Why Working With a Tutor Produces Results
Hiring a tutor is like hiring a personal trainer to build confidence and better grades
Have you ever worked out with a personal trainer?
It’s hard. And builds confidence. And because of that, there are so many gains.
It’s not like being in a group class, where you can hide in the back of the crowd and slack off a little when you are getting tired. And it’s definitely not like working out on Zoom (with your camera off) or watching a Youtube video, where no one can see you crumple on the floor after only 10 minutes.
Working out with a personal trainer is powerful and targeted. You get a lot of specific feedback. Your workout is customized just for you as your trainer is diagnosing and prescribing all the time. There is accountability as well—someone watching you and rooting you on when you get tired. Trainers push you out of your comfort zone and push you to the limit. And you push yourself to do more because you build a relationship with that trainer, showing up and grinding it out even when you don’t think you can. Because of that, you make gains. Lots of them. Results come much faster than working out by yourself or in a group class. And your confidence blossoms.
One-on-one tutoring does the same thing
Tutoring is powerful and targeted. There is a lot of specific feedback, as the tutor is constantly diagnosing and prescribing the next steps to take a student to the next level. The learning is customized and there’s accountability—right there in the moment. Tutors expertly push students out of their comfort zones and to the zone of proximal development—the perfect, research-based optimal learning point. And the student then pushes themselves to do more because a relationship has been built. For this is the person who encourages a student to always show up and do their best, even when they don’t think they can. And because of that, they make gains in learning. Lots of them. Results are produced much faster than learning by themselves or in a class. And their confidence blossoms.
What the research says about one-on-one tutoring
Research is strong for one-on-one tutoring. It shows that it is the single most powerful strategy for learning loss, with high dosage tutoring (2-3x a week working one-on-one) showing an effect size that’s one of the largest in education. There is robust evidence that one-on-one tutoring takes students to the next level.
Just like working with a personal trainer can help produce results quicker and more effectively than in a class, so can one-on-one tutoring.
Find out more about how our tutors and academic coaches can work as your child’s academic personal trainer, helping them develop stronger skills, content knowledge, better grades, and confidence in math, reading, writing, science, social studies, history, or in any subject that is feeling prickly. Our tutors are here to help as your child’s personal trainer for academics.
Personal trainer photo courtesy of bruce mars on Unsplash
Believe in yourself photo courtesy of Katrina Wright on Unsplash
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