Reading and math tutoring · Kansas City · Kindergarten to 8th grade
Kansas City reading and math tutor for K–8.
Start with a free 60-minute fluency check.
One-on-one reading and math instruction in Kansas City for children in kindergarten through eighth grade. Every session is timed and charted, and the plan changes the week progress slows.
Reading and math tutoring in Kansas City, K–8
Segnatura Learning is a one-on-one reading and math tutor for Kansas City families in Missouri and Kansas. Lessons use Direct Instruction programs, and precision teaching builds speed with 1-minute timings charted every session. Every child starts with a free 60-minute fluency check, and parents get the chart every Friday. All family sessions are in person at a private office in Kansas City, with a parent in the building. We also run a small-group reading and math program for schools.
I. What we teach
We work with kids who usually know the answer but have to work hard to get there. They might still count on their fingers for 7 + 8, or sound out a word they’ve seen a hundred times. Homework that should take fifteen minutes can stretch to an hour, and tests often end before they’re done.
These kids can do the work. What they need is fluency, and fluency can be taught.
Reading. Letter sounds, decoding, sight words, reading aloud smoothly and with expression, and comprehension, taught with Reading Mastery (K–2) and Corrective Reading (grades 3–8).
Math. Math facts, computation, fractions and pre-algebra, taught with Connecting Math Concepts (K–5), Corrective Mathematics (grades 3–8) and Essentials for Algebra (grades 6–8).
When a skill hasn’t been learned yet, we teach it with the published Direct Instruction program, starting where the program’s own placement test puts your child. When they know it but it still takes a lot of effort, we build speed with precision teaching. Most children need some of both.
II. How it works
A free fluency check. An hour, in person. We spend about forty minutes with your child on short timed activities in math facts, letter sounds, sight words and oral reading. We compare your child’s reading with published reading benchmarks, using our own grade-level materials, and their math facts with published mastery criteria. Then we spend about fifteen minutes with you going over where your child stands today in each skill and what to work on first.
Three sessions a week for 12 weeks. Forty-five minutes each, one-on-one. About 30 minutes of your child’s Direct Instruction program lesson, then one-minute timings, and then your child puts the day’s results on their own chart. Most children need more than one 12-week term to finish a program level.
Five minutes a day at home. A short practice kit, five days a week. It’s the simplest way to get more from every session.
A chart every Friday. You get your child’s chart and a short note: what grew, what didn’t, and what we’re changing next week.
Free fluency check
What the free check measures
Sight words
Common words, read on sight.
Reading aloud
A short passage, read aloud.
Math facts
Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
Program placement
The placement test from the reading or math program your child will use.
Where every comparison comes from →
Reading is compared with published reading benchmarks, using our own grade-level materials. Math facts are compared with published mastery criteria. You leave with a one-page summary of where your child stands in each skill and what to work on first.
III. Why it works
Both methods have decades of classroom use behind them, and we teach from the published programs themselves.
Precision teaching was developed by Ogden Lindsley at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas, in the 1960s. A child practices one skill for a minute at a time, and every timing goes on a chart. When growth falls below the published minimum, we change the plan that same week. Precision teaching’s research base is smaller. Measuring progress often and changing teaching by planned rules raised achievement across 21 controlled studies (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1986).
Direct Instruction programs (Engelmann’s Reading Mastery, Corrective Reading and others) teach new skills in small, carefully sequenced steps: we show it, we do it together, then your child does it alone. A 2018 review of 328 studies of those programs found positive average effects in every academic subject (Stockard and colleagues, Review of Educational Research). We teach the published programs one-on-one.
Sources
- Hasbrouck & Tindal (2017), oral reading fluency benchmarks
- Burns, VanDerHeyden & Jiban (2006), math mastery criteria
- Stockard et al. (2018), Direct Instruction meta-analysis
- Fuchs & Fuchs (1986), systematic formative evaluation (21 controlled studies)
- Beck & Clement (1991), the Great Falls Precision Teaching Project
- National Student Support Accelerator, high-impact tutoring (three or more sessions a week)
- Correct per minute
- Errors per minute
- Aim
IV. Prices
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Fluency check
Free
One hour, with no obligation.
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12-week program, one-on-one
$80 a session
Three 45-minute sessions a week, 36 in all, about $960 a month. Free re-check at week 12.
Every program includes the home practice kit and a chart every Friday. Pay in full or in three monthly payments. After a program, keep going twice a week or once a week, or stop. We decide together at the re-check.
Founding families
$70 a session for the first families to join, for as long as they stay.
That’s about $840 a month for the 12-week program. In return, you agree to let us share your child’s chart without their name.
Three one-on-one sessions a week, the schedule tutoring research supports (National Student Support Accelerator). Why one-on-one →
Every family session is one-on-one. We also run a small-group program for schools. For Schools →
Know a family who’d find this useful?
Share the free fluency check. When a family you refer starts a 12-week program, you get one free session at the rate you pay, up to three a term.
A credit toward your next payment. There’s no cash payout. The new family names you when they book. It never depends on leaving a review.
V. Questions
Where do sessions happen?
In a private room in Kansas City. You’ll get the address when you book. We are never alone with a child: a parent or guardian stays in the building for every session. We never tutor in a private home.
What will you learn from the free check?
Where your child stands in each skill: sight words, oral reading and math facts. For oral reading, you’ll see how your child’s reading compares with published reading benchmarks for the same grade and season (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2017). For math facts, you’ll see how your child compares with published mastery criteria. Where a published benchmark exists for your child’s grade, each skill is placed against it. Before you leave, we’ll go over a one-page summary with you and tell you what we would work on first. A free re-check at week 12 of the program measures your child’s growth.
How does paying work?
Online, never in person. A 12-week program is paid in full or in three monthly payments, and anything after a program is billed monthly. If you stop early, we refund the sessions you haven’t used. The full terms are on the billing page.
What happens after 12 weeks?
We do the free re-check and look at your child’s chart together. Then you choose: keep going twice a week or once a week, or stop.
What if your child needs more than tutoring?
Segnatura Learning is one-on-one academic instruction in reading and math. If we think your child needs more than tutoring, we’ll tell you honestly and help you find the right specialist.
What ages do you work with?
Kindergarten through eighth grade.
How is your child’s information protected?
Children are recorded by first name and last initial, records are kept on a locked iPad, and nothing is ever sold or used for advertising. You can see, correct or delete your child’s records at any time. Read the privacy policy
What if the times don’t work for us?
Open times are always up to date on the booking page. If none of them work, send us a note below.
What happens at the free fluency check?
About 40 minutes of short timed activities with your child in letter sounds, sight words, oral reading and math facts. Then 15 minutes with you on the results and where to start.
Do parents stay during sessions?
Yes. We are never alone with a child: a parent or guardian stays in the building for every session. That includes the free check.
Do you come to our home?
No. All checks and sessions are in person at a private office in Kansas City.
How do you measure progress?
Each session includes 1-minute timings that go on a chart. You get the chart every Friday, and there’s a free re-check at week 12. Reading is compared with published reading benchmarks.
Is this tutoring or therapy?
It’s academic tutoring in reading and math.
Do you work with homeschool families?
Yes. Morning sessions at 9:00 and 10:00 fit around a homeschool day.
What does it cost?
The check is free. The 12-week program is three 45-minute sessions a week. Founding families keep $70 a session for as long as they stay. Families who join later pay $80.
Do you work with schools?
Yes. Our School Program teaches small groups during the school day, four days a week, sized by age: two or three children in kindergarten and first grade, and three or four students in grades 2–8. Every child has their own chart, and the school gets a report every month. Family tutoring stays one-on-one.
Do you have a referral program?
Yes. When a family you refer starts a 12-week program, you get one free session at the rate you pay, taken off your next payment, up to three a term. Ask them to put your name under “How did you hear about us?” when they book.
VI. Contact
Questions before you book? Send us a note and we’ll write back within a day.
Or email timothy@segnaturalearning.com · 817-694-6878