Word of mouth is the best way to find a professional, but without a referral, you are left to navigate a maze of agencies and individuals offering similar educational services. These guidelines will help you find the right tutor for your child.

• Licensed – Find a tutor who is NYS certified.
• Experienced – Ask how many students a prospective tutor has worked with in your child’s subject area and grade level. Ideally, he or she will be able to provide data that shows robust, consistent progress.  Tutoring agencies collect this information and can easily cull it.
• Verified – Do a background check before you hire someone.Another advantage to using a tutoring agency is that it does all the screening for you. Agencies confirm certifications, subject expertise, and fingerprint clearance from the Department of Education.
• Flexible – Another advantage to using an agency is that they can usually find someone to accommodate your child’s specific needs.  For instance, they can provide bilingual tutors for children who need bilingual support in their learning environment.And if your child has special needs, they can hand pick a tutor to help your child.
• Personable – If possible, meet briefly with a prospective tutor in a neutral setting to get a feeling for whether your child will feel comfortable with him or her.

The ideal tutor is an individual with the skills your child needs and the ability to teach them in a structured setting that is overseen and frequently evaluated. Smaller tutoring agencies, usually independent non franchises, have the flexibility to customize teaching while supervising the progress of learning plans.

What have you learned in your search for a high-quality tutor for your child?