Expert tutors work with students to develop active reading strategies like predicting, visualizing, and asking questions before, during, and after reading. They also teach students how to identify main ideas, make connections to prior knowledge, and summarize text in their own words. With personalized feedback and practice on age-appropriate texts, students build confidence and retention—skills that transfer across all subjects.

The first session focuses on understanding your child's current reading level, strengths, and specific challenges. A tutor will likely assess fluency, comprehension, and any gaps in foundational skills through conversation and reading samples. This helps create a personalized plan tailored to your student's needs and learning style, so every session that follows builds on a clear foundation.

Reading level depends on several factors: decoding accuracy, reading speed (fluency), and comprehension. Teachers often use assessments like running records, benchmark books, or standardized tests to measure these. A tutor can also evaluate your child's level during an initial session and recommend strategies to move them forward, whether they need help with phonics, sight words, or understanding more complex stories.

Yes—tutors help elementary students learn to think critically about stories by asking questions like: What is the main character's problem? How do they solve it? What lesson does the story teach? These skills build from simple story retelling in early grades to deeper analysis of character motivations and themes in upper elementary. Personalized instruction makes literary thinking fun and accessible at every level.

Fluency is how smoothly and accurately a student reads aloud; comprehension is understanding what they've read. A student might read quickly but miss the meaning, or read slowly because they're working hard to decode words. Expert tutors address both: they help students practice decoding and expression to build fluency, while also teaching comprehension strategies so reading feels purposeful and connected to meaning.

Varsity Tutors connects you with tutors who understand California's reading standards and the specific approaches used across Murrieta's school districts. Whether your child's school emphasizes phonics, guided reading levels, or balanced literacy, tutors can align their instruction with what's happening in the classroom while providing the personalized attention that classroom settings—with an average student-teacher ratio of 23.5:1—simply can't offer.

Consistent reading at home is one of the most powerful tools for improvement. Tutors often recommend daily reading practice with books at your child's level, asking simple comprehension questions afterward, and reading aloud together to model fluency. Even 15-20 minutes daily builds momentum, and tutors can suggest specific strategies and book recommendations tailored to your child's interests and level.