February 11, 2009 4:09 PM
- Text
The ABC's Of Hiring A Tutor
(CBS)
If you child needs a tutor, what does it mean? That he or she can't "keep up" with their class? That they have learning disabilities? What kind of tutor will work best - the high school kid down the block, the "learning center" that just opened downtown or a professional educator?
For parents who are involved in their children's schooling, keeping up with their work is a job in and of itself. If you seek outside help, does that make you a bad parent?
In the past five years, the demand for tutors has grown into a $4 billion business. This is partially because of the No Child Left Behind Act, the law which went into effect in 2002 that holds public schools accountable for students' academic achievement. The law also says that schools that perform below state standards have to provide free tutoring to low-income families.
Another factor is way that competition for college admissions has increased; as the time for standardized tests like the SATs and ACTs approaches more parents shuttle their teens to prep centers.
Nancy Cardwell, a professor of child development at Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan, recently spoke with The Saturday Early Show about the trend towards tutoring.
The Saturday Early Show: How do you know if your child needs a tutor?
Cardwell: Knowing your child is important. Give them a chance to wrestle with a topic. But, if you notice that an increased effort is not helping and you see that they just need an extra connection, talk to about getting someone to help. Sometimes teachers will suggest it if they notice a child struggling.
How do you hire a tutor?
Nine out of ten times, teachers are supportive of anything that allows their students to do better. There isn't always time to follow-up with the questions and ideas that children come up with. (Cardwell recommends finding out what is the best learning environment for your child. Even large schools break classes into small groups at times. Ask the teacher if your child does better in smaller groups.)
Rearing a happy, healthy, productive adult, who is happy in their life, is not about threading one needle and you (only) get that one shot to do it right and it's done. There are multiple opportunities to make changes that can transform your child's life in positive ways.
Some tips:
Seek a child's teachers as a partner. Make sure that the lines of communication are open. Ask the teacher, do they think the child needs a tutor? Why might they need a tutor - is it a need for practice, or is it for something more substantial?
Include the child in the process. We all know what it's like to go to school every day, [and] we know when we're not doing well. Children are probably the first ones to know that things aren't going well. Talk to them. And enlist their cooperation in the process because nothing can happen unless the child is willing to learn.
Decide on your objective. The objective obviously would be to get better grades, but is there more to it than that? You want to know, does your child need practice? Does your child need more work in terms of building their understanding of a subject? It may be to help your child who is going to be taking the SAT or ACT feel more comfortable with a multiple-choice or essay type of test. Are there learning disabilities involved? All of that has to be taken into consideration?
What about cost?
Tutors can range anywhere from $20 to probably $225. That's why you need to know your objective because then you can match that with what your budget is. It is an investment and a long-term one.
Today, tutoring doesn't seem to have the same stigma it did years ago, when students would have been embarrassed or think, "I can do this on my own." But now there are pressures to do better in school and to get into a good college.
That's true, there's much less stigma, it's diminished in many circles. I think also that it opens the door for us to really pay attention that learning is a process and sometimes we need a little help.
It seems popular now, kind of like the "in" thing to do.
It is very popular, but I think what's happened is we've recognized that children need to have some additional help to do their best work in school. We're asking children to learn more, to do more in the same space of time that they've always had. Teachers are asked to do more. So children need some help sometimes to just close that gap between what we're asking them to do and really what they can do.
For parents who are involved in their children's schooling, keeping up with their work is a job in and of itself. If you seek outside help, does that make you a bad parent?
In the past five years, the demand for tutors has grown into a $4 billion business. This is partially because of the No Child Left Behind Act, the law which went into effect in 2002 that holds public schools accountable for students' academic achievement. The law also says that schools that perform below state standards have to provide free tutoring to low-income families.
Another factor is way that competition for college admissions has increased; as the time for standardized tests like the SATs and ACTs approaches more parents shuttle their teens to prep centers.
Nancy Cardwell, a professor of child development at Bank Street College of Education in Manhattan, recently spoke with The Saturday Early Show about the trend towards tutoring.
The Saturday Early Show: How do you know if your child needs a tutor?
Cardwell: Knowing your child is important. Give them a chance to wrestle with a topic. But, if you notice that an increased effort is not helping and you see that they just need an extra connection, talk to about getting someone to help. Sometimes teachers will suggest it if they notice a child struggling.
How do you hire a tutor?
Nine out of ten times, teachers are supportive of anything that allows their students to do better. There isn't always time to follow-up with the questions and ideas that children come up with. (Cardwell recommends finding out what is the best learning environment for your child. Even large schools break classes into small groups at times. Ask the teacher if your child does better in smaller groups.)
Rearing a happy, healthy, productive adult, who is happy in their life, is not about threading one needle and you (only) get that one shot to do it right and it's done. There are multiple opportunities to make changes that can transform your child's life in positive ways.
Some tips:
What about cost?
Tutors can range anywhere from $20 to probably $225. That's why you need to know your objective because then you can match that with what your budget is. It is an investment and a long-term one.
Today, tutoring doesn't seem to have the same stigma it did years ago, when students would have been embarrassed or think, "I can do this on my own." But now there are pressures to do better in school and to get into a good college.
That's true, there's much less stigma, it's diminished in many circles. I think also that it opens the door for us to really pay attention that learning is a process and sometimes we need a little help.
It seems popular now, kind of like the "in" thing to do.
It is very popular, but I think what's happened is we've recognized that children need to have some additional help to do their best work in school. We're asking children to learn more, to do more in the same space of time that they've always had. Teachers are asked to do more. So children need some help sometimes to just close that gap between what we're asking them to do and really what they can do.
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