Before Tutoring, Take Inventory

As an involved parent, you know a thing or two about your child's academic preferences. Maybe your high-school junior excels in American history and reads every presidential biography on the shelf. Or, maybe your fourth-grader loves science so much that he asks for a chemistry set for his birthday. Of course, it's great to know which subject areas your child enjoys most. But when you take on a tutoring role, you need to delve deeper into academic strengths and weaknesses.

Better tutoring translates to better understanding—and that translates to better grades. Only by understanding your child's learning and studying style can you create a personalized, highly effective tutoring method.

Fortunately, there are a number of outstanding assessment tools available. Let's look at two major assessors and explore ways to make them relevant to your child's learning experience.

Learning Style Inventory: Perhaps the best-known learning style inventory (or LSI) is that developed by David Kolb, Ph.D. Kolb's LSI helps people discover their individual learning styles so that they can, among other important things, assess their own problem-solving strengths. Many teachers and professors administer the Kolb LSI to their students, so that instruction can be most effectively tailored to a group's needs. While the Kolb LSI is an excellent option for older students, its focus on career-matching and community involvement can make it less than ideal for younger students. Consider assessing your elementary- or middle-school student's learning style via a briefer, more child-focused LSI, such as the one available free of charge at the New Jersey Education Association's website. This assessment will help you identify your child as a tactile, visual, or auditory learner. (For more on auditory learning, see our recent post.)

Study Skills Inventory: Many children struggle with homework not because they don't understand the subject, but simply because they don't understand the most effective ways in which to study. Distractions such as music and television can really take a toll on a study session's efficacy. So, too, can habits like mindless doodling, reading without being fully engaged, and "powering through" a study session without stopping to take a break. A study skills inventory helps identify both strengths and problem areas. Armed with this information, you can help create a great study environment for your child. The Cook Counseling Center at Virginia Tech offers excellent, free study-skills inventories (as do a number of other schools; just conduct a web search on "study skills inventory"). You will also find valuable studying-skills tips in our recent post about staying on task.

If your child is in need of a tutor, find the best solution for your family.