Achieve. Believe. Succeed.
Reading
Writing
Test-Taking Skills
Study Skills
Assessing the needs of each child
Unlike other tutoring companies, we do not require families to purchase assessment testing. While tutoring, we are able to do informal assessments of your child’s learning strengths and weaknesses. With parent permission, we may contact the student’s teacher to obtain further information. Parents may bring standardized testing or schoolwork to the free initial consultation. This includes psycho-educational evaluations done by the schools to determine eligibility for special education services. We are able to analyze and interpret the evaluations for you. All of these provide an accurate view of what is going on academically.
Optimized learning process
In order to maximize progress, students are encouraged to attend every session. A tutoring session lasts 1 hour. Most students receive two sessions per week. There are times when sessions need to be rescheduled due to weather or illness. Emergencies can happen shortly before the session begins. We understand and will reschedule the appointment at no cost. We request at least 24 hours advance notice if your session needs to be rescheduled for non-emergency reasons. At any time either the tutor OR the parents can cancel the tutoring. Without cost.
Goal driven metrics
Other companies “guarantee” a child will improve academically or they will give you a certain number of “free sessions.” Many of them do not honor those guarantees. We measure success by addressing specific goals agreed upon by the parents, student, and tutor. We frequently check progress and discuss that progress with the family informally after every session as well as formally every quarter. Those quarterly conferences are free!
One on one tutoring
Students learn best one-on-one. Period. We meet with each student individually. Why would other companies put students in small groups? To make more money. Parents pay less for a group lesson but each student gets a fraction of the individual attention they need. It just does not make sense that in a group of students all individual needs will be successfully addressed.
Using a personal tutor gives your student undivided attention…and a lot more information can be covered in a shorter time, which is more cost-effective in the long run.
We specialize in children with special needs!
We have taught all types of disabilities across the spectrum. Using a strengths-based approach, we can accommodate each student’s learning modalities and modify the content area so it is easy to comprehend. All students, whether they are identified as having special needs or not, benefit from the study skills, time management, organizational tips, and test-taking strategies we teach. Mnemonic devices are used as we work together. The goal is for the student to begin using those mnemonic devices on their own across the curriculum and through life. These are life skills….not just for academics in a school setting.
Testimonials from Karol’s students and their parents make about her tutoring style
“We have a son in 11th grade and have been using a Tutor in Time this school year. Karol has been a great fit for us. We really appreciate that she is prompt and professional, and consistent with her approach. She has developed a nice rapport with our son and he communicates well with her regarding school and classwork. We use Karol for tutoring in all subjects, but she has also supported SAT prep and driver’s license testing. We’ve tried other approaches and other tutors and we are very happy to have found A Tutor in Time.”
John H.
Parent of a high school student
“As parents of an 8 year old child who has had learning difficulties throughout his school career, we have sought to provide him with the best support specialists. We wanted to do our best to help support him academically and socially. After many referrals, we successfully got in touch with Karol who started working with my son early into 3rd grade. Although he had an IEP in place at school, he did not have an actual diagnosis other than the generic “learning disability.” Karol used the information we provided to tailor his twice weekly sessions. Karol quickly gained the trust and confidence of my son and he looked forward to his sessions with her.
Elizabeth A.
Parent of third grader
“Karol and my 17 year old daughter have built a trusting relationship over the past year. Karol made every effort to understand my daughter’s learning style before the school year started, and she’s been a big advocate for her during IEP meetings. With her background in Special Education, she guided us on appropriate accommodations and suggested learning strategies to suit my daughter’s needs. Her experience as an educator, and a mother of a special needs child herself, gives her the passion to help students succeed. Our relationship with Karol has proved to be a great partnership for all of us!”
Chris H.
Parent of a high school junior
“Karol is an excellent tutor who is patient and very helpful when teaching my daughter concepts and strategies in taking her SATs. With Karol’s guidance my daughter was able to comprehend where her errors on certain problems were made and together they worked on more practice problems to further her understanding of the topic. Thanks Karol! We owe you!!!”
Regina W.
Parent of high school senior
“Karol Williams has been a God send for our son. Our son has struggled with retention and standardized testing throughout his academic career. Karol has taken the time to learn our son and how he best learns so that she can tailor the teaching for him. She has been patient while also challenging him. Karol made herself available for meetings with teachers and and been a strong advocate for our son. Also, her knowledge and experience with special education and the local school system helped her to equip me to be a stronger advocate for my son. I would highly recommend Ms. Williams services. She’s exactly what our family needed.“
Diedre W.
Parent of high school senior
"I have seen such a marked improvement in my daughter’s reading since she started coming to Karol. Her initial school assessments placed my daughter’s reading level at well below first grade reading level at 5 words per minute. Since she has been working with Karol, her most recent assessment placed her reading level at second grade level at 32 words per minute. Karol’s tutoring has not only given her a phonetic approach to sounding out words but has given her the confidence in her reading skills that she needed to excel. My daughter no longer needs tutoring, but I plan to continue so my daughter can stay ahead and improve her reading comprehension. I couldn’t be happier with the results!"
Johnnie T.
Parent of a first grader
I started working with Mrs. Williams over the winter break. She taught me the fundamentals of writing. I knew some of them, but I learned writing that I had never learned. I started off rough. She knew what my problems were. I learned from my mistakes. I have been working with her for three months and I cannot say how happy I am! Before getting real help, I had no confidence. Now I feel much better when it comes to writing essays. She taught me a lot. She was very nice and understood me well. I’ll be attending VCU next fall. After meeting with Mrs. Williams, I feel that my life has gotten better. Not just my writing but my life. I want to thank her so much! I am starting to believe in myself now. I’m on the right path for my future. Thank you so much!
Antonio H.
High school graduate
“My daughter started the fourth grade struggling with her reading and not enjoying her school work. But in the past two months, since my daughter started her tutoring, her confidence has soared. To the point that she is finally starting to enjoy reading. My daughter has grown quite a bond with Karol and looks forward to their lessons.”
Wayne R.
Parent of a fourth grader
"My daughter is 12 years old and just started middle school this school year. Although her grades were decent, she had anxiety, lacked confidence in her abilities and struggled with organizing herself with several classes, tests and quizzes. The first session with Ms. Karol, we knew that we made the right decision when Ms. Karol talked to her and assessed her in all areas to understand her strengths and weaknesses before diving in with her. She also did not do well on her SOLs last school year, so Ms. Karol has been working with her on this as well. Ms. Karol is patient and passionate about what she does as an Educator and likes to see results, so we are fortunate to have found her."
Eva H.
Parent of a sixth grader
We started working with Karol for my 9 year old – reading and comprehension. She is incredible!! She is patient, worked to understand my son’s strength and weakness and catered the tutoring to fit what she saw. Slowly increased the challenge level and had him come up. I never saw him sit down focused for an hour – but Karol brought the discipline and kept him encouraged to do more. She is an amazing tutor and anyone looking for additional help with kids tutoring, hands down you can rely on her to do a great job. Above all we are seeing great results in his school – reading improved, comprehension is getting better. I highly recommend her if you are looking for someone.
Pratheep P,
Parent of a fourth grader
Karol is knowledgeable, competent, kind, and understanding. She’s been working with my 12-year-old grandson for the past six weeks and already his grades have improved. He has ADD and his last two years of school have been very difficult for him, to the point he just stopped trying and caring about school. But he really likes her and she has given him hope and the help he needed to do better in school. I would definitely highly recommend her.
Linda L.
Grandparent of a sixth grader
My daughter has been attending weekly tutoring sessions with Ms. Karol for a year. Through her kind, loving and patient approach Ms. Karol has taught my daughter skills and techniques to directly face her deficiencies. These skills have allowed for my daughter to excel both in and out of the classroom. As a result, my daughter has become a more confident, fluent reader and is capable of writing complete, fluid and sequential sentences and paragraphs. She is also a girl who has grown more sure of herself, because she knows she is capable. In my daughter’s words, “If Ms. Karol was my age, we would be best friends.” A statement that speaks for itself! Ms. Karol has been a blessing and is clearly a woman fulfilling her life purpose.
Sarah V.
Karol is really experienced and understanding and knows what to do for kids with special needs. She’s been working with my 11-year-old daughter almost 1 and a half years and my daughter’s progress is really great! My daughter has ASD and was behind in reading comprehension and writing, but she is almost caught up to her grade now! We really appreciate Karol’s help and are lucky to have her as my daughter’s tutor.
Jane J.
Parent of 5th grader
Karol’s work with my high school daughter has already had an enormous impact on her accountability and productivity! . We feel our daughter’s response to Karol is much better than to either of us as parents when we attempt to check in with her.
Amy H.
Parent of junior
I just had a review with my son’s counselor and two of his teachers and they all had glowing feedback! Thank you!! . Nothing makes me happier than seeing my son thrive. Even if he does fight us along the way. It is clear to me we are setting him up for success! .
Anne E.
Parent of 8th grader
Karol was great with my girls! She helped them with their summer reading and writing assignments. They loved her!
Karen D.
Parent of two middle school students
Karol has done a tremendous job working with my son and has been instrumental in helping him improve his grammar and writing skills. In fact, he improved so much that he was able to transfer out of his special reading class mid-year. His improved grammar and writing has also increased his confidence in speaking and helped his social skills. She has helped him better organize his schoolwork and test preparation skills.
Patrick H
Parent of an 8th grader
