Tutoring in Reno, Nevada
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Reno, 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.
Reno and Sparks share one district. The Washoe County School District runs the public schools in both cities and in the surrounding county up to Incline Village on Lake Tahoe, so a move between Reno and Sparks changes the zoned school and nothing else. Families who want a school other than the zoned one use the district’s School of Choice process, and the district also has magnet schools and career and technical programs at its high schools. Carson City, to the south, is outside the county and has its own district.
State tests Reno students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Not tested | Not tested | ACT | Not tested |
| Math | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Smarter Balanced | Not tested | Not tested | ACT | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | Nevada Science | Not tested | Not tested | Nevada Science | Not tested | Nevada Science | Not tested | Not tested |
- Smarter Balanced (Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBAC)): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- Nevada Science (Nevada Science Assessment): science, grades 5, 8 and 10
- ACT: reading and writing, math, grade 11
Nevada’s third-grade retention law takes effect on July 1, 2028. From then, a third grader who does not reach the state passing score in reading is held back unless the school approves a good-cause exemption, which makes kindergarten to second grade the years to ask about reading progress.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Nevada 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 Smarter Balanced. 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 Sparks, Sun Valley, Spanish Springs, Verdi, Incline Village and Carson City as it does in Reno.
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 Reno, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Washoe County School District can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at University of Nevada, Reno or Truckee Meadows 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.