How to find a tutor
If you’re looking for someone to help you with your schoolwork or basic skills, you’ve got plenty of options! You might want to look into free services first. Ask your teacher or guidance counselor if there are any peer tutoring programs at your school that you could sign up for. There might be programs during lunch, study hall periods, or after school.

Another option is to seek out a friend. If you have a friend that you think would make a good teacher, talk it over with him/her and your parents. If learning from a friend won’t be too distracting, you might exchange “lessons” (for example, you teach your friend some dance moves, he/she tutors you) or offer a small payment. If you are advanced in one subject and your friend in another, you could teach each other your areas of expertise.

The next step would be to find a professional tutor or learning center. Check out the options in your area, and take a look under our “Resources” for more ideas on where you can go to get help.

Becoming a tutor
Do you want to tutor? If so, ask yourself the following questions:

• What subject would I tutor in? (This should be a subject you’re strong in)
• Are there programs at my school that I can get involved with?
• Do I want to be paid for my services or do I want to volunteer or do community service?
• How comfortable would I be teaching people I don’t know very well?
• Where would I tutor? (The library, the school, my house, the tutee’s house)
• How long will I be willing to tutor?
• Am I keeping up in school so that I’ll have time to tutor?
• Are my parents OK with this plan? 
• What age group would I tutor?

If there are no programs in place at your school, you might want to start your own. You can post flyers around your school and the community to advertise your services. If you become a tutor be sure you look over the National Tutoring Association’s website for rules that you should follow. Remember that doing the work FOR your students is NOT the goal. As a tutor your job is to help your tutee learn for him or herself. Think of yourself as a guide – you should point your tutee in the right direction, but let him/her go through the process.