What Are the Benefits of Tutoring?

Tutoring is the best way to improve a student’s education. Although tutoring is for everyone, there are two common examples of students that I see seeking it. Students seeking tutoring either fall behind in a subject or find school lame. 

Students could fall behind in a subject because they missed school for some lengthy amount of time, or because a foundational topic has proven difficult to master. The train that is school is on a schedule, and it will reach its destination on time with or without all of its passengers. The unfortunate ones that exited the train are left on their own to catch up, often leading to an unattainable gap.

I can relate to those students that find school boring because it is. Teachers sometimes struggle with making topics interesting, school work feels like chores, and more often than not, school feels like a job.

While these are valid points, that’s not why I found school uninteresting. Sometimes life isn’t easy. My homelife, for example, made school feel far less important than the more dire concerns within my family. School wasn’t a priority of mine, and it stayed that way until I had a steady job and my own place to live.

Regardless of why you’re here, you will find some of the benefits of tutoring below.

Grade Improvement is Only One of the Benefits of Tutoring

Tutoring is the quickest way to improve student grades. Studies show that students that receive tutoring improve their test scores by 12% on average. The usual one-on-one tutoring approach allows students to receive a personalized education. Strong tutors learn about their students and leverage this knowledge to carve lessons into the most digestible way for the student. 

I once tutored a student that we call Lisa (for confidentiality purposes).

Lisa was a senior in high school, but was on the verge of missing out on graduation due to having a failing grade in a needed history course. We only had two months to improve her grade. Our first session started with her tearfully saying, “If I can’t improve my grade, then I’ll probably work in fast food for the rest of my life.” Dramatic, yes, but she was scared. We worked hard, mostly Lisa, and she was able to pass her class and graduate. Seeing Lisa’s face light up with pride when she told me the news that she passed and that planned on going to college was one of the proudest moments of my career.

Improved Confidence and Resilience

One unfortunate byproduct of the American education system is a fear of failure. This causes a lot of harm to students, one of which is that their confidence is directly tied to their answering questions correctly. Missing a few questions can quickly drop a student’s confidence. This can show itself in many ways. Personally, it presented itself in the form of test anxiety. No matter how hard I studied and how confident I felt before the test, it would seem to disappear as soon as the tests came out. 

Tutors create safe environments where students are expected to make mistakes without fear of consequence and to learn from their mistakes at their own pace. This leads to an increase in student confidence because it creates strong students that believe in themselves without being afraid to be challenged academically, or otherwise.

My priority as a tutor is to build student confidence and resilience, but one student in particular stands out in my mind, Tyrone. 

He was shy, guarded and extremely nervous. With a bit of a stutter, he avoided speaking. Making eye contact with me seemed to hurt him. To make matters worse, his collegiate career was in jeopardy due to a math class that he had previously failed twice already. A consistent saying of his at the beginning of our sessions was, “I just don’t have a brain made for math.” 

As our sessions continued Tyrone began to be more confident in his math ability. Incorrect questions no longer caused him to bury his head in defeat, but instead he would immediately try again, often correcting his own mistakes. However cool it was to see him be confident in his work, it was his confidence outside of the classroom that was truly amazing. Tyrone dressed more confidently, spoke up more, and most importantly, he smiled a lot. His transformation didn’t go unnoticed. His dad told me that tutoring with me had been one of the most impactful things in Tyrone’s life and for that he would always be thankful regardless of the outcome in his math class. 

Lifelong Learners

Tutoring teaches students how to be lifelong learners. A lifelong learner is someone who is curious, playful, and independent. They crave knowledge and find learning fun. Learning for them is a way of life. Lifelong learners have been shown to have more success as an adult, reduced brain related aging, and reduced stress and anxiety.

Every tutor I know is also a lifelong learner. They are experts in at least one field, and they are often learning new skills because they enjoy it. They know how fun and exciting learning is, and they pass their enthusiasm on to their tutees.  

Students not only find learning thrilling, but they are also taught the hands-on-skills of how to learn effectively. Through tutoring, a student will discover how they individually learn best, how to study appropriately, and how to explore any topic they find interesting. 

It is my personal goal to make every student I tutor a lifelong learner. Children are the future, and I want to do my part to ensure that the future has more adults that value knowledge, are question driven, and have the skills to learn independently.

To summarize, tutoring provides individualized learning that best meets the student’s needs, increases the student’s confidence and resilience, and makes learning fun. Tutoring will not only make a student earn better grades, but it can make a long lasting positive impact on the student’s life.

Ready to see these benefits firsthand for you, or your child? Reach out to learn more about our personalized tutoring programs!