A business manager’s guide for running a tutoring business
Business description
This manual contains detailed instructions for running the business of tutoring of curricular Math and advanced English for students of grades 9-12 in the US. The business offers both in-house and online courses. This manual focuses only on the in-house part of this tutoring business.
Manual target and scope
This manual is targeted at the lone or small group of business managers who set up and manage the operations of this business. It covers all or some details about product development, human resource management, sales and customer service. It does not cover any details about managing cash flows.
Courses
Course structure and content should be designed by specialized content-designers with adequate qualifications and experience. Each course should contain a 7-15 students.
Course structure: English
Since English is the first language of a large fraction of the students, the courses should aim at improving specific skills required to communicate effectively in English so that they can perform better in other subjects and prepare themselves for further professional studies or pursuits. The course content does not directly cover school syllabus, but intends to teach skills that will help students perform better in those.
Figure 1: Competencies and their specifics for the English curriculum. Source: Author name
Courses should be offered for each of the 3 core competencies – speaking, writing and reading. Courses contain lecture hours and practice hours, both of which are in-class. Course content should be based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Speaking
3 levels of courses in speaking should be offered, covering the aspects - pronunciation, fluency, articulation and vocabulary. Each level should be covered in 3 hours of lectures and 5-7 hours worth of practice exercises.
Writing
3 levels of courses in writing should be offered covering the aspects - grammar, spelling, sentence formation, vocabulary and style. Each level should be covered in 3 hours of lectures and 5-7 hours worth of practice exercises.
Reading
3 levels of courses in reading should be offered covering the aspects - reading speed, comprehension and summarizing. Each level should be covered in 2-4 hours of lectures and 2-4 hours worth of exercises.
Course structure: Mathematics
Courses offered in Mathematics should essentially curricular and cover all topics in the school curriculum for grades 9-12. These are aimed at students who want to improve their understanding of the subject and score better grades in Mathematics.
Courses should be grouped grade-wise. For each grade, the entire curriculum should be should be broken into 8 parts and each part must group together related topics consulting the standard framework laid down by NCTM. The coursework for each of these 8 parts should be independent of the other parts.
The course-structure should be laid down by a skilled content-designer. Individual lesson plans should be designed by the tutors themselves, based on the structure and lesson objectives set down by the content-designer.
Course packages and selection
English
Each level of each competency is a separate course. Students can opt for any number of these courses based on their skill level as assessed by the competency test and should be charged per course. Taking the competency test should be mandatory to ensure standardization of skill levels of students taking part in a course.
The competency test should measure the skill level of the student in each of the 3 competencies based on the objectives of each level. The score on each competency, varying from 1-3, 3 being the highest determines which level of course should be taken by the student for that competency.
Mathematics
Students can opt for any number of the 8 part-courses in each grade and will be charged per part-course that they opt for. Students can also sign up for the entire course at once, in which case bulk-fees would apply.
Course brochure
Written information about courses should be available online on the company website and in the form of a booklet in the company office. 1 booklet for English courses and 1 each for each grade for Mathematics courses should be designed. Each information booklet should be 4 pages in length, including a title page. The title page should contain company name, booklet name, date it was updated on, website name, office address and phone number.
Each booklet should present the complete course structure or syllabus for the subject in the form of a chart. Further, it should include a short summary of the topics to be covered, no. of tuition and practice hours as well as individual course fees for each course. The last page should mention all the payment methods.
In the case of the Mathematics course booklets, only the course structure for that year should be presented. The Mathematics course information booklets should also include fees of the bulk course-packages and savings as compared to the fees for signing up individually for each part course.
Course offerings and time table
A tentative course time-table for each semester should be prepared and displayed on the website 1 month before the start of semester. Hard-copies of the time-table should be given along with the information booklets. A copy of the time table should be displayed on the office notice board. This time table must contain the details of course name in short, day, time and venue for each session.
Caution: Do not forget to account for holidays while making the time table.
Courses should be run only in the evenings on weekdays in slots of 1 hour each followed by a break of 15 minutes. Classes for only 1 part course of each grade can be run at any time, but class timings for different grades may overlap with each other. Class timings for an English course should never overlap with the timings for a math course. Timings for different levels of the same competency may overlap with each other.
The time table should also include time for the mid-course and end-course evaluation, as well as discussion sessions that follow them.
Student evaluation
As part of each course, at least 1 mid-course and 1 end-course evaluation must be done. The tests should be subjective or oral (in the case of English speaking), conducted in a classroom. The duration of a test should be no more than 2 hours. Model answers should be provided to each student immediately after the test. Corrected copies of the test papers must be delivered in the next class. For oral tests, student test must be electronically recorded and feedback should be given along with it. Student queries, common mistakes and feedback should also be addressed in this class.
Apart from these, the tutor may be allowed to give a maximum of 4 online objective tests to students per course or part-course.
Signing-up and Fee payment
Courses can be selected and signed up for online or directly at the centre. Fees for a course must be paid at least 10 days before the course begins. In case someone opts for a bulk course package for Mathematics, fees for the entire package should be taken before the first part-course begins. A course must contain 7-15 students. If 15 students have already signed up for a course, the registrations for the course should be closed. If less than 7 students have signed up for the course 10 days before the course, it should show a waiting status which means that the course will be run only when the minimum no. of students have signed up. This status must be updated to ‘running’ as soon as the minimum no. is attained. If the minimum no. is not reached 10 days before the course was scheduled to begin, students who have already paid the fees are refunded and the course is not run.
Caution: While signing up for a course, the customer should be presented with certain terms and conditions which must be agreed to online or signed by hand at the company office to take care of legal and payment issues.
Refunds
Fees for a single course in ‘running’ status are not refundable under any circumstance, but may be transferred towards fees for an alternate course. In case someone opting for a bulk course wants to leave midway due to medical reasons or relocation, a portion of the advance fees paid may be returned, on presentation of satisfactory documentary proof. The portion to be returned is calculated after deducting the individual courses fees for courses already taken or ongoing, and a fine amounting to 10% of the package course fee. The refundable amount, if any should be paid through a crossed Check.
Payment methods
Payment of fees should be facilitated through the website using a Credit/Debit Card and through Cash or Credit/Debit Card at the company office.
Conduct practices
The tutors should be given the rules of conduct when they are hired, which they must sign as part of the working contract. These rules should contain details about managing students, scheduling extra lectures with students’ consent and reporting students with unruly behavior.
The tutors should be strictly instructed against any kind of verbal abuse or physical punishment to students in class, failing which their contract can be terminated. Students should not be allowed in class any later than 5 minutes after the beginning of the lecture. Tutors must not be allowed to extend lectures more than 5 minutes beyond schedule. In case an extra lecture is required, a time suitable to all the students should be chosen after verbal consultation with the class. If however, no such time can be found, the time that suits the majority of students must be chosen and must not clash with the lecture times of another subject. Students with unacceptable behavior must be brought to the notice of the management by the tutor, in writing. If the student does not cooperate after a warning, a letter should be sent to the student’s guardians. In case of failure to abide by the rules on part of the student, the student should be barred from attending classes without any refund of fees.
Tutor evaluation and feedback
Verbal feedback must be taken by the tutor in the discussion session right after mid-course evaluation of students. Forms for written feedback should be distributed to the students in the last lecture of the course. This form should also be available online and the link to this form should be emailed to the students a day before the last lecture of the course. This form should be designed as a rubric for evaluating the tutor competency in terms of breadth and depth of knowledge, command on lecture delivery and communication with students. It should also contain a section for any additional remarks.
The end-course feedback should be subjectively used by the managing team to suggest improvements in the tutor’s style, allotment of additional courses, pay hikes and in adverse cases, termination.
An online form should be available to students at all times to give feedback to the management about tutors in case they face any problems that they cannot directly sort out with the tutors.
Definition of terms
Curricular: Directly based upon the school syllabus taught to students
Course package: A set of the 8 part-courses that together cover the full year Mathematics curriculum of a particular grade, paid for together and priced so that it costs 20% less than the sum of the fees of each part-course.
Part-course: A course on 1 of the 8 parts of a full year Mathematics syllabus of a particular grade, the contents of which are independent of each of the other part-courses of the same grade.
Rubric: A method for subjective evaluation of performance on the basis of set criteria. Samples can be found online.
References
Council of Europe. (2007). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR). Retrieved July 08, 2012, from Council of Europe: http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/Cadre1_en.asp
MidLink Magazine. (2004, August 02). Rubrics and Evaluation Resources. Retrieved July 7, 2012, from MidLink Magazine Teacher Tools: http://www.ncsu.edu/midlink/ho.html
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (2012). Standards and Focal Points. Retrieved July 08, 2012, from National Council of Teachers of Mathematics: http://www.nctm.org/standards/default.aspx?id=58
