How to find a good tutor

Where do you look for a tutor?

Look in this order. Stop at the first option that gives you 3 or more sessions a week with the same person.

The school first. Ask the teacher or counselor whether the school runs tutoring during the day. In the EdResearch for Action brief, programs held during the school day had effects roughly twice as large as programs held outside school. J-PAL's authors suspect the reason is that in-school tutoring actually happens at the scheduled time.

Then district and community programs. Many districts and nonprofits place trained AmeriCorps members or paraprofessionals as tutors. The same brief reports these tutors can be as effective as teachers when they work one-to-one or in small groups.

Then a university. Education departments and campus tutoring centers place students, often on work-study pay. The brief flags college students on work-study as a promising group, unlike unpaid drop-in volunteers, who have not historically performed well as tutors.

Then online marketplaces and word of mouth. A marketplace profile or a neighbor's recommendation is a lead, not a hire. Run every candidate through the questions below before you book more than one session.

What questions should you ask a tutor?

Read these aloud on the first call. It takes about 15 minutes. You are checking whether this person can run a high-impact plan, not whether they are pleasant on video. The answer you want is in brackets.

• 1. How many sessions a week can you do, and for how many weeks? [3 or more a week, 10 weeks minimum. Once a week is the low-dosage design the research does not support.]
• 2. How long is a session? [30 to 60 minutes. About 20 minutes five days a week is fine for a young child.]
• 3. How many students are in the session? [One to three. Four is the ceiling in the research. Six is a class.]
• 4. Will my child have you every time, or does the tutor rotate? [The same person for the whole run.]
• 5. Which grades and which subject do you teach most? [Your child's grade and subject, by name. A high school calculus tutor is not a 2nd-grade reading tutor.]
• 6. What materials will you use? [Materials that follow the class: the textbook, the teacher's unit, or the same standards. Not a fixed packet the tutor uses for everyone.]
• 7. What training or teaching experience do you have, and who supports you? [A teaching background, or a program with real training and ongoing support. The brief notes volunteer programs that work tend to train tutors for at least a couple of weeks.]
• 8. How will you know if my child is improving? [A short check every week or two, and a plan that changes when the check says so.]
• 9. How and how often will you update me, and will you talk to the teacher? [A short written note after each week at minimum. Yes to the teacher if we arrange it.]
• 10. What happens on a night when the homework is done? [A plan beyond homework: reteaching the weak skill, previewing next week's unit, or building fluency.]

Red flags that end the call

Any one of these is enough to keep looking. Two means stop.

• Once-a-week homework help is the whole offer.
• A different tutor may show up. Consistency is one of the design principles in the brief, and it is the first thing to go in a large agency.
• The group is five or more students.
• The tutor cannot name what your child's class is doing this month and does not want to know.
• No plan for what happens after the homework is finished.
• No teaching background and no training program behind them.
• A promise of a grade or a score. Nobody honest promises a result.
• For a private tutor: no current background check and no references from two families or a school. Ask directly. School and university programs usually run their own checks; ask them to confirm.

How do you run a trial without wasting a month?

Commit to 10 weeks at the full frequency, with an exit at week 4. The brief reports that effective programs run at least 10 weeks, and many run the whole year. A two-Sunday trial tells you nothing.

Before session one: send the tutor the teacher's current unit and one recent piece of graded work. Ask for a one-paragraph plan back.

Week 1 and 2: you should get a note after each session. Your child should be able to name one thing they practiced. Nothing else is expected yet.

Week 3 and 4: ask for the tutor's first check-in result and compare it with the teacher's view. Ask your child whether they would rather stop or keep going. A child who says keep going after four weeks is your best signal.

Week 4 decision: if the tutor has kept the schedule, sent notes, and can tell you what changed, continue to week 10. If any of those three is missing, say so once. If it is still missing a week later, switch.

What to agree in writing before you pay

An email is enough. It stops the two most common failures: the schedule drifting to once a week, and progress reports that never arrive.

• Frequency: the exact days and times each week, and that the plan is 3 or more sessions.
• Session length: 30 to 60 minutes, or 20 minutes for a young child.
• Group size: the maximum number of students, and that it will not grow.
• Same tutor: who is teaching, and what happens if they are sick.
• Cancellation: notice required on both sides, and whether a missed session is made up or charged.
• Progress reports: a note after each session and a short check-in result every two weeks.
• Materials: which class materials the tutor will follow, and that PrintableSpark practice sheets between sessions are free.
• Price and payment: the rate, when it is due, and how you stop.

Score the candidate before you decide

Pay for frequency and a consistent person. A less expensive tutor three times a week beats a specialist who can only do Sundays.

The scorer below asks the same eight questions this page asks: consistent tutor, 3 or more sessions a week, a group of one to three, the right subject, aligned materials, training, communication with you and the teacher, and a plan beyond homework. Mark what is actually true of the candidate, not what you hope is true, and use the result to decide whether to book the 10 weeks.