Tutoring in Buffalo, New York
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Buffalo, 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.
Buffalo Public Schools is the only district inside the city limits, and a group of its schools admit by criteria. City Honors, Frederick Law Olmsted and Hutchinson Central Technical each ask applicants to meet their own entrance requirements, and the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts holds auditions. Charter schools in the city enroll through their own applications. The suburbs begin at the city line, so families in Amherst, Cheektowaga, West Seneca and the Kenmore-Tonawanda district are in separate systems with separate calendars.
State tests Buffalo students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | NYS Grades 3-8 Tests | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | NYS Science Tests | Not tested | Not tested | NYS Science Tests | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
- NYS Grades 3-8 Tests (New York State Grades 3-8 English Language Arts and Mathematics Tests): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- NYS Science Tests (New York State Elementary-level (Grade 5) and Intermediate-level (Grade 8) Science Tests): science, grades 5 and 8
Dropping the Regents exams as a diploma requirement is still a proposal. Until the Board of Regents adopts it the existing rules apply, so a Regents exam taken this June in ninth or tenth grade counts toward the diploma.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. New York 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 the NYS Grades 3-8 Tests. 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 Amherst, Cheektowaga, Tonawanda, Kenmore, West Seneca and Lackawanna as it does in Buffalo.
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 Buffalo, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Buffalo Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at University at Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo State University, Canisius University or D'Youville University, 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.