Tutoring in Lincoln, Nebraska
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Lincoln, 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.
Lincoln Public Schools is the only public district for the city, so families here deal with a single calendar and course sequence. Its high schools are Lincoln High, East, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, North Star, Northwest and Standing Bear. High school students can also spend part of the day in a focus program, such as the Science Focus Program, the Arts and Humanities Focus Program or The Career Academy, which is run with Southeast Community College. Towns around the city, including Waverly and Hickman, have their own districts.
State tests Lincoln students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | Not tested | Not tested | ACT | Not tested |
| Math | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | NSCAS | Not tested | Not tested | ACT | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | NSCAS Science | Not tested | Not tested | NSCAS Science | Not tested | Not tested | ACT | Not tested |
- NSCAS (Nebraska Student-Centered Assessment System): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- NSCAS Science: science, grades 5 and 8
- ACT: reading and writing, math, science, grade 11
Public high school students must complete and submit the FAFSA to graduate, a rule that began with the class of 2025. A parent or guardian can sign an opt-out form instead, and the form stays with the school.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Nebraska 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 NSCAS. 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 Waverly, Hickman, Seward, Crete and Eagle as it does in Lincoln.
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 Lincoln, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Lincoln Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Union Adventist University or Southeast Community College, 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.