Tips to Finding a Tutor for Your Child

When the economy is down, your choices of tutors can be staggering. Cash hungry college students, recent retirees, and teachers looking to make some extra money have made the tutor competition overwhelming for most parents. We have put together four important tips to help those parents find the right tutor when the word of mouth recommendations are not working.

1. Background Check Your Tutor

Answering a classified ad in places like Craigslist is probably not your best use of resources when looking for a tutor for your child. Classified ads are great for finding a used couch or end table; however, answering a random tutoring ad could be dangerous. A reputable tutoring agency will usually offer to conduct a criminal and sex offender background check on all the tutors they use. Make sure to ask for a copy of those background checks to verify what you have been told.

2. Decide If Educational Background is Important

In the tutoring profession, the diplomas from the Ivy League universities sound impressive and they might make an impression on your friends; however, tutors from elite backgrounds can cost parents a lot of money. This might be the time evaluate whether the tutor cost justifies the prestige. Tutoring help for your grade school or middle school aged child probably doesn't justify the additional cost of a prestigious program. Basic algebra or sentence structure for a child at that level can be taught be a qualified tutor without the expensive price tag. If your expectations for your high school child are an elite college, then having a tutor with a similar background could give them the benefit of their experience.

3. Check the Qualifications

Tutors and tutoring agencies are not regulated by any states and therefore parents may find it hard to know which ones are credible. There have been quite a few organizations that have offered certifications for tutors for a fee. Allegedly, these certifications are issued for tutors that have completed a certain number of tutoring hours along with some sort of training program. Unfortunately, there is no validation in these certifications and the organizations that issue them are often not in business for very long.

4. Give Your Tutor a Tryout

A good tutor can come from just about any type of background, the objective is to find one that is knowledgeable in the subject you need. When interviewing a tutor, ask for at least two current references and make sure at least one of them can prove that excellent academic results were achieved. Have any potential tutor do a one-on-one session with your child and attend the lesson. Make sure that the tutor can convey the information to your child and that there is some sort of chemistry between them. Look for patience, empathy, humor and creativity during the learning process.