It is tough to know what path to take when you or your child needs tutoring help. Do you pick a company or an individual? Can I trust the tutor that will be helping me or my child? Trust is earned. But can you ever really be sure that your best interests will be served? No, just as you can’t be sure that you won’t get hurt driving to work every day. What you can do is limit the risk. That is why Academics Plus, Inc. is sharing three simple steps you can take to find the right tutor for you or for your child.
Look at all credentials: Experience as well as education counts. It’s great if you can find a tutor who has a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, or is pursuing one of those, but make sure to see if they’ve taught children before or have experience tutoring. Don’t be swayed by educational credentials. While they might prove that a tutor has a lot of knowledge about their subject, it doesn’t mean they know or understand how to teach. Ideal tutors not only have a high education level, but also have experience working with children. Academics Plus, Inc. has always taken the time to vet our tutors for experience and education and only chooses the highest quality of tutors that meet both criteria. It’s an approach that’s kept us strong since 1989, and it’s an approach you should use also.
Look at the company’s credentials: The point of going to a company to provide you with a tutor is that they have a lot more at their fingertips than you do. A service should have the experience and the know how to not only provide a well-qualified tutor for you or your child, but it should be able to keep you safe. Many online tutoring companies and in-person tutoring services do not screen their employees using a background check. Bad people tend to show that badness somewhere. A background check looks for signs that a prospective tutor is potentially unsafe. That information is essential when it comes to earning the trust of a client. Academics Plus, Inc. believes the safety of all students is important, whether they are in kindergarten or college. That is why we ensure the safety of our students by having all of our tutors pass a background check. It is an added expense to us, but it helps you and us feel safe. That is worth the cost every time. When you’re checking for tutoring for your child, whether you have the ability to check for yourself or you use an agency, make sure your tutor has a clean background check.
Look for ways to monitor progress: Whether tutoring is being provided online, in-person through an agency, or through a family friend, look for ways you can monitor your or your child’s progress. Look for whether homework assignments are completed more quickly, or if pop quizzes get any easier. Anyone who has tutored a child before knows that very often students may say they understand a concept, even if they haven’t grasped it entirely. We’ve all felt that pressure when someone explains something to us and they’re waiting for us to get it. Older and younger students feel it too. If necessary, set benchmarks for yourself or your child (e.g. If I don’t improve by this test, I will find another tutor), and don’t be afraid to hold your tutor accountable. You’re paying for a service, and you deserve the best. Academics Plus, Inc. takes monitoring and reporting seriously in both our in-person programs and our online programs. Parents and students in our online programs can view reports filled out by the tutor after each tutoring session, so our clients know how they’re progressing. While you may not be able to get your family friend to fill out reports every time, make sure there are ways to monitor progress.
We hope you’ve found these three simple steps useful in finding the right tutor! If you’d rather avoid the hassle all together, consider Academics Plus, Inc. Online! Not only do we have qualified tutors with clean background checks, but we also have programs designed to fit the needs of all students, young and old, as well as the option to pay per hour, rather than paying for a subscription! Contact us today and we’ll see how we can assist you!
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