Tutoring in Burlington, Vermont
Kolu is software. Nobody from Kolu will drive to your house in Burlington, 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 Burlington School District serves the city and nothing beyond it. It has six elementary schools, and two of them, the Integrated Arts Academy and the Sustainability Academy, are magnet schools built around a theme. Edmunds and Hunt are the two middle schools. Everyone finishes at Burlington High School, which opened a new building on Institute Road in fall 2026 after several years in a converted downtown department store. Burlington Technical Center shares that campus and offers career programs to high school students.
State tests Burlington students take
| Grade | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reading and writing | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Math | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | VTCAP | Not tested | Not tested | Not tested |
| Science | Not tested | Not tested | VTCAP Science | Not tested | Not tested | VTCAP Science | Not tested | Not tested | VTCAP Science | Not tested |
- VTCAP (Vermont Comprehensive Assessment Program): reading and writing, math, grades 3 through 9
- VTCAP Science: science, grades 5, 8 and 11
Graduation rules are changing. Under Act 73 the state is replacing each district's own requirements with statewide ones, due to be final by July 1, 2027 and to apply first to the class of 2031, the students who start ninth grade in fall 2027.
Testing dates and graduation rules for the whole state are on a separate page. Vermont 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 VTCAP. 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 South Burlington, Winooski, Colchester, Essex, Williston and Shelburne as it does in Burlington.
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 Burlington, ask the school first. Teachers know who tutors, and a counselor at Burlington School District can tell you what the district already offers at no cost. After that, try students at University of Vermont, Champlain College or Saint Michael's 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.