Tutoring in Washington, DC
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Washington, 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.
Public school in Washington comes in two sectors. DC Public Schools gives every address an in-boundary school that a child has a right to attend from kindergarten up. Public charter schools, each run independently, enroll students from anywhere in the city. One application, My School DC, covers both, and families rank up to 12 schools for a single lottery. It is required for pre-K, for a DCPS school outside a child's boundary or feeder pattern, and for selective DCPS high schools. Deadlines fall in early February for grades 9 to 12 and early March for younger grades.
State tests Washington students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | DC CAPE | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | DC Science | Not tested | Not tested | DC Science | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
- DC CAPE (District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessments of Progress in Education): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- DC Science (DC CAPE science assessment): science, grades 5 and 8
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education says a student's 2027 scores cannot be compared directly with the 2026 ones. A different performance level this year does not by itself show a gain or a drop.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. District of Columbia 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 DC CAPE. 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 Arlington, Alexandria, Silver Spring, Bethesda, Takoma Park and Hyattsville as it does in Washington.
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 Washington, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at District of Columbia Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at Howard University, Georgetown University, George Washington University or American 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.