Online tutoring is a major business! The options for remote tutoring work are overwhelmingly large. Not only are there several options specifically for learning languages or English (check out my post about the best ESL tutoring company), but there are also very specific online tutoring positions that can be found through universities and companies that specialize in test prep (i.e. Kaplan).
What I am going to focus on in this article, are companies that hire teachers/tutors for a wide range of academic skills, needs, and ages. I also focused on the companies with the most accessible websites and ease to apply. (If you can’t find them, how will parents?)
Two tutoring companies that are worth mentioning, but are not ranked, are SpecialEdTutoring.com and Aristotle Circle. Special Ed Tutoring specifically tailors it’s need to students that have unique needs, and Aristotle Circle is a peer to peer tutoring service.
Scoring
The rankings are as data driven as possible. To do that, a rubric based on 6 criteria was used. These criteria are: pay, flexibility for teachers, advertisement or ease at which tutors are paired with students, reviews from tutors, how support is given, and how hard it is to be hired within the company (NOTE: this is somewhat subjective because some people may want to work for a company with more rigorous standards.) The company was also given 3 bonus points if they had won any awards as a company.
Points were awarded based a rubric of 1-3. A total of 18 points could be earned by any company, plus the additional 3 bonus points for awards. The rubric goes as follows:
The Quick Results (out of 21 possible points)
InstaEdu or Chegg Tutors (same company): 20
PrepNow or StudyPoint: 17
Club Z!: 17
TutorMe: 15
Elevate K12: 14
TakeLessons: 14
Pearson Smart Thinking: 13
Skooli: 12
Varsity Tutors: 11
Brainfuse: 11
Tutor.com: 9
MindLaunch: 8
Extra Considerations
While the overall score may be the best company to tutor with, different companies offer various options that might be more attractive. Take a look at these specific area winners as you consider which company is the best fit for you!
Most extensive curriculum for tutors to use: Club Z!
Most control over income: TakeLessons
Best employee reviews: Club Z!
Highest qualified tutors: Skooli
Most awards won: TutorMe
Highest consumer ratings: TutorMe
Offers tutoring services during the normal work day (9 AM – 5 PM): Elevate K12
The Comprehensive Results
- Pay: Chegg Tutors pays $20 per hour AND allows tutors to calculate time spent interacting with the student outside of sessions. This awarded them 3 points in this area.
- Flexibility: Tutors can set their own hours and rates. + 3 points
- Easily Find Students: Chegg Tutors has type of search engine that allows parents to find tutors, and allows tutors to reach out to potential students. + 3 points
- Reviews: With some of the highest employee reviews in the industry, Chegg gets an average of 81% approval. + 3 points (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews)
- Support: Several complaints of limited support via phone drops this company down a point. + 2 points
- Hiring Process: Chegg does conduct brief interviews and screenings, but it’s easy to sign up and get on their search engine. + 3 points
- Awards: Best Place To Work Award from Glassdoor 2015 + 3 points
TOTAL POINTS: 20 points
- Pay: Club Z! had a large array of hourly pay and was shown to pay $15-28 per hour. This was based on experience and subject taught. + 2 points
- Flexibility: Tutors can set their own hours but are expected to do some outside work. One of these responsibilities is to create a monthly report. However, this company has both online tutoring and in person locations around the nation. + 3 points
- Easily Find Students: The company matches tutors and students, and had minimal complaints about the amount of work. + 3 points
- Reviews: Club Z! easily beat out the competition with an 89% approval rating from employees. + 3 points (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews, Facebook Reviews)
- BestSupport: Club Z! provides training and a full curriculum for tutors to use (cutting down on prep time!). There were several complaints of difficulties contacting management. + 2 points
- Hiring Process: Employees report that it’s difficult to get a job with Club Z!. + 1 point
- Awards: Best Company Reviews voted Club Z!’s curriculum the best in the industry. + 3 points
TOTAL POINTS: 17
PrepNow or StudyPoint (parent company)
- Pay: PrepNow pays $20-$26 per hour and increases for tutors who are teaching higher education students (i.e. GRE prep). + 3 points
- Flexibility: Once paired with a student, tutors can set their own hours. However they are required to work at least 6 hours a week, and must be available to work evenings and weekends. + 2 points
- Easily Find Students: StudyPoint pairs you with a student who needs your exact expertise. There were minimal complaints about the amount of work. +3 points
- Reviews: Employees gave this company an average 78% approval rating. Complaints ranged from teaching materials changing frequently to poor management. +2 points (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews)
- Support: This company is open about the training it provides, responded to almost every negative response on Glassdoor, and works to pair tutors and students long term. +3 points
- Hiring Process: PrepNow does require much more rigorous expectations. To be considered you must have a 4 year degree, and at least a 28 ACT or 650 SAT score. + 1 point
- Awards: Inc 5000 list for the 7th straight year + 3 points
TOTAL POINTS: 17
- Pay: TutorMe pays it’s tutors a rang from $17-21 per hour. +2 points
- Flexibility: Tutors are given the opportunity to set their own hours and schedule. +3 points
- Easily Find Students: In addition to scheduled tutoring, this service allows parents and students to find a tutor immediately. This means that if tutors want the extra work, they have to be sitting and on-call for a student to ask for help. +2 points
- Reviews: TutorMe received an 86% approval rating but was only found on glassdoor. +3 points (glassdoor review)
- Support: There were several reviews that said the company had minimal support and was hard to reach. However they did provide materials and technology to help the tutoring process go smoothly. +2 points
- Hiring Process: I was unable to find any information on tutor expectations or difficulty of getting a job online. I couldn’t give them any points in this area. + 0 points
- Awards: TutorMe has tons of consumer reviews that rank it very highly. Parents have loved TutorMe. It was ranked as a Top Ten Company and has a BBB A+ rating. +3 points
TOTAL POINTS: 15
- Pay: Elevate K12 pays its tutors $12-16 per hour. + 1 point
- Flexibility: Tutors can set their own hours but are required to use weekdays from 9 – 5 PM. Typically tutors are asked to complete group instruction. Elevate K12 works directly with school districts to help struggling students. +1 Point
- Easily Find Students: If you are hired, there is not a shortage of jobs. You will be placed directly with a school and group that stays consistent. + 3 points
- Reviews: Elevate K12 had an average of 83% approval from employees. + 3 points (Indeed Reviews)
- Support: Elevate K12 gives training, support materials, and continued feedback to help tutors reach their students. + 3 points
- Hiring Process: Tutors are expected to have an interview, have previous experience, and will need to preform a mock tutoring session before they are given the job. + 3 points
- Awards: None
TOTAL POINTS:
- Pay: Teachers and tutors are considered freelance workers through the website. That means they can pick their own hours and rate per hour. However, TakeLessons takes 40% of hourly rate for the first five lessons, then 30% for the next 5 lessons, and so on until they reach only 10% off the top. In comparison to some payment options, this is definitely puts the most control on the tutor. + 3 points
- Flexibility: Tutors can work, cancel, create their own policies whenever they like. Tutors can also tutor in whatever subject area they are interested in. One tutor provides classes in quilting. Tutors are not allowed to accept a student privately if they started on the TakeLessons website. + 3 points
- Easily Find Students: Students review TakeLesson’s data base and then choose a tutor they like. It takes some time to be ranked higher in their searches, and there’s no guarantee that parents will ever pick you. + 2 points
- Reviews: TakeLessons has a slightly lower employee satisfaction rate of 71%. + 2 points (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews)
- Support: There are several reviews and complaints that when things are wrong, the company is very difficult to get a hold of. + 1 point
- Hiring Process: Tutors can sign up and post their credentials at any point. Since it’s freelance, anyone can hop on. + 3 points
- A wards: None
TOTAL POINTS: 14
- Pay: Pearson has several tutoring programs, but program directly with the brand Pearson pays $12 per hour. (they also hire tutors to work with online schools, etc.) + 1 point
- Flexibility: Tutors are allowed to set their own hours for availability. + 3 points
- Easily Find Students: Tutors are hired for a specific subject area and then are placed with students. + 3 points
- Reviews: Employees gave this tutoring service an average approval of 61%. + 1 point (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews)
- Support: Pearson gives lots of training and feedback (however several people complained that there was too much micromanaging for the small amount of pay) + 3 points
- Hiring Process: This company requires a lot of teaching experience and an advanced degree. (which is surprising if they are only paying $12 per hour). + 2 points
- Awards: None
TOTAL POINTS: 13
Skooli *I found very little information about this company*
- Pay: I am a bit unsure of the tutoring payment, but I believe they pay $25 an hour. + 3 points
- Flexibility: Tutors can pick their own availability. +3 points
- Easily Find Students: Tutors and students are matched online. No complaints found online. +3 points
- Reviews: While employee reviews were not available, consumer reviews ranked this company with a 3.7/5 and Facebook Reviews were a 4.5/5. +1 point
- Support: Not sure about what type of support is given to tutors. + 0 points
- Hiring Process: Could not find any actual data on the hiring process or employee expectations, but it was awarded most qualified tutors by reviews.com. + 1 point
- Awards: Most qualified tutors from Reviews.com +3 points
TOTAL POINTS: 12
- Pay: Varisty Tutors pays based on the subject area and expertise. Online tutors reported a range from $15-33 per hour. + 2 points
- Flexibility: Varsity Tutors has one of the most flexible platforms for tutors. You can work online, in person, or accept instant tutoring jobs. Teachers also have control over which student they accept. + 3 points
- Easily Find Students: Students are matched to teachers, but teachers can reject the assignment if they would like. + 3 points
- Reviews: Employees ranked Varsity Tutors with an average of 81% approval. + 3 points (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews)
- Support: There were several sources claiming that it was difficult to work with managers and get help when needed. + 1 point
- Hiring Process: Varsity tutors looks at your past experience, conducts and interview, requires a history of academic excellence, and has several mock tutoring sessions before hiring happens. +2 points
- Awards: None
TOTAL POINTS: 11
- Pay: Brainfuse employees report being paid $11-17 per hour. However if a student books you and does not show up, you are still paid. + 2 points
- Flexibility: Tutors can create their own hours and have the option of scheduled tutoring sessions or instant tutoring. + 3 points
- Easily Find Students: Students are matched internally to teachers. + 3 points
- Reviews: An average, employees rank this company with a 55% approval rating (which is the lowest on this list). + 1 point (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews)
- Support: There are multiple complaints of poor communication and student-tutor matches. + 1 point
- Hiring Process: The Brainfuse website does not have a way to directly apply. It takes you to an email address where you can submit your resume. + 1 point
- Awards: None
TOTAL POINTS: 11
- Pay: Tutor.com pays $11-13 per hour. +1 point
- Flexibility: This company allows teachers to create their own schedule, however, they do not allow more than 3 hours of tutoring in one day. + 2 points
- Easily Find Students: Tutors say it’s difficult to be matched with students on this website. +1 point
- Reviews: Employees ranked Tutor.com with a 68% approval rating. + 1 point (glassdoor Reviews, Indeed Reviews)
- Support: Teachers are given a technology platform to provide easier tutoring experiences. + 3 points
- Hiring Process: This company touts that only 3% of screened applicants are actually hired. In addition to interviews and mock tutoring sessions, this company also requires tutors to send in writing samples and pass subject exams. + 1 point
- Awards: None
TOTAL POINTS: 9
- Pay: I was unable to find any data on employee pay, but parents pay $99 for a 50 minute session. + 0 points
- Flexibility: There is the ability to schedule as needed with students. + 2 points
- Easily Find Students: This company is specifically marketing to students who want long term tutoring. This makes for a stable environment for tutors. + 3 points
- Reviews: I was unable to find any employee reviews. + 0 points
- Support: There is some support to match students and then keep them enrolled for long term, but there was limited information on what that looked like. + 1 point
- Hiring Process: Company states that tutors have a 10 hour interview process and an active teaching certificate. + 1 point
- Awards: None
TOTAL POINTS: 8
Conclusion
Hopefully this list of tutoring companies helps narrow down your search for a great company to work for! Let me know if I missed any companies or you have any questions!