Tutoring in Montgomery, Alabama
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Montgomery, and we have no office there. If you want a person, this page says how we would look for one. If the question is which skill is missing, we can help with that part.
Montgomery Public Schools is a county system, so it covers the city and the rest of Montgomery County with one exception: the town of Pike Road, on the east side, runs its own schools. Inside the district, traditional schools are assigned by address and a group of magnet schools admit by application. The towns to the north are in other counties. Prattville is served by Autauga County Schools, and Millbrook and Wetumpka by Elmore County Public Schools, each on its own calendar.
State tests Montgomery students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | Not tested | PreACT Secure | ACT with Writing | Not tested |
| Math | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | ACAP Summative | Not tested | PreACT Secure | ACT with Writing | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | ACAP Summative | Not tested | ACAP Summative | Not tested | ACAP Summative | Not tested | PreACT Secure | ACT with Writing | Not tested |
- ACAP Summative (Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- ACAP Summative: science, grades 4, 6 and 8
- PreACT Secure: reading and writing, math, science, grade 10
- ACT with Writing: reading and writing, math, science, grade 11
Under the Alabama Literacy Act, a third grader who scores below the state reading cut score on ACAP can be held back unless a good cause exemption applies. Students who miss it get another try on the ACAP Supplemental Reading Test, given in one week of June and one week of July.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Alabama guide
Kolu finds the missing skill and goes back to it
It starts with a skill check, a short test that gets harder or easier depending on the last answer. The result is a map of the subject broken into skills with their prerequisites drawn in, each one marked as solid, still being learned, or a gap.
After that, each session is a handful of activities picked for that student, usually something due for review, a gap to repair and one new skill. When an answer is wrong, Kolu looks at which earlier skill the mistake points to and goes back to it. Here is what that looks like for a sixth grader who can't divide fractions.
The problem on the page
3/4 ÷ 2/5
Dividing fractions
Grade 6
Multiplying fractions
Grade 5 · rests on the one below
Equivalent fractions
Grade 4 · usually where it started
Multiplication facts
Grade 3
Kolu does not call a skill mastered after one right answer. That takes correct work on different kinds of problems on different days, and a skill that fades gets brought back.
Kolu is not test prep for ACAP Summative. It has no bank of released questions. It teaches the skills the test draws on, and it will not do tonight's homework.
It runs in a browser, so it works the same in Prattville, Millbrook, Wetumpka and Pike Road as it does in Montgomery.
When to hire a person instead
Some students need a person, and software is the wrong purchase for them. That includes a child who shuts down when the work gets hard, a student with a learning disability who needs someone trained in it, and anyone with an exam in ten days.
In Montgomery, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Montgomery Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at Alabama State University, Auburn University at Montgomery, Huntingdon College or Faulkner University, who took these courses recently and usually charge less than an agency.
Whoever you hire, ask one question before the first session: how will you find out what my child doesn't know? If the answer is that they will go over the homework, keep looking.
Free for one subject, $15 a month for 5
Kolu is free for one subject at a time, with one full skill check every 30 days and up to 4 sessions a day. Plus is $15 a month, or $120 for a year, and covers 5 subjects at once with unlimited skill checks. A learner under 13 needs a parent or guardian to set up the account.