Tutoring in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Sioux Falls, 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.
The Sioux Falls School District runs four comprehensive high schools, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Jefferson, along with specialty programs that include Spanish immersion and a Career and Technical Education Academy. The city has grown past the district's boundary. Newer neighborhoods on the south side are in the Harrisburg or Tea Area districts, and the east side reaches into Brandon Valley. South Dakota has statewide open enrollment, which lets a family apply to a district or school other than the assigned one.
State tests Sioux Falls students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | Not tested | Not tested | SD-ACT | Not tested |
| Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | SD ELA and SD Math | Not tested | Not tested | SD-ACT | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | SD Science | Not tested | Not tested | SD Science | Not tested | Not tested | SD-ACT | Not tested |
- SD ELA and SD Math: reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 8
- SD Science: science, grades 5 and 8
- SD-ACT (the ACT with writing, given as the South Dakota grade 11 assessment): reading and writing, math, science, grade 11
The South Dakota Opportunity Scholarship asks for an ACT composite or superscore of 24 together with required courses and a 3.0 GPA, or a 28 without the course and GPA conditions. For most juniors the first attempt at that score is the SD-ACT at school in March or April.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. South 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 SD ELA and SD Math. 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 Brandon, Harrisburg, Tea, Hartford and Dell Rapids as it does in Sioux Falls.
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 Sioux Falls, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Sioux Falls School District can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at Augustana University, University of Sioux Falls or Southeast Technical 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.