eTutor

Author: Kaitlyn Short

Dr. Martha Angula, an educator with more than 30 years of experience, started eTutor in 1997 to apply her experience in education. eTutor has offices in Chicago, Illinois, Boulder, Colorado, and Park Ridge, Illinois. eTutor is a product of Knowledge Headquarters, Inc. which is a privately held Illinois corporation.

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The Good

• Pricing
• Grade Levels
• Tutor Qualifications

Pricing

eTutor charges their customers $149/month to use their tutoring services. We converted this in a way where we could easily compare it to other companies who mostly charge by the hour. If a student uses five hours during a month, that equates to $29.80 per hour. Students can get more out of the subscription if they utilize the tutors more. If you don't think you'll use tutors more than five hours in a month then it could end being a little pricey. But if you do keep to about five hours each month then this is still a decently good price. We've found that some of the companies will keep their prices below $20/hour. With eTutor, you will get a bang for your buck if you use the service more often.

Grade Levels

eTutor's range of grade levels they cover is from Kindergarten all the way to seniors in high school. This gives potential customers of all ages the ability to go to eTutor for their tutoring needs. We've found that most companies will only service a portion of grades below seniors so this is a great option, especially for families who would like to enroll more than one child. The only way eTutor could improve in this section is if they add tutoring sessions to college/university-level students, but even without it, this option is great.

Tutor Qualifications

Surprisingly, most companies in the tutoring industry do not have any formal processes in place to screen their tutors. This is a criteria that we have found separates the good companies from the best companies. eTutor does require that their tutors have a minimum of a bachelor's degree, and a teacher certification is preferred, but not required. This is far better than the majority of tutoring companies, but what prevents eTutor from being a top-ranked company is that they do not have any kind of review or certification process for potential tutors as well. However, we do think this what they currently have in place is a good basic requirement.

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The Bad

• Learning Tools
• Tutor Availability
• Subjects Covered

Learning Tools

Learning resources are an important part of tutoring especially when a majority of it is done online. The only technological tools eTutor currently has available is live chat. Most top 10 companies in the tutoring industry offer much more than just this. We see options of video conferencing, shared whiteboard space, equation tools, file sharing and more. There is a lot of room for improvement in this area for eTutor. Students benefit from having multiple tools available to them as some work better with a student's learning type.

Tutor Availability

Tutors don't have a set schedule as to when they are available. This is both good and bad. It can be good because that mean tutors might be more flexible with schedule needs, but it can also be bad because you never know when you'll be able to get ahold of your tutor. eTutor has published online that "office hours may be scheduled Monday to Thursday at 3:30, 4:30, and 5:30. Some tutors have sessions scheduled at 6:30 and on Saturdays." We also score companies based off if they match tutors to students, if students can choose their tutors, or if both options are available. eTutors matches their tutors with their students, and we award companies full points if they offer both options so customers can choose what they think is best.

Subjects Covered

eTutor has tutoring available for 21 different subjects. This includes most basic subjects such as math, science, English, and social science. The only core subject they do not cover is foreign language which we see as a problem. Most middle and high schools require a foreign language in order to graduate and this could be an area where students really struggle in. If parents do not have background in the language, then falling back on a tutor would be very important. Not only this, but 21 subjects is not very many in comparison to some tutoring companies which cover sometimes up to 300 subjects.

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The Bottom Line

eTutor is a pretty good option for tutoring. They cover most grade levels, their price is reasonable and their tutoring staff at least shows a basic qualification for assisting students. This is far better than we see a lot of tutoring companies. However, they do have their areas where they can improve in order to become one of the best. Learning tools is a big opportunity as well as needing to add more subjects. If you think your student will spend a lot of time accessing their tutor, eTutor might be a good option as they charge by the month rather than the hour. However, you'll want to make sure they cover your needed subjects.