the tutoring market | United States

1.1 Definition and presentation

The academic mentoring market covers all activities for students (primary and secondary education) aimed at enabling them to improve their academic level: private or group mentoring in specific subjects, homework help, holiday internships.

It is at the high school and university level that students make the most use of academic support and studies show that it is the parents who, in most cases, are at the origin of the initiative. A distinction is made between the client (the final recipient of the service: the student) and the applicant (the parents).

The evolution of US market for academic tutoring is driven by the democratization of technology, which has progressively led to an increasing demand for private online courses. Service providers in the industry have indeed been adjusting their offering in order to meet the changing customers’ needs, to unconventional programs available on tablets, smartphones, or laptops that provide greater flexibility and lower cost efforts to the end user.

Companies in the sector, though, have to face the growing relevancy of two alternative solutions which might compromise their positioning: peer-to-peer mentoring and after-school sessions.

The main players in the sector are the Graham Holdings Company , Catapult Learning LLC and Chancelight Inc .