The first session focuses on understanding your child's current reading level, strengths, and specific challenges. A tutor will assess skills like phonemic awareness, sight word recognition, fluency, and comprehension to create a personalized learning plan. This foundation helps ensure every subsequent session builds exactly where your student needs support.

Comprehension goes beyond decoding words—it requires students to make connections, ask questions, and think critically about text. Tutors use strategies like guided questioning, visualization, and retelling to help students understand and retain what they read. With personalized feedback and practice, students build confidence and develop habits that strengthen comprehension across all subjects.

Reading fluency improvements often become noticeable within 4-6 weeks of consistent, targeted practice—though every student progresses at their own pace. Personalized tutoring accelerates growth by focusing on the specific fluency barriers your child faces, whether that's speed, accuracy, or expression. Regular practice with immediate feedback from a tutor helps students build automaticity and confidence faster than independent reading alone.

Strong readers need both: phonics helps decode unfamiliar words, while sight words (like 'the,' 'and,' 'said') allow fluent reading of common text. The balance shifts as students progress—early elementary emphasizes phonics foundations, while upper elementary builds automaticity with sight words and tackles more complex decoding. A tutor can assess which area needs the most attention for your student and create a balanced approach.

Varsity Tutors connects students with tutors who have strong backgrounds in reading instruction, education, or related fields. Many tutors have teaching experience, specialized training in literacy, or expertise working with elementary students. When you connect with a tutor, you'll learn about their specific experience with reading instruction and how they approach personalized learning.

Yes. Students who are behind often benefit most from personalized 1-on-1 instruction because tutors can slow down, reteach foundational skills, and build confidence without the pressure of keeping pace with a classroom. Tutors diagnose exactly where gaps exist—whether in phonemic awareness, letter recognition, or decoding—and create a focused plan to close them. Consistent, targeted support helps struggling readers catch up and develop a positive relationship with reading.

Start by connecting with Varsity Tutors to discuss your child's reading level, challenges, and goals. You'll be matched with a tutor who has experience supporting elementary readers and understands how to create a personalized learning plan. From there, you can schedule sessions that fit your family's schedule and begin seeing progress.