Tutoring in Detroit, Michigan
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Detroit, 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.
Five high schools in Detroit Public Schools Community District admit by examination: Cass Technical, Renaissance, Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High, Southeastern and the School at Marygrove. Applicants take the High School Placement Test, which covers reading, math, English language arts and science. District eighth graders sit it in November for ninth grade the following fall, and students from outside the district can apply and test as well. The application cycle opens in the fall. Charter schools in the city enroll separately from the district.
State tests Detroit students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 10 | SAT | Not tested |
| Math | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | M-STEP | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 8/9 | PSAT 10 | SAT | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | M-STEP | Not tested | Not tested | M-STEP | Not tested | Not tested | M-STEP | Not tested |
- M-STEP (Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 7
- M-STEP: science, grades 5, 8 and 11
- PSAT 8/9: reading and writing, math, grades 8 and 9
- PSAT 10: reading and writing, math, grade 10
- SAT: reading and writing, math, grade 11
The state SAT changed for 2026-27. The essay is gone, and schools are no longer required to print the score on the high school transcript, so advice from families who tested before 2027 is out of date on both points.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Michigan 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 M-STEP. 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 Dearborn, Hamtramck, Highland Park, Southfield, Warren and Grosse Pointe as it does in Detroit.
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 Detroit, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Detroit Public Schools Community District can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at Wayne State University, University of Detroit Mercy, College for Creative Studies or Wayne County Community College District, 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.