Algebra tutoring in New Jersey
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in New Jersey, 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.
In high school, Algebra I and Algebra II each have a state exam (NJSLA-A Mathematics), taken in whatever year the student takes the course. For students who take the course early, that can be eighth grade. The main testing window is mid-April to late May, with the grade 11 graduation test in March.
Algebra I assumes middle school went well
Algebra I is where students who got by on memorized procedures run out of procedures. The course assumes negative numbers, fractions and the distributive property are automatic. For a lot of ninth graders they aren't, and the course doesn't stop to check.
Watch what happens with 3(x − 4) = 2x + 5. The algebra in it is one idea, which is to do the same thing to both sides. Most wrong answers come from somewhere else, usually 3 times −4 turning into −7 or +12. A student can practice solving equations for a month and keep losing points to a seventh-grade skill.
The problem on the page
3(x − 4) = 2x + 5
Solving multi-step equations
Algebra I
Distributive property
Grade 6 · rests on the one below
Multiplying and subtracting negative numbers
Grade 7 · usually where it started
Order of operations
Grade 5
What New Jersey tests, by grade
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | Not tested | NJGPA-A | Not tested |
| Math | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | NJSLA-A | Not tested | Not tested | NJGPA-A | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | NJSLA Science | Not tested | Not tested | NJSLA Science | Not tested | Not tested | NJSLA Science | Not tested |
- NJSLA-A (New Jersey Student Learning Assessments-Adaptive): reading and writing, grades 3 through 9
- NJSLA-A: math, grades 3 through 8
- NJSLA Science (New Jersey Student Learning Assessment for Science): science, grades 5, 8 and 11
- NJGPA-A (New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment-Adaptive): reading and writing, math, grade 11
Testing dates, graduation rules and the one deadline families miss are on a separate page. New Jersey guide
Kolu finds the missing skill and goes back to it
In Kolu, Algebra I is a map of skills with the middle-school ones still attached. When a student misses an equation, the grader looks at how it was missed. A dropped negative sends the next few activities to integer arithmetic and then back to equations, to see whether the fix held. Students type algebra as algebra, and 2x + 5 and 5 + 2x are the same answer.
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 NJSLA-A. 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
A person is worth paying for when a student is failing the class right now and the semester grade is at stake. Someone who can look at the teacher's own tests and decide what to skip will do more in three weeks than a program will.
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.