Case
Private tutoring

You are a well-respected 5th grade teacher. The parents of a 4th grade student (not one of your students) comes to you and ask if you would tutor their son for the academic year. They will pay you $30 per hour and ask for 10 hours of tutoring to be done per week (two hours per day after school). They tell you that their son has been clinically diagnosed with a learning disability, but they refuse to believe the diagnosis. They state that their son "is lazy and needs the kind of accountability that his current teacher is not providing." You could use the money, but are concerned about the ethics of accepting such a position. What legal and ethical considerations need to be analyzed prior to you making a decision?

Posted on: 09/09/14 | Views: 1497
Solution #1
Accepting money from a parent to tutor their child his definitely a shady area. I know money can be tight, but I don't find it acceptable to receive money from parents in any shape. If you have the time, then you can tutor the child free of charge. It will also give you a chance to monitor if the child has a condition hindering their learning ability.
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Solution #2
I currently teach ELA but have taught 8th grade math for several years. I also taught special ed, as well. Therefore, I typically tutor 3-4 students from my school each year; however, I never take money from current students as this would amount to double-dipping. However, there is nothing ethically wrong about tutoring students from your school whom you don't teach. Part of my process is to review standardized test scores with the parents so I can gain an understanding of content specific weaknesses. This might be an excellent segue into discussing the test results that pointed toward the LD diagnosis. However, the fact that they are looking for additional support, in my opinion, might indicate some level of understanding that their son's struggles are not simply attributed to laziness.
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Solution #3
I think it's fine. I know it's against the code of ethics to charge a student that is your student, but not someone else that's not even in the same grade level. I'm not 100 percent sure though.
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Solution #4
This is a tricky situation. If the teacher does decide that they will tutor the student, it would be best to do the tutoring in another place such as a public library. Accepting money from a parent for tutoring definitely could not be done at the school. I would also talk to the child's teacher and make sure that you will not be stepping on anyone's toes.

I agree if you do accept try to reduces the risks as much as possible.

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