Tutoring in Las Cruces, New Mexico
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Las Cruces, 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.
Only one district serves the city. Las Cruces Public Schools also takes in Mesilla, the community of Doña Ana and White Sands Missile Range. Its distinctive option is early college. Arrowhead Park Early College High School and Arrowhead Park Medical Academy partner with Doña Ana Community College, so students there work toward college credit and a degree pathway while still in high school. Several charter schools operate in the city as well. South of Las Cruces, communities such as Anthony and Sunland Park belong to the Gadsden district.
State tests Las Cruces students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | Not tested | Not tested | SAT | Not tested |
| Math | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | NM-MSSA | Not tested | Not tested | SAT | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | NM-ASR | Not tested | Not tested | NM-ASR | Not tested | Not tested | NM-ASR | Not tested |
- NM-MSSA (New Mexico Measures of Student Success and Achievement): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- NM-ASR (New Mexico Assessment of Science Readiness): science, grades 5, 8 and 11
- SAT: reading and writing, math, grade 11
The school-day SAT is given once, in a window from early March to late April of junior year. A student who misses it can make it up as a senior, but only as a make-up, so it is worth knowing the school’s test date before planning spring travel or a weekend SAT.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. New Mexico 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 NM-MSSA. 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 Mesilla, Doña Ana, Organ, Anthony and Sunland Park as it does in Las Cruces.
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 Las Cruces, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Las Cruces Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at New Mexico State University or Doña Ana 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.