tutor

virtual assistant

site administrator

Cignition.com

The base pay was decent (the pay rate is based on your qualifications) - I made $25/hour. However, the scheduling is not as consistent as you would hope. Tutoring groups really vary and isn't 5 days a week. Instead, it's same times during the week but can be anywhere from 2-4 days of the week (e.g. M, W, Th. etc). Also, no work is available during school breaks. The program managers that facilitate day to day attendance, subs, etc. are excellent, responsive, and help to the best of their abilities. But  the curriculum (ELA, not sure about math) has room for a LOT of improvement. It seems as if the curriculum team haven't been in classrooms for years or they expect the tutees to be top tier students in their class when in reality, the students receiving tutoring likely are below and far-below grade level. Each lesson per grade seems to be geared towards the next grade up. Additionally, the phonics lessons don't align to their readinng lessons. Upper grade ELA lessons are poorly scaffolded and don't use enough check for understanding points and the teaching pacing that the company wants seems unrealistic. Additionally, they have students complete mastery assessments aligned to standards. When the students don't meet the standards, tutors are still supposed to move forward in the curriculum without regard to student mastery or understanding. There are no re-teach oppurtunities or spiraling of curriculum. They want us to teach like we are classroom teachers rather than individualized tutoring to meet each students' needs. However, tutoring is supposed to meet student needs and bridge gaps between what the student knows and what is expected of grade-level standards / what is taught in the classroom.

The company has recently "scaled up" from 1-1  math tutoring to small-group math and ELA tutoring at schools nationwide. I now spend over half of a tutoring session either waiting for students to log in or frantically looking for workarounds when some tech aspect is malfunctioning. The students are generally not engaged or cooperating, no matter what the tutor says or does. This is the hardest part of the job.
You can ask for support from the program managers or the "curriculum team," but they are so swamped that their answers do not address the questions and don't help. We now have to use specific planned lessons, but they are so "idiot-proofed" that there is no flexibility, which the students desperately need. The most enjoyable part of the job is when only one student shows up, all the tech is working, and you can communicate with the student to help them and make a difference!

Like most virtual learning organizations, the C-suite and other leaders are enjoying their positions. Those of us who signed on as tutors/interventionists are a bit disillusioned. After navigating my way through the unstructured onboarding process, I was forced to wait many months before having an opportunity to actually earn an income; meanwhile, other tutors were given immediate availability. If I wasn’t an 18+ year professional educator, I’d have thought maybe I was being ignored due to my ineffective ability. That’s not the case. Plus, there are several online platforms to navigate in order to actually teach. It’s not a ‘one stop shop’ for those who might have taught through other organizations. There’s a lot of pre work and post work. Honestly, virtual tutoring is the future- find another organization. There are many options.

From day one, I have always felt that Cignition values its tutors. We get paid for prep and post evaluation time (about 5 minutes each). Any training is paid as well. My managers have always been helpful whenever I've reached out to them. The hardest part is that you never know what kind of schedule they will need since they contract with many school districts whose needs change year to year. Work is not guaranteed, but if you have more availability, you are likely to get some. I love that the lessons are already available. They do need to be previewed, some more than others. 

Working with students was fun. But company will drop you without no notice. I would not recommend this job to anyone. The supervisors were easy to contact and communicate with. The curriculum and lessons were easy but not up to date as you would teach in a classroom. They expect students to mastery standards because they want good date to show the schools. They don’t give any warning or information on how to improve instead they tell you what you did wrong and tell you your not trying.

At Cignition, you "choose" your tutoring hours.  For example, Cignition program managers will post a school's needs and times/dates available.  THEN, qualified tutors will select the times  for which they can teach.  Lesson prep is minimal to moderate.  After class feedback is required.  Cignition pay for 5-10 minutes of planning time for each session AND 5-8 minutes for followup session feedback and lesson planning.  Once an applicant can use all of the system software, the tutoring part is quite easy.  I thoroughly enjoy tutoring for Cignition!

This tutoring job has its ups and downs. The highlight is the students, especially during calm sessions. However, there are some challenges. Tech issues can arise, particularly with younger students who may not have adult assistance with their computers. Additionally, students can become bored with the lessons, leading to behavior issues. The schedule is also unpredictable; if a school has an assembly or testing, you may lose that session for the day, resulting in no pay.

A remote position with flexible hours and a great relationship with the managers and partners.
Also, the materials provided are well-made and there is a pedagogic support team which evaluates the tutor's work.
The only problem can be that you never know how many hours you could get, but once a group is assigned, if everything goes well, you will keep it for the entire semester.

This is a good company  if you are looking to work a flexible schedule as an independent contractor.  The planning time outside of lesson delivery is less than other companies, and the online platforms are fairly straightforward and easy to use.  The leadership is supportive.  If you are looking for a great deal of hours, you may need to supplement with other tutoring jobs.

You’re assigned limited hours and the selection process is extremely random. You select your availability and preferred subject and grade level to tutor. Yet, getting assigned those hours are rare. The tutoring sessions are okay but the lessons and platform used to tutor is lacking the tools and information to really teach the subject. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Tutor 4 salaries reported	$22.50 per hour
Virtual assistant 1 salary reported	$32.00 per hour
Site administrator 1 salary reported	$75,000 per year

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