Tutoring in Cincinnati, Ohio
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Cincinnati, 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.
Elementary students in Cincinnati Public Schools are assigned to a neighborhood school by address, and magnet schools fill their seats by lottery from online applications made a year ahead. High school works by application too. Students entering grades 7 to 9 rank schools in the district School Selection Process. Walnut Hills High School, which runs from grades 7 to 12, is the exception. Admission requires a minimum score on the Walnut Hills Entrance Exam. Every district sixth grader takes it at school in the fall, and students from outside the district can sit it on a Saturday.
State tests Cincinnati students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Ohio's State Tests | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | Ohio's State Tests | Not tested | Not tested | Ohio's State Tests | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
- Ohio's State Tests: reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- Ohio's State Tests: science, grades 5 and 8
Ohio ties fourth grade to reading. A third grader needs the promotion score on the grade 3 English language arts test to move to fourth grade. Since 2023-24 a parent can ask for promotion anyway, after talking with the reading teacher and principal, and the child then keeps getting intensive reading instruction.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Ohio 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 Ohio's State 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 Norwood, Blue Ash, Mason, Fairfield and Covington as it does in Cincinnati.
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 Cincinnati, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Cincinnati Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at University of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College or Mount St. Joseph 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.