Tutor FAQs

We have successful tutors that live all over. However, we unfortunately cannot hire tutors who reside in these locations: California, Illinois, Iowa, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Washington DC. To apply for our reading tutor jobs, you must be a U.S. citizen, have a U.S. mailing address of residence and bank account, and be available to schedule your tutoring sessions between 8am-8pm ET.

Before you apply, read our Certification page for details about Ignite’s certification requirements and schedule. All tutors must complete a 9-week certification program and commit to tutoring 6–10 students for 15 minutes a day during the certification practicum and throughout the rest of the school year.

In order to set up your tutoring schedule, we’ll ask you to provide at least 3 hours of availability (over and above your certification class time) at the same time every day, Monday–Friday, 8am–8pm EST, so we can schedule you for a minimum of 1.5 tutoring hours per day. Your availability must be consistent from week to week throughout the school year.

Yes! Please see the Start Dates page for job application deadlines.

After you submit an online application, we’ll respond within 7—10 business days. If you advance to the next round, you’ll submit a one-way video interview, and we’ll give you a hiring decision within another 7—10 business days of receiving it. Learn more about how to apply to reading tutor jobs on our Tutor page.

Our one-way video interview lets you record responses to a short list of questions over video using a platform called SparkHire. You’ll also follow our instructors to record a short teaching demo. You can complete your interview with a smartphone, tablet, or laptop and take all the time you need to practice and record responses that truly represent your strengths.

We require all tutors to complete a 9-week certification program, which includes:

• 3 weeks of class
  • 2 hour asynchronous and live online classes every Monday–Friday at the same time daily
• 6 weeks of class + practicum
  • Class: 1 hour of asynchronous or  live online class every Monday–Friday at the same time daily
  • Practicum: a minimum of 1.5 hours of tutoring every Monday–Friday at the same time daily

Get details on the dates and requirements of the program on our Certification page.

Yes, we pay you to become an expert reading instructor! Certification class and tutoring practicum time are both compensated at $17.50 per hour. Once you’re certified, you’ll be eligible to tutor up to 30 hours per week at $20 per hour.

Yes, all tutors are required to tutor 6–10 students during the practicum portion of our tutor certification. Read more about tutoring practicum on our Certification page.

Typically no, but we may consider it in rare circumstances.

After 60 hours of Science of Reading-based training and many more teaching foundational reading skills to students, our tutors have incredible knowledge, skill, and experience that are highly valuable in many places beyond Ignite Reading.

There is also exceptional room for advancement within Ignite Reading. Our reading tutor jobs pathway includes opportunities for highly skilled and experienced tutors to become session monitors, learning & development coaches, and literacy specialists, to name just a few.

Before beginning your tutor certification, you’ll need to complete the following steps:

• Accept our offer and sign your offer letter
• Complete a 45 minutes asynchronous pre-certification course
• Complete employment paperwork including a W-2 form and I9 verification
• Submit direct deposit information
• Consent to and pass a thorough background check

Ignite Reading works with public school districts around the country and with children whose safety is of great concern to us. To earn the privilege of working with these amazing kids, every adult must pass a rigorous criminal background check to ensure our tutors will be an extraordinary force for good in the lives of the students we serve.

All Ignite Reading tutoring sessions:

• Are 15 minutes long
• Have a 1:1 tutor to student ratio
• Take place every day school is in session
• Typically last one full school year or semester*

*Partner schools start tutoring programs with Ignite Reading at different points throughout the year and continue until the end of the academic year.

Yes, but you must be available to tutor at the same time every day, Monday–Friday, between 8am–8pm ET. The tutoring times you choose do not need to be back to back.

We’ll ask you to provide us with times you can be available every weekday between 8am–8pm ET and will pair you with students accordingly. We may ask you to give us a larger window of time than hours you want to tutor in order to provide an optimal schedule based on session availability.

As we work with schools across different states and time zones, each with their own schedule and days off, you’ll manage tracking these varying calendars and converting time zones as needed.

We require our tutors to work a minimum of 1.5 hours per school day. You can tutor up to 30 hours per week and no more than 1440 hours a year.

Ignite Reading serves students in grades K–8. We don’t currently accept grade-specific requests, and ask tutors to work with kids across all grades we serve.

Ignite Reading tutor educators are part-time, non-exempt employees. We pay $17.50 per hour for certification class time and tutoring practicum hours and $20 per hour for regular tutoring and student assessment hours, even when students are absent. Tutors are paid every other week.

To tutor for Ignite Reading, you’ll need a:

• Reliable internet connection
• Laptop or desktop computer
• Chrome or Safari browser
• Computer camera
• Headset or earbuds with microphone and noise-canceling options

Tutors who apply to our reading tutor jobs should already have a degree of comfort and experience using video conferencing tools and learning new technology. We’ll also give you ample training in how to use our teaching tools and platforms.