Tutoring in Fargo, North Dakota
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Fargo, 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.
Fargo Public Schools serves most of the city, with North, South and Davies as its comprehensive high schools. Southwest Fargo is the exception. Many of its neighborhoods are in the West Fargo Public Schools district, which runs West Fargo, Sheyenne and Horace high schools. Families can ask to attend a school outside their boundary through Fargo's open enrollment and petition process. Moorhead, across the Red River, is in Minnesota, where students take Minnesota's state tests and follow its graduation rules instead of North Dakota's.
State tests Fargo students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | Not tested | ND A+ Summative | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | ND A+ Summative | Not tested | ND A+ Summative | Not tested | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | ND A+ Summative Science | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | ND A+ Summative Science | Not tested | ND A+ Summative Science | Not tested | Not tested |
- ND A+ Summative: reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8 and 10
- ND A+ Summative Science: science, grades 4, 8 and 10
Graduates must pass the state civics exam with at least 70 percent correct, and retakes are allowed. Separately, the North Dakota Scholarship's postsecondary pathway asks for an ACT of 24 or higher, on a test the state no longer pays for.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. North Dakota 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 ND A+ Summative. 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 West Fargo, Moorhead, Horace, Dilworth and Harwood as it does in Fargo.
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 Fargo, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Fargo Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at North Dakota State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead or Concordia 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.