Tutoring in Maine
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Maine, 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.
Maine tests reading and math more than once a year. The Maine Through Year Assessment, built by NWEA, is given in the fall and again in the spring to every student in grades 3 to 8 and in the second year of high school, and schools may add a winter round. Science is separate. The Maine Science Assessment is given once, in grades 5 and 8 in May and in the third year of high school in April. Both tests are taken online and the reading and math test is untimed, so a sitting can stretch over more than one day. The state no longer puts every junior through the SAT, which means a family has to register for a college admission test on its own.
What Maine tests, and when
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Not tested | Maine Through Year Assessment | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Maine Through Year Assessment | Not tested | Maine Through Year Assessment | Not tested | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | Maine Science Assessment | Not tested | Not tested | Maine Science Assessment | Not tested | Not tested | Maine Science Assessment | Not tested |
- Maine Through Year Assessment: reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8 and 10
- Maine Science Assessment: science, grades 5, 8 and 11
- Main testing window
- mid-April to late May, after a required fall round from mid-September to late October
- Standards
- Maine Learning Results
The fall round counts. It is a required state test, it opens two weeks into September, and in 2026 it runs from September 14 into late October.
Is there a graduation test in Maine?
No. Maine does not require a passing score on any state test for a diploma, and each school district awards diplomas under the standards in state law.
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 the Maine Through Year Assessment. It has no bank of released questions. It teaches the skills the test draws on, and it will not do tonight's homework.
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.
Ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. A nearby college is the next place to look, since students there 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.