Monday, before. A parent pays for weekly tuition and has no idea what happens in the sessions.
Her daughter says it was fine, which is what she says about everything. The tutor is perfectly good and communicates nothing. Twelve weeks pass and the only information available is a school report months away.
She is paying a substantial monthly amount for something she cannot evaluate at all, and at some point she will stop.
Monday before: the session happens and nothing is communicated
An hour of good teaching, followed by silence, and a parent left with a teenager's assessment of it.
Monday after: a short note goes out
What was covered, how it went, and one thing to work on, which takes the tutor three minutes and changes everything for the parent.
Tuesday before: the parent cannot help at home
Because she does not know what is being worked on, so the six days between sessions do nothing.
Tuesday after: the parent knows what to reinforce
One specific thing, which makes the week between sessions productive rather than empty.
Wednesday before: the difficulty is invisible
A child struggling with a particular topic is known to the tutor and to nobody else, and the parent finds out from a result.
Wednesday after: the difficulty is named early
Which lets everybody act while there is time, and is the entire point of paying for tuition rather than waiting for a report.
Thursday before: progress cannot be described
If asked whether it is working, the parent would say she thinks so, which is not a foundation for continuing to pay.
Thursday after: progress can be pointed at
Specific things that were difficult in September and are not difficult now, which is what keeps somebody enrolled through a long programme.
Friday before: the cancellation arrives without warning
Because there was nothing to weigh against the cost, which is the pattern in score improvement questions parents ask before enrolling.
Friday after: the conversation happens earlier
A parent with regular information raises a concern rather than cancelling, and concerns are frequently resolvable.
What the reporting should contain
Three lines. What was covered, how it went, and one action. Anything longer does not get written and does not get read.
What it should not become
A formal assessment, which takes too long to write, arrives too rarely and tells a parent less than three lines after each session.
What the parent actually wants
Evidence that somebody is paying attention to their child specifically, which is what the note communicates regardless of its content.
What the tutor gets from it
A parent who can see the work is a parent who defends the expense to somebody else and who raises concerns rather than cancelling. Three minutes after each session is the cheapest retention in the sector.
What happens near an exam
Communication should increase rather than stop in the final weeks, which is when parents are most anxious and tutors are most busy, and when silence does the most damage.
Send three lines after every session
An assistant that prompts for a short note, sends it to the parent, answers their questions between sessions and handles the scheduling changes turns twelve weeks of silence into a parent who can see what she is paying for. The group setting is covered in group size and tutor ratio questions in test prep, the family communication in family communication and update questions, and the reporting discipline in how to report chatbot results to your boss or. Start at try, see features, and the sector view sits under education.