Tutoring in Indianapolis, Indiana
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Indianapolis, 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.
Eleven school districts operate inside Indianapolis. Indianapolis Public Schools covers the center, eight township districts surround it, and Beech Grove and Speedway run their own. Which one a child attends depends on the address, so two homes a mile apart can follow different calendars. Indianapolis Public Schools calls itself a school choice district. Each address sits in an enrollment zone, and schools in that zone come with transportation, but a family can apply to any school in the district through a lottery for the next year. The district also includes Innovation Network Schools.
State tests Indianapolis students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | Not tested | Not tested | SAT | Not tested |
| Math | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | ILEARN | Not tested | Not tested | SAT | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | ILEARN | Not tested | ILEARN | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
- ILEARN (Indiana's Learning Evaluation and Assessment Readiness Network): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- ILEARN: science, grades 4 and 6
- SAT: reading and writing, math, grade 11
A third grader who has not passed IREAD by the end of the summer retest, and who does not qualify for a good cause exemption, is held back in third grade. The spring test is in early March, well before ILEARN.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Indiana 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 ILEARN. 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 Carmel, Fishers, Greenwood, Speedway, Lawrence and Avon as it does in Indianapolis.
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 Indianapolis, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Indianapolis Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at Indiana University Indianapolis, Butler University, University of Indianapolis or Marian 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.