Through much of elementary school, Georgina Carlson's daughter struggled with math. She would make gains, only to fall back when new concepts were introduced.

In sixth and seventh grades she began working with a high-school-age private tutor but with high school looming, Carlson felt that her daughter needed more than her school or a high-school tutor could provide.

She found a bewildering array of choices, from national service franchises to college students to retired and moonlighting teachers.

It's a challenge faced by numerous parents every year who see their children struggle with everything from reading to calculus. Adding to the confusion: There is no overarching organization that evaluates or accredits tutors or tutoring services.

Do you really need a tutor?

Here's how to know:

Figure out what you want. The most important thing is to determine what a family's goals are, says Stacy DeBroff, author of "The Mom Book Goes to School," advice to help elementary and middle-school kids thrive.

DeBroff, who interviewed hundreds of teachers and parents, says parents these days often panic when their child appears merely average in an area.

"Especially in the elementary grades, kids unfold at very different academic rates." Their child may be perfectly happy reading "Good Night Moon" in the first grade, while the child sitting next to him is tackling "Harry Potter," and that's OK, she says. But parents start thinking, "it might not be fine; I might need help. It's very seductive ... "You never want your child to be just average. In this culture even saying your child is average is pejorative."

At such times, it's usually best to do nothing, DeBroff says.

When to bring in outside help. She and other experts say it's time to consider tutoring when:

• Homework has become a major battleground between parent and child;

• A teacher flags a problem and says additional help is needed;

• A parent doesn't have the expertise to help in a specific subject; this most often occurs in high school when students are tackling advanced math, the sciences or foreign languages;

• A child has some special needs, such as a learning disability where, says veteran tutor and teacher Judy Hewitt, "a different approach is needed to ensure the child's education will go forward."

— Elaine Porterfield

"It's let the buyer beware," warns Judy Hewitt, veteran special-education specialist and private tutor from Mill Creek.

That said, Hewitt and others say there's plenty that parents can do to decide if they need outside help and to evaluate potential tutors and tutoring services.

In the Carlsons' case, Georgina finally chose to have her daughter tested and tutored at a branch of the national tutoring service Huntington Learning Centers because it was close to their Eastside home and she liked the atmosphere.

She appreciated the thorough testing the center did to pinpoint her daughter's specific areas of weakness in math, and how their teaching was then geared to how her daughter learns best.

Carlson says that after a year of tutoring she's seen her daughter make great gains in math and self-confidence — and the study skills and test-taking strategies she learned have benefited her other studies, too.

At $39 an hour, Carlson says, "It's been expensive, but it's been worth it."

Tips for finding and working with a tutor

• Ask your child's teacher, school administrator or counselor for a referral. Ask if any supplementary-school services are available, such as an after-hours reading or math lab.

• Find someone who specializes in teaching at your child's grade level and works with children who face your child's particular challenges. What is his or her experience and training?

• Check tutor references; ask services how they perform background checks.

• Look for a tutor or service close by, so time isn't wasted on long commutes, no matter how great the tutor is.

• Conducting tutor interviews with your child present, so you can check for compatibility.

• Establish how they will track progress and keep parents informed and whether they'll check in with your child's teacher periodically.

• Work out payment schedules with private tutors; consider a formal contract. How will missed sessions be handled?

• Check in with your child about progress after several weeks; don't be afraid to find a new tutor if it's clear her approach isn't working with your child or the pair is not clicking.

• Establish the cost; area tutors typically charge anywhere from $15 to $80 an hour. What's the company's refund policy? For example, Headsprout, a Seattle-based, on-line tutoring service that specializes in teaching young children to read, offers a no-questions refund policy, based on what the company calls the "amazement factor:" i.e., if you're not amazed by your child's progress in 30 days, you get your money back.

• Keep tutoring's limitations in mind. "If your child continues to struggle despite help from a tutor," writes DeBroff, "you many need to bring in an academic professional to evaluate exactly what is causing your child's difficulty."

Sources: Stacy DeBroff, author of "The Mom Book Goes to School"; tutor/teacher Judy Hewitt

— Elaine Porterfield

Free tutoring

Tutor.com: Students from fourth grade through high school have a high-tech option for homework help: www.tutor.com, free when accessed through www.kcls.org/homework/.

Students can access that system wherever they have an Internet connection, then chose their grade level. Help is offered in all the core academics, including calculus, trigonometry, algebra, physics, chemistry and biology.

Tutors around the country and Canada who work for the service take questions online in real time and work students through problems. Tutors are able to sketch out equations and send files and instant messages. There is also voice-over capability. Because of privacy concerns, students are anonymous.

All tutors are graduates of four-year accredited universities, have teaching experience and a level of mastery in subject they teach. They also do mock teaching sessions and undergo background checks and are assigned a mentor who supervises their work, says Jennifer Kohn, vice president of marketing for the service.

No library card is required.

Study Zone: The King County Library also runs the Study Zone, a free drop-in homework-help program at select branches. Volunteers, who must pass a Washington State Patrol background check, can help in all subject levels up to the sixth grade and one or two subjects up the college-prep level. Each tutor works with one to five students at a time. Where: 26 of its 42 branches

When: Sunday through Thursday schedules vary from branch to branch. Typically, they feature a two-hour slot anywhere between 2 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

More details: www.kcls.org/studyzone or call Annie Holloman at 425-369-3312 or e-mail her at aholloma@kcls.org

Seattle Public Library: Similar drop-in tutoring programs for kindergartners through 12th-graders available at these Seattle Public Library branches:

Delridge (5423 Delridge Way S.W.)

High Point (3411 S.W. Raymond St.)

Madrona-Sally Goldmark (1134 33rd Ave.)

Call 206-386-4636 or go to www.spl.org and click "children" or "teens" in the orange navigation bar on the right to connect to homework help options.

Elsewhere in the community: Homework and after-school tutoring is also available at select community centers, local YMCAs and Boys & Girls clubs.

No Child Left Behind: As part of the 2001 federal act, there are some provisions for free tutoring for low-income students at failing schools. Some Washington schools already offer the services; details differ or still are being worked out in various districts.

As your school administrators if your child is eligible or to determine if your child's school or district has to offer this tutoring, go to the Department of Superintendent of Public Instruction's Web site:

www.k12.wa.us/ESEA/pubdocs/SchoolandDistrictImprovementlistFINAL.doc

Homework reference help:

Live Chat Help 24/7, available through www.kcls.org/homework/. Staffed by professional librarians, who offer answers or referrals within 20 minutes. This service does require a King County Library card. (Residents of Seattle and many other cities in this region are eligible for cards; see www.spl.org.

By phone: The county library's The AnswerLine (425) 462-9600 or (800) 462-9600 offers live telephone quick reference (8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sundays.) Seattle Public Library has Quick Information Center at 206-386-4636 (10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sunday.) No library cards are required.

— Elaine Porterfield and Suzanne Monson