Tutor: Friend or Foe?

A great tutor can be life changing. An okay tutor can do more harm than good. Many readers have asked me how to evaluate if someone will be a good tutor for their child. Over the past 12 years, Revolution Prep has interviewed over 100,000 potential tutors and hired and trained over 5,000 of them. Based on this experience, here are our top three tips for finding the best tutors.

1. The tutor needs to know the material they are teaching… but that’s not enough.

If your child needs a tutor in algebra, of course you don’t want a tutor who squeaked by with a B- in algebra. Likewise if you are hiring an SAT tutor, they’d better have impressive SAT scores. However, being great at algebra or the SAT, or any other subject, does not necessarily mean you are great at teaching that subject.

For example, we have found that many people with amazing SAT scores are not great tutors for one of two primary reasons. 1) A person may be skilled at taking multiple-choice exams but might not be interesting or adept at connecting with students. 2) A natural test taker may have never had to struggle to understand the material and therefore, may be less effective at clearly and patiently explaining it to students.

2. The tutor needs to connect with your child… but that’s not enough.

Finding a tutor who connects with your child is not enough. Make sure the tutor is really helping your child grow as a learner. I often hear parents say, “We have a great math tutor.”

When I ask how their child has grown in math, too often the answer is that the grade has gone up only marginally. In addition, I often hear their interest and confidence have actually gone down because now they need help just to get a mediocre math grade, when they were previously getting a mediocre math grade on their own.

In these cases the family doesn’t have a great math tutor, they have a really likable math tutor who is likely doing more harm than good.

3. Helping explain material is not enough… sometimes NOT helping is far more helpful than helping.

Every parent has heard their child say, “I can’t do it. Can you show me?” Most parents, out of love and caring for their child, oblige the request. So do most tutors because they feel that is what they are being paid to do. But this robs the child of the opportunity to show himself or herself that they can do it.

The best tutors and teachers will respond to that same question with “I bet you can do it. Why don’t you show me?” And then when the child gives an irritated look, that talented tutor will have the patience to wait in silence and the confidence and skill to nudge the student down the path of struggle, discovery and eventual success.

In time, your child will change their perspective and when they come across a difficult problem, they’ll shift from “I can’t do it. Can you show me?” to “That’s hard. I bet I can figure it out.” Who do you think will grow up to be more successful and dare I even say self-confident and happier?

Jake Neuberg lives in the Palisades with his wife Mina and four kids and is also the co-founder of Revolution Prep, a leading provider of high-quality tutoring to students from elementary school to college. Jake can be reached at jake@revolutionprep.com.