7 questions to ask before you hire an online tutor

You have an hour tonight and four browser tabs open. These are the seven questions worth asking, in the order worth asking them, and what a good answer actually sounds like. A tutor who is any good will not mind being asked.

1. Who checked you, and what did they check?

A directory lets anyone write a profile. A marketplace that means it will tell you exactly what it verified: identity, credentials, a subject assessment, a recorded mock session, references. Ask which of those actually happened.

A weak answer is "all our tutors are qualified". A good answer is a list, and a rejection rate. If nobody ever fails the screening, there is no screening.

2. Which curriculum will you be teaching to?

Canada does not have one curriculum, it has thirteen. A tutor working with an Ontario grade 9 student should know that the EQAO grade 9 mathematics assessment exists and when it happens. A tutor in Alberta should be able to say what a diploma exam is worth.

The answer you want names the province and the assessment. The answer you do not want is "we cover all of math".

3. Will my child have the same tutor every week?

Rotating tutors is efficient for the platform and expensive for your child, who spends the first fifteen minutes of every session re-explaining themselves. Ask whether the match is a person or a pool.

If it is a pool, ask what happens when the tutor your child likes is unavailable.

4. What will you send me after each session?

This is the question that separates tutoring from babysitting with worksheets. You want to know what was covered, what went well, what needs practice, and the goal for next time, in writing, in your language.

Verbal updates at the door are not a record. In eight weeks you will want to see whether anything moved.

5. What happens in the first session?

A good first session is mostly diagnosis. The tutor should be finding out which specific step your child is missing, not starting at the beginning of the textbook.

Ask what they will send you to prepare. Three things in advance, the last test, the current unit and the teacher's comment, saves twenty minutes of the hour you are paying for.

6. What does it cost, all in?

Ask for the hourly rate, the platform fee, the cancellation policy and the notice period, together, in one number per session. Package pricing that only works if you buy twenty hours is a commitment, not a discount.

Also ask what happens if it is not working after three sessions.

7. What would make you tell me my child does not need you?

The most useful question of the seven. Some children need a tutor. Some need a reading assessment, a change of seat, or eight weeks of consistent homework time.

A tutor who has never sent a family somewhere else is either very lucky or not paying attention.

If you ask these seven questions and get seven straight answers, you have found someone worth an hour a week. If the answers are adjectives, keep the tab open and try the next one.