I am wondering what the cost of private tutoring is in Houston for high school students. Is demand pretty high for tutoring services in Houston? Do many elementary, middle, and high school students in Houston get private tutoring?
What is the concern that requires tutoring?
Is it a concern about an “arms race” for class rank that is highly important for Texas public university admission?
Or is it a concern about the sometimes questionable quality indicated by district reports finding that A students in AP courses commonly score 1 on AP exams?
I would suggest calling the school where your student will be attending and ask the academic advisor for a list of tutors/and or companies that offer tutoring. The school will have the best information on who is best given that schools particular curriculum.
As in most cities, there is a wide variety of public schools from the abysmal to some of the best in the nation (DeBakey). Similarly, there are private schools which range from the highest scoring in the US (St. John) to the nonacademic.There are also widely varying interests in and resources for tutoring, just like where you live now. As a rough guide, in one suburb the going rate is $80 per hour and interest in tutoring is brisk.
I’m a Rice student so I can’t claim to know much about the high school tutoring scene in Houston. However, I do know that there are many Rice students who tutor high school and middle school kids for extra money. You can contact the Thresher (Rice’s school newspaper) and they can run an ad requesting a tutor. Just list what subjects you want tutored, how many days a week, and the pay rate, etc and you will most likely be able to find a student who is interested. Good luck!
My daughter attended a rigorous private school in Houston. Many students there used tutors. The guidance counselor referred us to a list of people. I called them and found one that had an opening and was familiar with the curriculum and teacher my daughter had. The school would not allow the tutors to come on campus, so my daughter went to the tutor’s home. My daughter got some tutoring for AP Calculus. She went to a tutor that formerly taught at her school and was a stay at home mom. It was around $75/hour.
http://www.houstonisd.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx?moduleinstanceid=73138&dataid=211997&FileName=2017%20AP%20Report.pdf figure 7B shows the distribution of AP scores by course grade in Houston ISD AP courses. E.g. for A students in history and social science AP courses 33.3% scored 1, 18.1% scored 2, 15.9% scored 3, 15.7% score 4, and 17.0% scored 5 on the associated AP tests.
Science and history and social science seemed to have the weakest performance in AP tests, so these may be the areas where the Houston ISD curriculum is the weakest relative to external standards, and where external tutoring may be most useful.
Houston ISD is largely composed of very poor schools. The wealthier parts of the city, like Bellaire and West U, have their own school districts. Plus there are many other districts with Houston that are not part of HISD, leaving HISD, realistically, with those who can’t go anywhere else. Due to the crazy high school rankings, everyone is pushed into AP classes to help the school’s standing. The whole district is title 1. Given what it faces, HISD tries to deal with the impossible.
Demographically, Houston ISD resembles the South Bronx is terms of poverty and ethnicity. I expect the test scores are similar as well.
It depends on where you live. If you are inside the loop or near downtown Houston, schools vary all over the place. My kids attend a public high school but we are 35 miles north of Houston. If you are in Katy ISD, Conroe ISD, Cy-Fair ISD etc. they have pretty great schools. Tutoring in my area is about 25-50
per hour depending on the subject. I also have good friends who have their children in private schools such as Kinkaid, St. John’s, St. Thomas (boys) and Duchenne (Girls). There are also some good Christian schools in Houston. If you are in Houston, it would be good to attend a magnet like the DeBakey School for pre-health students. Also, HSPVA (school for performing and visual arts) is supposed to be great.
“The wealthier parts of the city, like Bellaire and West U, have their own school districts.”
This is not true. Bellaire and West U are within the HISD boundary. Both cities have great elementary schools (HISD). Can’t speak for Bellaire but I would assume the majority of West U kids go to private high school - although there are a fairly large number that attend Lamar (HISD), or one of the magnet schools - Carnegie, HSPVA, etc.
HISD is majority hispanic, over 75% economically disadvantaged, only 8% white and 4 % Asian. Substantial numbers of English language learners, and of course, some homeless. As a school district, it faces many challenges. I am sure many would benefit from tutoring but few can afford it.
I’m in Austin but Houston is pretty similar in cost of living so my guess is $20/hr for elemantry, $40/hr for middle and $60/hr for high school. This is what my kid charged and he never had any shortage of students struggling with math courses if he could find time in his own busy schedule. I suppose, adults with degrees and high school teachers charge even more. If you are moving to an affluent school district, you should find plenty of gigs.
I am sure it depends on what level of tutor you want? High school student, College student or teacher in their off hours?
Are you asking because you hope to DO some tutoring or are you asking because you have a child who needs tutoring?
Yes, my daughter will be moving to Houston from the Bay Area. She is a graduate from a Top 10-20 university. She tutors a lot here and has a packed weekly schedule charging around $60-$75/hr for each student monthly.
For those of you who live in Houston/Texas, do you think the demand for tutoring is there in Houston compared to the Bay Area? She is planning to market to the wealthy areas of Houston (Memorial, Kirby, Bellaire) and wants to charge similar rates. She has been tutoring some students in the Bay Area for many years (2-3+). She is basically wanting to develop a client base in Houston (at least 3-4 students per day, including weekends) similar to that she had in the Bay Area.
Are there a lot of parents looking for long-term tutoring for their child in Houston (for multiple subjects, SAT/ACT, AP classes, etc.)?
Why would it be any different than any other city (except larger)?
I have some friends with kids in Houston going to private schools (St. Johns, Kinkaid etc.) Depending on the type of tutoring the rates really do vary. There is a well known company that charges between $130/hr- almost $400/hr for the more advanced math, science and ACT/SAT prep. The other type of tutoring from retired teachers, college students etc. averages about $75 dollars/hr. Depending on the area, parents definitely utilize tutoring and test prep and do not mind paying for it.
Thank you guys so much for your replies. The responses are truly helpful.
roycroftmom: I assume the average incomes and the proportion of people with high incomes is higher in the Bay Area. Also, I think the schools are more competitive in the Bay Area, with many more Asian/Indian families wanting their kids to get into Stanford/UC Berkeley/Ivy League. Also, the cost of some private schools in the Bay Area is 40-70k for high school and I think only 20-30k in Houston (half the price). However, the rates of private tutoring here and in Houston seem to be the same. However, I am just concerned/wondering about the demand at these rates and the supply/demand because, again, my daughter will be moving there to continue private tutoring full-time (she gets 40+ hours per week packed schedule here in the Bay Area).
I think you would find your assumptions are wrong. Houston has very wealthy sections, comparable to the Bay area, with a much lower cost of living, hence higher discretionary income spending. It is a much younger city with more families, with school age children. I would have to check the numbers, but I think it likely Houston has substantially more Asian and Indian students than the Bay area, and the emphasis on class rank in the public university system makes many people interested in tutoring. I think your daughter is going to be very surprised when she arrives