Tutoring in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Pittsburgh, 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.
Pittsburgh Public Schools gives every address a feeder school for each grade from kindergarten through twelfth. Magnet schools and programs are the alternative. Any student living in the district can apply, the application opens in January, and the deadline to be in the lottery falls in mid-February. Pittsburgh CAPA, the arts school for grades 6 to 12, admits by audition on the same timeline. The district covers the city and Mount Oliver only, so Mt. Lebanon, Penn Hills and the other Allegheny County suburbs run their own schools.
State tests Pittsburgh students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | PSSA | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | PSSA Science | Not tested | Not tested | PSSA Science | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
- PSSA (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- PSSA Science (Pennsylvania System of School Assessment in Science): science, grades 5 and 8
Keystone scores count toward the Act 158 graduation pathways whenever they are earned, middle school included. A student who misses proficient can retake the exam in a later window or use one of the other pathways, each of which has its own requirements.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Pennsylvania 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 PSSA. 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 Mount Oliver, Mt. Lebanon, Penn Hills, Wilkinsburg, Bethel Park and Ross Township as it does in Pittsburgh.
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 Pittsburgh, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Pittsburgh Public Schools can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University or Community College of Allegheny County, 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.