The math tutor should be asking the tutoree questions and involving him or her in the session. If the student is falling behind in school due to lack of engagement on the part of his or her teacher or text, a tutor who falls in the same category will not help. If your child is the one being tutored, don't be too obtrusive, but listen from the other room to hear if the math tutor asks questions and encourages involvement from the student. Some students will initially be shy but, if you have hired a good tutor, you should begin to hear them speak up more in response to questions after a couple of tutoring sessions.
A good math tutor should be able to give the student, parent, and teacher detailed updates on progress that are appropriate to each person involved. A student should get detailed and accurate feedback on his or her work, a parent should know how prepared their child is for a test, and a teacher should be informed of what math concepts the student is struggling with.
Furthermore, after a few sessions, a good math tutor should be adapting to you or your child's learning style. He or she should also be able to explain the way your child learns best so that the parent and teacher can better reach the student. If you are the student, ask the tutor what he or she has figured out about your learning styles and how you can apply it in all your subjects. If you are the parent, ask the same in reference to your child. If the math tutor can't give you an answer, this is a bad sign.
In addition, a good math tutor will be able to come up with extra examples, metaphors, and resources to explain the material. Ask yourself or your child if the tutoring sessions consist solely of watching the student do math homework problems and making comments. If so, your tutor is not doing his or her best to help you or your child understand the material.
It is also important that the math tutor encourage the student to be independent. He or she should show the student how to recognize where to apply concepts in context so that math homework and math tests will become easier. Depending on the academic situation, this might not happen right away. However, when asked, a good tutor should be able to explain how he or she will eventually help the student be able to work more independently. For example, he or she might teach the student how to "translate" key words in word problems.
Because a good math tutor will encourage students to be independent, he/she should be able to help you or your child come up with general study skills that correspond with personal learning styles and are applicable to other school subjects besides math.
Tutor and student personalities should be compatible. If you are the one being tutored, you can make this call yourself. If you are dealing with a child, remember that he or she probably doesn't like "tutoring" in general. Therefore, ask him or her this question: "Is ________ a good tutor if you have to have a tutor?"
If your child has a hard time paying attention, listen to see if the math tutor uses creative ways to keep him or her focused and incorporates visual information. The same holds true if you are the student and struggle with focus. Math utoring sessions should be more visual, engaging, and helpful than doing schoolwork on your own. Sometimes, short conversational tangents help students stay interested in the material and trust the tutor. However, a good math tutor will quickly work these back into the work at hand and avoid a child's attempts to spend the session talking.
Finally, a good math tutor will be truthful and realistic, but supportive and optimistic when questioned about a students immediate grade potential. He or she won't promise you or your child "A"s but will indicate that he or she do his or her best to help the student understand the material and get the best math grade possible under the individual circumstances. Often math tutors are faced with having to bring a student up to date on past concepts that are lacking. If this is the case, the tutor should be able to explain to the tutor or parent how he or she will divide up the time between review and current material.