved in the tutor selection process by having the student ask the tutor to explain the answer to a particular problem they are having in class, says Wolfson.
"See if the explanation is accurate and understandable for the student," he says. "That can be a good way to see if a tutor is going to be a good match."
Dolin says that it's important to make sure that the teen's personality will mesh with the tutor's, as well.
"I've found that that's probably about half of the match is making sure that you have the tutor who can develop a great rapport with the student and somebody the student just enjoys working with," she says.
3. Do you help with study and organizational skills?
Often teens lack effective organization, time management and study skills, Dolin says, so parents should ask potential tutors if they've ever worked with students weak in those areas.
"Sometimes we see kids that, you know that they are studying really hard, but then they get a C on an exam," she says. "So often they are studying the wrong way."
But Wolfson says parents should also reach out to the school if their child is having trouble.
"There's lots of different things that we can work on with students to help them make plans, come up with strategies and get into better studying habits," he says.
Discover more [questions to ask when shopping for a tutor. ]
4. Can you provide references?
Both experts say that parents should check references to ensure the tutor is of quality.
Wolfson says parents should be wary of a tutor who makes claims that they will be able to improve a student's grade by a certain amount -- a red flag.
Above all, parents and students should explore all available options and make the best decision for them, he says.
"There are free options that are available in schools," Wolfson says. "There are obviously, you know, for-pay options that are outside of the school. But knowing that tutoring is a supplement to what the students are doing in school is an extremely important piece of it."
Have something of interest to share? Send your news to us at highschoolnotes@usnews.com.
Alexandra Pannoni is an education staff writer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at apannoni@usnews.com.
