Tutoring in San Francisco, California
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in San Francisco, 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.
A San Francisco address does not come with an assigned school. Families submit an application to San Francisco Unified ranking the schools they want, and each student is placed in the highest-ranked school that has room. When a school has more requests than seats, tiebreakers such as a sibling already enrolled or living in the attendance area decide who gets in. Two high schools sit outside that process. Lowell is the only one in the district with academic admissions criteria, and Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts admits by audition.
State tests San Francisco students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Not tested | Not tested | Smarter Balanced | Not tested |
| Math | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Not tested | Not tested | Smarter Balanced | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | CAST | Not tested | Not tested | CAST | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
- Smarter Balanced (Smarter Balanced Summative Assessments, part of CAASPP): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8 and 11
- CAST (California Science Test): science, grades 5 and 8
The University of California and California State University admit only students who finished 15 specific year-long college-prep courses, known as A-G, with a C or better. The state's minimum diploma does not require all of them, so a student can graduate on time and still be ineligible.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. California 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 Smarter Balanced. 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 Daly City, South San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and San Mateo as it does in San Francisco.
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 San Francisco, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at San Francisco Unified School District can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at San Francisco State University, University of San Francisco, City College of San Francisco or UC San Francisco, 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.