Does My Child Need a Tutor?

I sit down once a month to do the bills while my husband checks the oil and other fluids in our cars. Once a week he mows the lawn, and every six months the whole family goes to the dentist. Just like your car and your house and your health and pretty much everything else of value in life, your child’s education requires ongoing routine maintenance.

The goal is to examine your child’s education on a continuous basis looking for areas of strength and identifying areas that need remediation.

Remediation is the process in which a student is re-taught concepts previously covered in class and allowed to learn them at his or her own pace. It is accomplished via tutoring, which may be provided by the teacher or by an outside provider hired by the school or parent. Unfortunately most teachers are not able to provide very much one-on-one time and schools offer only limited tutoring options usually reserved for the neediest of students. This leaves it up to parents to be on top of things and to know when and how to hire a tutor. This guide was developed in an effort to help parents realize when it’s time to get that help.

There are four main areas to consider when reflecting on your child’s educational well being: attitude, grades, standardized test scores, and teacher comments. By conducting a four-point inspection of these areas two to four times per year, you can be sure to head off any problems early on and help steer your child towards his or her maximum potential.

Attitude
Our home is pretty much happy and peaceful during the summer, despite the toddler and teenager that occupy it. However, every year September marks the start of strife and stress. From the time my son wakes up in the morning, or rather, is woken up forcibly via removal of his covers and copious threats, to the time our heads hit the pillow at night, everything becomes a constant struggle to push him to do well in school. His apathy for school is apparent in the way he lags getting ready, the way he complains about going, the way he behaves inappropriately in class, and the various methods of homework avoidance he employs. Sound familiar?

But it wasn’t always like this. There was a time when he liked going to school, when it was fun and interesting and he was motivated to do well and impress his teachers and please his parents. In fact most kids are enthusiastic about school at first. But then something happens to change their attitude. This is a warning sign you must heed – a sign to you to start asking questions. A negative attitude towards school is a sign your child is struggling, in over his or her head, and needs your help.

For many kids, the attitude change is the result of increasing pressure and subject-matter difficulty. Around third grade school starts to get a lot more challenging, it becomes work, and if you fall behind it can become almost impossible to catch up. Ask any kid with straight A’s if he likes school, and you’ll most surely receive an affirmative answer. However, ask the same question to a kid failing one or more subjects and you’ll most likely hear the opposite; or at the very least, the child will tell you he hates the subject he’s failing. If your child is in this group, he or she may require remediation.

However, not all attitude changes stem from academic problems. Sometimes social problems lead kids to shun school. In these cases, it’s a counselor, not a tutor that may be required. It is important to ask your child detailed questions to help determine where the problem lies. Depression is very common in high school, and teenagers are among the highest risk groups for suicide. So talk to your kids. Find out why they don’t like school. If they are being bullied, work with the school to put an end to the abuse. If they are having trouble making friends or dealing with emotions, get them a counselor. If they find the work too hard or overwhelming, it’s time to start looking for a tutor.

Grades
Grades are perhaps the easiest way to gauge how your child is doing. But you need to make sure the school always has your current address and you know when grades are scheduled to be mailed; otherwise your little angel may intercept them unbeknownst to you.

Grades are determined based on a number of factors; however, they can be divided into two main areas: effort and assessment. Poor grades due to lack of effort occur when students are excessively absent, don’t do their best on class work, and don’t turn in homework. This type of insufficient effort is a character flaw that requires parental intervention in the form of discipline. It is essential for parents to demand high quality, on time work from their children in order to teach them the work ethic necessary to be successful in their future careers. Tardiness, absence, poor work performance, poor quality, and lack of self discipline will not serve your children well.

Poor grades based on assessment, however, occur when students due poorly on assessments like tests and quizzes. Many times poor effort leads to poor performance on assessments, and the grade reflects the combination of both. In this case, if you clear up the poor effort, your child’s grades should improve. However, if your child gets too far behind, or if your child is doing the class work and homework to the best of his ability, and putting forth great effort, but still struggling, then remediation is most likely required. Sometimes kids fall behind because it takes them a little longer than others to grasp a particular concept. This may cause them to fall further and further behind as they struggle in vain while everyone else keeps moving forward. The sooner you higher a tutor, the sooner your child will be sailing through school once more.

Think of grades like this. ‘A’s and ‘B’s mean sufficient learning is taking place. A ‘C’ should be a red flag that a problem is developing and now is the best time to investigate and intervene. For example, a ‘C’ in math may mean your child did not learn a handful of key concepts. If this problem is not remedied, it may lead to progressively worsening math grades since math concepts build upon one another. A few weeks of tutoring may clear the problem up and prevent further misunderstandings. ‘D’s and ‘F’s, however, indicate little or no learning took place and intensive remediation is necessary; that is, long-term tutoring may be required.

You can figure out whether its poor effort, poor performance on assessments, or both that are causing your child’s grades to suffer by asking her teacher. In addition, you should always take some time to talk to your child about his report card. When I discussed my son’s report card with him last year, I discovered that he struggled most to keep organized in classes where the teachers only offered instructions orally, whereas he did much better in classes where instructions were also written on the board. As a result, I was able to help him develop some strategies for better listening for and writing down oral instructions.

Standardized Test Scores
We hear all the hubbub about standardized tests and how they are stealing time from “real” learning. But aside from all the controversy, standardized tests play an important role in helping you understand your child’s strengths and weaknesses. In California, the standardized testing and reporting (STAR) tests classify students into one of five categories for each subject area: far below basic, below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. The subject areas include language arts, math, science, and social studies; and the tests are based on the California content standards for each of these areas. If your child scores proficient or advanced, you have nothing to worry about. But if your child scores far below basic, below basic, or basic in any subject, you should consider hiring a tutor to provide remediation.

Specific information about STAR testing can be found at https://star.cde.ca.gov/. Similar websites exist for other states as well.

The table above is from https://star.cde.ca.gov/ and applies to standardized testing in California. Similar websites exist for other states as well.

Teacher Comments
The final inspection point involves working directly with your child’s school to anticipate potential problems. In addition to clarifying why your child earned a particular grade, teachers are a wealth of information about your child’s strengths and weaknesses. They can let you know if your child is reading at grade level, if he needs additional help in math, and what you can do at home to help him study or even just stay organized and on top of his work. Teachers are also a good resource to help you find a tutor, if needed. So is Tutorz.com, a free web tool you can use to find a tutor in your area that meets your specific needs and criteria.

Schools can also help you identify learning disabilities and other similar problems. My son was diagnosed with ADHD in third grade after his teacher hinted that I should get him tested. Teachers are not allowed to tell you that they suspect your child may have a learning disability or similar problems for legal reasons; however, they will often indirectly inform you of their suspicions because they appreciate that it is in your child’s best interest to be diagnosed and treated appropriately. My son, for example, has a 504 plan that requires his teachers to make specific accommodations to assist his learning, like providing instructions both orally and in writing, seating him away from distractions, and giving him additional time to complete tests. School staff are trained to recognize and remedy learning deficiencies. Don’t be afraid to utilize them. Plus schools employ several programs to help students bolster their reading, writing and/or math skills. Sometimes you just need to ask.

You should meet with all of your child’s teachers at least twice a year. Many schools already facilitate this by scheduling one or more parent conferences throughout the school year, usually at the same time report cards are distributed. However, if you have cause to be concerned, do not hesitate to schedule additional teacher conferences as needed. I start every school year by meeting with my son’s teachers and sharing with them strategies that worked well during the previous year. I conclude each year by asking his teachers to describe the strategies that worked best for them that year so that I can, in turn, pass them on. In addition to these meetings and those automatically scheduled by the school at the end of the first semester, I maintain communication with his teachers throughout the year in order to monitor his behavior, effort, and performance. I know when his grades slip in time to help him fix them. If he fails a test, I make arrangements for him to be tutored so that he gets remediation in time to prevent an ongoing problem. Most teachers can be reached via both phone and email these days. Make sure you obtain contact information for each of your child’s teachers right at the start of the year.

The Greatest Investment
It may seem like maintaining your child’s education is an extraordinary amount of work, and it is! The expense of tutoring in terms of time and money may seem prohibitive. But the investment is well worth the rewards; and parents that appreciate the value of education pass these views on to their kids. More than anything else, our children’s educations will offer them the greatest opportunities to earn a comfortable living and to socially and professionally interact with others in this world with an open and informed mind. There truly is no better investment of our time and effort for the benefit of our children and society as a whole than consistently performing this four point inspection.