Consider tutoring if your child is struggling in school
By Ingrid Schaefer Sprague
The school year is underway and your child’s first report card will arrive soon. Has the year, which started with such promise, already begun descending into a pattern of frustration and bad grades?
If a child’s school performance has dropped, parents often are left wondering what happens next. Either a parent or a teacher can make the recommendation for tutoring for the purposes of homework help, skill building or enrichment.
Is Tutoring Needed?
Does your child work better one-on-one? If your son or daughter has excelled in a subject up to this point, you may be correct in assuming that only immediate homework help is needed.
Tutoring may be beneficial for a child if he or she:
- Has falling grades, independent of how hard he or she is working, where before grades were improving or holding steady
- Takes a very long time to complete daily homework assignments
- Has incomplete or inaccurate homework, which may indicate a lack of basic skills or weakness in a specific academic area
- Is frustrated or anxious on a daily or weekly basis when it comes to tests, quizzes and homework
- Has an increasing lack of confidence and motivation
- Has lost interest in learning
- Is reluctant to go to school, fearing failure and criticism from others
- Seems bored in a subject
Billy Chapnick, owner of Math Monkey, adds, “We have many people call the center because their child is struggling in math class and could use extra practice throughout the week.”
Your child’s teacher or school counselor may recommend tutoring. “This may happen at a parent-teacher conference,” says Rhoda Konigsberg, owner of The Tutoring Center. “It may also occur when progress reports are issued, or at report card time.”
Behavior issues also may indicate a need for tutoring, she says, like when a teacher reports that your child is acting out in class, or if other behavior problems may be evident to the teacher or to you. “Your child says, ‘I’m too stupid. I’ll never understand this stuff. Your child says, ‘I give up.’ Or worse, you hear yourself saying it,” Konigsberg adds.
Bethany Das, owner of Smarty Pants, says there are key features shown by students who are struggling, but there also are certain signs that children may be beyond the level of fellow classmates. “A student may also not be feeling challenged enough. Tutoring can aid in gifted students maximizing their capabilities,” she adds.
Tutoring Assessment
As a parent, you may wonder, “Can’t I just tutor my child?” While some parents may find working with their child effective, there may be issues outside the immediate problems with that day’s homework.
Greg Yasutake, owner of Huntington Learning Center, says learning is foundational, and a parent may be unaware of the prior gaps in learning that may impede current understanding. Therefore, assessment is a key component to tutoring success.
Either a parent or a teacher can make the recommendation for tutoring for the purposes of homework help, skill building, or enrichment.
“If the school or teacher doesn’t recommend tutoring, the parent should still use their best discretion when deciding if a tutor will be beneficial,” Das says. “Even if a student is not currently struggling, there are many skills that can be practiced to maintain desired goals or to further challenge a student’s way of thinking.”
Konigsberg adds. “This is your child—If you see signs that your child is struggling, then absolutely don’t wait for the teacher to tell you,” she said. “Seek help immediately. The earlier the intervention, the quicker your child will be back on track.”
“We have many people call the center because their child is struggling in math class and could use extra practice throughout the week,” says Chapnick whose center provides enrichment, as well as tutoring and homework help. “We also receive many referrals from schools to have students enroll in our enrichment program to either challenge them further or to boost their confidence in math.”
It is a parent’s decision on who should provide tutoring, with consideration of answers to these questions as well as fit with the child. Does your child work better one-on-one, and do you feel that a local tutor is all that is needed? If your son or daughter has excelled in a subject up to this point and it is convenient for other reasons, you may be correct that only immediate homework help is needed. However, if you or a teacher suspect your child may have a study skill issue, you would be better off to go to an established tutoring center and have this assessed.
“A private tutor may be more convenient, but that’s about the only advantage,” Konigsberg says. “Often what occurs is more homework help than skill development, which makes it a short-term fix. Tutors tend to feel they need to be constantly instructing, so there may be inadequate time for the student to practice the new skills independently.”
“Not only is The Rotational Approach to Learning more effective, the students enjoy the fast-paced atmosphere,” she says. “They also enjoy learning from several tutors. Our system builds in time to receive direct, one-to-one instruction, as well as time to develop and demonstrate independent mastery.”
Yasutake says students can do core assessment and supported methods to help students increase their concentration, and thereby grades, with homework, projects, and tests.
The Tutoring Process
Tutors can be individuals that a teacher or school counselor recommends — usually a retired teacher from that district — or a list of recommended tutors that a school provides. Individuals run private tutoring companies and franchise tutoring companies. All should have tutors that either are licensed educators or have a college degree in the subject they are tutoring. Some tutors report the number of hours they have performed tutoring, as well.
“Our math students spend part of every hour working on current materials so that they don’t fall farther behind, and part of the hour developing skills,” Konigsberg says. “Our study skills program requires that students implement the techniques they are learning, as they are learning them, in school, so that is the one program that we have that we don’t do over the summer. For reading, writing, and enrichment students we are focused on improving their skills rather than coordinating with their school materials.”
Math and language arts are not the only subjects that may require tutoring. Assistance may be required in other areas, but could be an issue associated with study skills and reading comprehension, more than subject understanding.
“Students have different weaknesses,” Das says. “Once those weaknesses are discovered, it’s important to focus on those areas primarily, whatever they may be.”
Yasutake says this is the result of the general deterioration of reading in society over the years. “Reading exercises the brain, and we do much less reading these days,” he says. “Comprehension skills have eroded.”
In addition to reading comprehension, tutors need to assess whether the child didn’t grasp an educational concept that is impeding progress now.
As an example, Yasutake said a Huntington Learning Center tutor will be asked to help a child in a specific area of math that resulted from holes in math knowledge years prior.
Therefore, it is wise to tutor a student with immediate needs in a subject while providing him or her with the tools to make sure there is continued success. Most agree that tutoring can commence at kindergarten and go through high school and even college.
It’s a good idea to inform teachers that the child is receiving tutoring in a subject. “It’s always a great idea to take a comprehensive team approach toward your child’s education, including everyone is a great idea—especially for communication on what to focus on,” Chapnick says.
How Much Tutoring is Needed?
Given that each student has individualized needs and tutors provide their own approach to teaching, the recommended length of time for tutoring varies.
“Typically, students begin with one-hour lessons one to three days per week, depending on their goals and age,” Das says. “Once the goals are reached, it’s encouraged to continue lessons once a week to maintain goals.”
Students do not need to eliminate extracurricular activities during tutoring, but consistency with the tutoring process is crucial, Chapnick says.
“While tutoring is underway, it is still important for students to have a healthy balance with other activities,” Das adds. “School should be a priority, but it is important for them to also learn time management skills and how to create balance in their lives.”
Parents need to meet with the tutors periodically to assess progress, and also are encouraged to listen to their children.
“Most students are not going to want to do tutoring; it’s kind of an imposition,” Yasutake says. “On the other hand, it’s going to be less of a struggle to do it than you think. If a student knows he or she is struggling in something, (they likely want) to do better.”
Alicia Miller, owner, Sylvan Learning of Greater Cleveland says “High quality tutoring companies will offer detailed, low or no cost academic assessments to provide the data you need to help you make decisions. They will be willing to work with you to develop a flexible, personalized plan for your child to address you child’s specific needs. Remember, as a parent you don’t need to be an education expert, but you are the best advocate for your child and should ensure that they get the help they need.”
Bethany Das of Smarty Pants also encourages this strategy, as well as other “tips and tricks,” for student in school including:
- “Never leave a question blank. Even if you’re unsure how to answer, it’s encouraged to still try. This way you can possibly receive partial credit and it allows your teacher see your thought process.
- When you’re feeling unmotivated, break your work up into doable tasks. Set your timer for 15 minutes and work on a specific goal without other distractions. Then reward yourself with five minutes of social media or a snack. The hardest part is forcing yourself to get started.
- It’s o.k. to struggle. It’s a part of the learning process. Homework is designed for practice. So you’re likely not going to be perfect at it!”
