Private Tutoring vs. Tutoring Programs: Which is More Effective?

Parents often ask us “Why should I use your tutoring services rather than hire a private tutor to come to our home?”  Although the answer is typically multi-faceted, fundamentally, it comes down to both what your child needs and what’s the best approach to reach the desired goals.  One size doesn’t fit all.

The Struggling Student

For the child who perpetually struggles with math, reading or language arts, however, the answer is usually more clear-cut.   Countless parents we speak with tell us of the private tutors that they’ve hired – sometimes for long and expensive stints that reap only modest results.  The intention is good, but too frequently the approach is misdirected.   Such efforts often focus on the immediate need – a difficult homework assignment, a project or a big test.  Many tutors succeed, through brute force, in getting the student past the impending crisis but ignore the underlying struggle, whether it’s poor reading comprehension or lack of basic math skills.  

In our blog posting The Learning Process: Tips for Parents and Tutors, Marlene Caroselli, former high school teacher and author talked about the learning process and explored the theories of Benjamin Bloom of the University of Chicago.   She noted that Bloom believed that children should not move on to a second learning objective until they have demonstrated mastery of a first objective.  This learning philosophy mirrors our approach to many of the programs at Think Tutoring, including elementary and middle school level reading, language arts and math as well high school math offering of Algebra and Geometry.

Establishing Learning Objectives

Although, Bloom doesn’t mention explicitly these objectives are defined, clearly it depends on the student.  At Think Tutoring, we develop customized learning plans based upon comprehensive diagnostics so that we know, empirically, what goals to establish.  As an example, a student who struggles with reading may be able to easily recall facts from a story, but cannot piece them together to identify what the story is about.  Other students may have difficulties with inference -- that is, reading between the lines.  Once identified, goals are than addressed through a series of learning activities, explicitly sequenced to develop a child’s reading skills from the foundation up, brick by brick.  Further, using the Bloom philosophy, students only move on to additional skills or more challenging levels of material until they demonstrate mastery of the first objective or skill.

Tutoring Results

To be sure, many private tutors understand this and bring a carefully conceived program to the table.  Ultimately, however, parents who are shopping for a tutor or tutoring program and are ready to make a substantial investment in their child’s future shouldn’t be afraid to ask what results they can expect.  At Think Tutoring, we are proud of our math and reading tutoring results, but even happier about the heightened confidence our students bring to school each day.