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Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring. However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because tutor kids near me / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring. However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. writing tutor hagerstown md of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring. However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because tutor kids near me / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring. However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. writing tutor hagerstown md of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring . However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring . However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring . However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Due to the increasing importance of education, many parents and schools choose to hire tutors. Parents hire freelancer tutors and work with private tutoring services. Parents hire instructors for tasks such as math tutoring, and SAT prep. However, many parents do not exactly understand what makes a good tutor.

Tutors often think that they are well qualified because they possess adequate understanding of the subject matter. Many people say that one possesses adequate knowledge of a subject when he can lecture in the subject. However, there are many other aspects to being a good tutor and having adequate knowledge in the subject will not necessarily make the tutor a good tutor.

Of course, understanding the subject matter is critical to being a good tutor. No tutor is able to adequately explain material to a struggling student if he does not understand it well enough himself. That does not mean that the tutor has to have every single minor aspect of the subject memorize. But the tutor should be able to understand the subject matter after a short review before the session.

Simple knowledge of a subject is generally insufficient to be a good tutor. A tutor has to have true understanding of a subject. For example, an inexperienced math tutor may know the Quadratic formula but a great tutor can also derive it. A decent Literature tutor understands the plot and themes of To Kill a Mockingbird. But a great tutor also understands the history behind the novel.

A good tutor should be an experienced tutor. online tutoring companies experienced the tutor is, the more likely he will address the student's issues. Inexperienced tutors should first consider volunteering and tutoring family and friends before charging for their services.

Another important aspect of tutoring is having good communication skills. A tutor has to not only know the subject matter but also be able to adequately explain it. Someone may be able to solve any math problem but he will not necessarily make his solution understandable to the student.

A good tutor is a good evaluator of the student's performance. Often, students do not understand exactly what their problems in a course are. They often just know that they are struggling or that they are getting bad grades. A good tutor can understand what gaps and misunderstandings the student has and can provide review of these particular subject areas.

Another characteristic of a good tutor is the ability to understand the student's situation. Students who work with tutors generally are frustrated and a tutor should not never make the situation worse. Also, students can often have learning disabilities so a tutor may need to explain certain aspects differently or use a slower tutoring pace. They should also be forgiving of minor misbehavior by a student as the misbehavior may be caused by stress.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring. However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are private math tutor to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Due to the increasing importance of education, many parents and schools choose to hire tutors. Parents hire freelancer tutors and work with private tutoring services. Parents hire instructors for tasks such as math tutoring, and SAT prep. However, many parents do not exactly understand what makes a good tutor.

Tutors often think that they are well qualified because they possess adequate understanding of the subject matter. Many people say that one possesses adequate knowledge of a subject when he can lecture in the subject. However, there are many other aspects to being a good tutor and having adequate knowledge in the subject will not necessarily make the tutor a good tutor.

Of course, understanding the subject matter is critical to being a good tutor. No tutor is able to adequately explain material to a struggling student if he does not understand it well enough himself. That does not mean that the tutor has to have every single minor aspect of the subject memorize. But the tutor should be able to understand the subject matter after a short review before the session.

Simple knowledge of a subject is generally insufficient to be a good tutor. A tutor has to have true understanding of a subject. For example, an inexperienced math tutor may know the Quadratic formula but a great tutor can also derive it. A decent Literature tutor understands the plot and themes of To Kill a Mockingbird. But math tutor albuquerque understands the history behind the novel.

A good tutor should be an experienced tutor. The more experienced the tutor is, the more likely he will address the student's issues. Inexperienced tutors should first consider volunteering and tutoring family and friends before charging for their services.

Another important aspect of tutoring is having good communication skills. A tutor has to not only know the subject matter but also be able to adequately explain it. Someone may be able to solve any math problem but he will not necessarily make his solution understandable to the student.

A good tutor is a good evaluator of the student's performance. Often, students do not understand exactly what their problems in a course are. They often just know that they are struggling or that they are getting bad grades. A good tutor can understand what gaps and misunderstandings the student has and can provide review of these particular subject areas.

Another characteristic of a good tutor is the ability to understand the student's situation. Students who work with tutors generally are frustrated and a tutor should not never make the situation worse. Also, students can often have learning disabilities so a tutor may need to explain certain aspects differently or use a slower tutoring pace. They should also be forgiving of minor misbehavior by a student as the misbehavior may be caused by stress.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring . However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give them more reasons to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

With the explosion in use of the internet for learning, online tutoring has become a favorite for students all over the globe. Online tutoring offers tremendous flexibility to the students as well as the tutors the major advantage for both the students and tutor being that they can learn/teach from the comfort of their homes.

Another major reason for the success of online tutoring is the lower cost of tutoring. The availability of tutors was earlier limited to those living close-by to the student. However with the online tutoring, the tutor can now be located in any corner of the world. Thus the tutors located in the third world countries while being equally competent as their counterparts in the developed world are able to offer their services at much lower prices - primarily due to the difference in valuation of their currencies with the dollar. While private tutors rates to face tutoring session would cost nearly $ 70 - 100 per hour earlier, a online tutoring session from tutors in USA / UK costs $ 30 - 50 and those from tutors located in India is available for $ 12 - 15 per hour.

Tutoring Companies. As the demand for online tutoring grew, a number of tutoring companies surfaced on the horizon. These Online Tutoring Companies generally offer tutoring in a variety of subjects so that a student can obtain tutoring in any subject desired by him. This follows the culture where all subjects are available under one roof.

This company culture in tutoring however cannot be termed as the best solution in online tutoring. Most parents would agree that the vital aspect to achieve supportive learning help is the continuity of the tutor with the student. The tutor needs to develop a rapport with the student and identify his strengths and shortcomings. He must then empathize with the student and focus upon helping him overcome his shortcomings while reinforcing his strengths. With large tutoring companies this is often a problem as their tutors cater to a large number of students and thus are not dedicated to a single student. While most online tutoring companies offer the 'preferred tutor' system in some form or the other, the availability of the favorite tutor cannot be guaranteed being booked by a number of students. Thus the child is left to adjust to each of the tutors he comes across and at best is able to achieve 'topic help' rather than supportive, continued learning.

Freelance Tutors. On the other hand are the freelance tutors who offer Online Tutoring on the internet. Most of the tutors list with the tutor directories for their availability. Tutors having their own websites are a rarity - probably due to the costs involved. However the ones who do have their own websites and thus are able to make themselves available on the internet are probably the best choice for online tutoring. They combine the best of online tutoring and offer continued supportive and dedicated learning support to the students.

Training Content. Some of the tutoring companies use their own 'unique training content' which is specifically developed keeping in mind the requirements of the students. There is no doubt that specially developed training content is helpful in imparting instruction. It must however be remembered that there is no shortage of training content on the internet with most schools and college websites providing free high quality training content. What is most important is ability of the tutor to make the student imbibe the training content properly.

Tutor Remuneration. In case of freelance tutors, the complete remuneration made by the students goes to the tutor who is free to set his own price. However in case of tutoring companies, the company would pay the tutors minimum wages, keeping most of the profits for themselves. The tutor compensation in some of the tutoring companies can be as low as $ 2 per hour. This obviously affects the quality of tutors who would be ready to serve with them.

Selecting the Right Tutor. Making the right choice of the Online Tutor however can be difficult. Considering that the websites offering these services are not the swanky big banner sites, it is difficult to gauge the prowess of the tutor at the first instance. It is advisable to go over the credentials and experience of the tutor. However before finally selecting a tutor, the student must ask for a Free Demo Session. Nearly all the tutors offer the introductory demo session so that they can interact with the student. This provides a good opportunity to the student to gauge the tutor first hand and if found suitable, he can interact with the tutor to finalize his schedule.

The quality of tutoring also depends on the tools for teaching used by the tutor. The demo session would also help to confirm the suitability of the web conferencing software including the audio, whiteboard and file sharing. The student should evaluate them well during the demo session before signing up for online tutoring.

Due to the increasing importance of education, many parents and schools choose to hire tutors. Parents hire freelancer tutors and work with private tutoring services. Parents hire instructors for tasks such as math tutoring, and SAT prep. However, many parents do not exactly understand what makes a good tutor.

Tutors often think that they are well qualified because they possess adequate understanding of the subject matter. Many people say that one possesses adequate knowledge of a subject when he can lecture in the subject. However, there are many other aspects to being a good tutor and having adequate knowledge in the subject will not necessarily make the tutor a good tutor.

Of course, understanding the subject matter is critical to being a good tutor. No tutor is able to adequately explain material to a struggling student if he does not understand it well enough himself. That does not mean that the tutor has to have every single minor aspect of the subject memorize. But the tutor should be able to understand the subject matter after a short review before the session.

Simple knowledge of a subject is generally insufficient to be a good tutor. A tutor has to have true understanding of a subject. For example, an inexperienced math tutor may know the Quadratic formula but a great tutor can also derive it. A decent Literature tutor understands the plot and themes of To Kill a Mockingbird. But a great tutor also understands the history behind the novel.

A good tutor should be an experienced tutor. online tutoring companies experienced the tutor is, the more likely he will address the student's issues. Inexperienced tutors should first consider volunteering and tutoring family and friends before charging for their services.

Another important aspect of tutoring is having good communication skills. A tutor has to not only know the subject matter but also be able to adequately explain it. Someone may be able to solve any math problem but he will not necessarily make his solution understandable to the student.

A good tutor is a good evaluator of the student's performance. Often, students do not understand exactly what their problems in a course are. They often just know that they are struggling or that they are getting bad grades. A good tutor can understand what gaps and misunderstandings the student has and can provide review of these particular subject areas.

Another characteristic of a good tutor is the ability to understand the student's situation. Students who work with tutors generally are frustrated and a tutor should not never make the situation worse. Also, students can often have learning disabilities so a tutor may need to explain certain aspects differently or use a slower tutoring pace. They should also be forgiving of minor misbehavior by a student as the misbehavior may be caused by stress.

Despite astonishing advancements in technology, the tutoring and test preparation business has remained fundamentally unchanged. Computer aided learning programs and online virtual tutor products promised to deliver individualized instruction to students at a fraction of the cost of private one on one tutoring. However, even as these programs have seen a steady increase in use, private one on one tutoring has grown considerable over the past thirty years.

The reality is that the benefit of one on one tutoring is very hard to replicate and tutoring itself has remained low tech. But technology is playing an increasingly important role in the business of tutoring.

Private tutoring is very effective. But managing the logistics of the tutor/student relationship can be quite challenging. Modern education centers grapple with this every day and many center owners entered the tutoring business because they saw opportunity and believed in the tutor model. Most quickly discover that managing tutors and students requires many hours of work and are drowning in a quagmire of administration. It's likely that many owners would not have entered the tutoring business had they known what day to day operations are really like.

The role of technology in the tutoring business is not to supplant the tutor, but rather to support and automate the business of tutoring. Let's take a look at a modern tutoring company both in-center or in-home. Here is the typical work flow.

Take a parent's phone call. New clients are usually the result of a recommendation from a current or past client. Because the tutor / student relationship is built on trust, recommendations are by far the most common way to gain new business. Parents and students know this so they seek out recommendations from trusted friends. The first challenge for an education center is capturing the parent and student information and recording the parent's concerns and objectives. The intake must gathering key data about the student, including current and past performance, challenges and motivation.

Schedule the student. Most tutoring companies are staffed by tutors with unique availabilities, varied qualifications, and schedules that change daily. This leads to a scheduling headache at best if not a scheduling nightmare.

Communicate information to the tutor. If the parent is going to pay hefty hourly fees, they want to make sure that the tutor has the information needed to work with their child. Making all information necessary to properly tutor a student available to the tutor is critical.

Record the results of tutoring sessions. What happened during the session in detail. Is the student progressing? Does the tutor need assistance? Are there ares the student needs to work on.

Communicate progress to the parent. Tutors and students have ample time to communicate. However, parents are not always available to talk between sessions. Many times students drive themselves to sessions, or the parent charged with managing the student's education is not always present.

Capture ongoing conversations with parents. What was said two weeks ago? A month ago? Are there multiple administrators in a center communicating to the parent and and those messages consistent? What has been agreed upon? What message resonated with the parent?

Handle billing. Does the parent prepay? If so, then the center has to document how many sessions were purchases and when the credits run out. At that point the center has to get the parent to pay for more. Does the parent post pay? Then the center must create invoices and statements. Figuring out what is owed can be complicated.

Handle payroll. How much does each tutor earn? How many hours did each work? Does payroll match up with the sessions paid by the parent?

Get stuff done. Who is going to follow up with a parent that needs a call back? A parent wants to discuss summer programs in two months. Who is going to call them?

There are endless ways to drop the ball in operating a tutoring center. It's enough to make one's head spin. Keeping the plates spinning was certainly not what motivated educators and entrepreneurs to start their business. Yet, that is precisely what most owners are faced with. Technology can help them pursue their passion for education and make more money doing it!

Most tutor management issues are information management which can be addressed using a variety of software applications and services. There are several choices when choosing technology to automate the business of tutoring. A solution can be assembled using separate software and online services. Centers can use a commercial online service designed for tutor management and test preparation centers. They can also design and build their own online system.

There are infinite ways to assemble a system from pieces. Likely methods include a combination of Google Calendar and Google Documents and maybe an online project management system. The upside is that many of these products are free to use. The downside is that they aren't designed for your business and how well or poorly you and your users can leverage these tools will be completely up to you. There will be no rules for how those systems are used and no business logic that makes sure what you need to have done gets done.

As an 18 year owner of my own tutoring and test prparation center and a co-founder of an online tutor management system, I can speak from experience. Because of the costs and risk associated, I don't suggest that you build your own data management system. But if you feel you must, here are some suggestions:

Design a system that is flexible enough to be changed and updated regularly.

Budget tens of thousands of dollars, often times two to three times as much as you first expect.

Be very thorough and detailed in your objectives when communicating to software engineers. Prototype systems as you go to make sure you and your development team are on the same page. It's important to see the reality of how your system is going to work and will help prevent you from investing large sums of money on untested code.

Take your time. Designs have to be developed and tested gradually to see how they work in a variety of situations.
There are many advantages to using an online commercial tutor management service. The product is likely designed for exactly the business that you're in. It will likely both scale to handle your company's growth, but also contribute to that growth by making what you do more efficient. You also won't be spending time designing software or trying to piece together and monitor the use of disconnected products.

When looking for an existing commercial web-based solution, keep the following in mind.

Find a solution that is built by a tutoring and test preparation business. This is a complex business. Systems that are built for other industries or general purpose use may meet a few objectives, but they will never provide a comprehensive solution. Find something built by people who understand the business. A number of solutions on the market have been created by programmers new to the industry that saw a need and developed a solution they though would be work. These systems tend not to hold up well in the reality of a real world center.

Avoid systems originally developed for a specific company. It is not surprising that companies that invest hundreds of thousands of dollars on a custom solution attempt to recoup some of their costs by offering the solution to other companies. These systems are notoriously inflexible. Systems intended for use by a variety of companies must be designed with flexibility and customization from the beginning.

Avoid systems that charge based on your number of students. This is a classic pricing model. It might be cheap in the beginning, but costs more and more over time unless you are willing to remove past students from your system. Never do this. Historical data is extremely valuable. Look for a system the charges based on your usage. If your summer is slower, then you should pay less just like any other utility.

Look for services with long track records. If you go with a web-based system, then you will have to trust that company to protect your data and keep it secure and confidential. Companies with long track records, high retention rates, and strong testimonials are likely worthy of your trust.

Check references. Just like parents to your tutoring center likely found you through a friend's referral, check the references of systems providers. If a company can't find an actual company willing to use and recommend their product, it's likely best to steer clear.

Look for systems that make it easy to communicate with parents. Remember, parents are your best referrals. Give tutoring for mathematics to refer you over your competition. Strong communication will turn problem students that need extra help into your best referral sources. You can be the parent's first experience with a partner in education that keeps them informed and continues to work towards solutions. Remember, if you are communication valuable information in regular session logs, then parents are going to open your emails and you can include valuable branding in these communications.

Choose a system that makes it easy for an owner or director to oversee daily operations. Look for a system that pushes data towards administrators for special attention. Avoid those that require digging to find the data you need to make decisions.

Due to the increasing importance of education, many parents and schools choose to hire tutors. Parents hire freelancer tutors and work with private tutoring services. Parents hire instructors for tasks such as math tutoring, and SAT prep. However, many parents do not exactly understand what makes a good tutor.

Tutors often think that they are well qualified because they possess adequate understanding of the subject matter. Many people say that one possesses adequate knowledge of a subject when he can lecture in the subject. However, there are many other aspects to being a good tutor and having adequate knowledge in the subject will not necessarily make the tutor a good tutor.

Of tutor louisville ky , understanding the subject matter is critical to being a good tutor. No tutor is able to adequately explain material to a struggling student if he does not understand it well enough himself. That does not mean that the tutor has to have every single minor aspect of the subject memorize. But the tutor should be able to understand the subject matter after a short review before the session.

Simple knowledge of a subject is generally insufficient to be a good tutor. A tutor has to have true understanding of a subject. For example, an inexperienced math tutor may know the Quadratic formula but a great tutor can also derive it. A decent Literature tutor understands the plot and themes of To Kill a Mockingbird. But a great tutor also understands the history behind the novel.

A good tutor should be an experienced tutor. The more experienced the tutor is, the more likely he will address the student's issues. Inexperienced tutors should first consider volunteering and tutoring family and friends before charging for their services.

Another important aspect of tutoring is having good communication skills. A tutor has to not only know the subject matter but also be able to adequately explain it. Someone may be able to solve any math problem but he will not necessarily make his solution understandable to the student.

A good tutor is a good evaluator of the student's performance. Often, students do not understand exactly what their problems in a course are. They often just know that they are struggling or that they are getting bad grades. A good tutor can understand what gaps and misunderstandings the student has and can provide review of these particular subject areas.

Another characteristic of a good tutor is the ability to understand the student's situation. Students who work with tutors generally are frustrated and a tutor should not never make the situation worse. Also, students can often have learning disabilities so a tutor may need to explain certain aspects differently or use a slower tutoring pace. They should also be forgiving of minor misbehavior by a student as the misbehavior may be caused by stress.

Due to the increasing importance of education, many parents and schools choose to hire tutors. Parents hire freelancer tutors and work with private tutoring services. Parents hire instructors for tasks such as math tutoring, and SAT prep. However, many parents do not exactly understand what makes a good tutor.

Tutors often think that they are well qualified because they possess adequate understanding of the subject matter. Many people say that one possesses adequate knowledge of a subject when he can lecture in the subject. However, there are many other aspects to being a good tutor and having adequate knowledge in the subject will not necessarily make the tutor a good tutor.

Of course, understanding the subject matter is critical to being a good tutor. No tutor is able to adequately explain material to a struggling student if he does not understand it well enough himself. That does not mean that the tutor has to have every single minor aspect of the subject memorize. But the tutor should be able to understand the subject matter after a short review before the session.

Simple knowledge of a subject is generally insufficient to be a good tutor. A tutor has to have true understanding of a subject. For example, an inexperienced math tutor may know the Quadratic formula but a great tutor can also derive it. A decent Literature tutor understands the plot and themes of To Kill a Mockingbird. But a great tutor also understands the history behind the novel.

A good tutor should be an experienced tutor. The more experienced the tutor is, the more likely he will address the student's issues. Inexperienced tutors should first consider volunteering and tutoring family and friends before charging for their services.

Another important aspect of tutoring is having good communication skills. A tutor has to not only know the subject matter but also be able to adequately explain it. best typing websites may be able to solve any math problem but he will not necessarily make his solution understandable to the student.

A good tutor is a good evaluator of the student's performance. Often, students do not understand exactly what their problems in a course are. They often just know that they are struggling or that they are getting bad grades. A good tutor can understand what gaps and misunderstandings the student has and can provide review of these particular subject areas.

Another characteristic of a good tutor is the ability to understand the student's situation. Students who work with tutors generally are frustrated and a tutor should not never make the situation worse. Also, students can often have learning disabilities so a tutor may need to explain certain aspects differently or use a slower tutoring pace. They should also be forgiving of minor misbehavior by a student as the misbehavior may be caused by stress.