Littera Education Review Summary

Littera Education tutors K-12 schoolchildren across the USA. Tutorials last between 20-60 minutes with 1-8 students, and they hire experienced US teachers on $15-20 per hour without a degree or teaching certificate following a simple interview, though lesson materials and booking rates are inconsistent.

Littera Education Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Short and simple interview
• Growing start-up
• No minimum hours requirement

Cons:

• Only accepts US tutors
• Low booking rate
• Complaints from existing teachers
• Teaching materials are inconsistent so you must be willing to prepare your own, taking up additional unpaid time

Neutral:

• Not all teachers will be comfortable with the possibility of longer tutorials involving up to 8 students

Is Littera Education Legit?

Littera Education inc. is an American education start-up that was launched in the fall/Autumn of 2020. They work with K-12 school districts to provide academic tutoring support through Littera’s platform. The company has over 150 tutors (at the time of writing), and is expanding into 200 locations. Subjects include English Language Arts (ELA), Mathematics and Science, and all tutoring is done online, either 1:1, 1:4 or 1:8, with students located across the USA.

Littera Education Salary

The Littera Education pay rate begins at US$15 per hour, though some positions (e.g. High School Math) start at $20.

Littera says that ‘there are potential bonuses and step pay’ with ‘additional pay for training and projects’, though these opportunities are inconsistent and liable to change.

To receive payment at the end of the month, you must submit an invoice and have a US bank account. However, we were emailed by a disgruntled Littera Education teacher with the following complaints:

“Littera sent invoices with inaccurate hours, inaccurate hourly rates, and NO January bonus incentive money for many tutors. Littera claimed very few teachers were impacted by incorrect hourly rates, but social media tells a different story. Tutors bombarded Littera with tickets… tutors, myself included, have now noticed that our January “open hours” have vanished from Littera’s system. There is no way to prove we had the required hours open on the Littera system. Other tutors have said classes they taught have vanished.”

Littera Education Hours

General tutoring hours are between 8am-7pm across all US time zones, with after-school 4-7pm the most popular time for bookings.

There is no minimum hours requirement, and Littera Education tutors can choose the days and hours they wish to make themselves available, which can be changed if needed. Students are matched based on their availability and needs, and tutors may find themselves teaching different students and time slots from week to week.

The length of Littera Education classes varies depending upon the age, number of students, and the school/program being taught; it can be 20, 30, 40, 45 or 60-minutes long.

The preparation of teaching materials can take extra, unpaid time as, while these are ostensibly provided, they vary between schools and not all of the curriculum will be formatted for use in online learning. Littera Education teachers often find themselves either reformatting or creating their own materials, which have to be uploaded to the platform, Learncube, before the lesson.

Unfortunately, a number of Littera teachers have struggled to get bookings since joining the company, as discussed in this extract from a long Facebook teachers’ group thread:

Littera Education Requirements

The requirements to become a Littera Education tutor vary slightly, depending on the subject and level being applied for, but in general they are seeking:

• Tutors who currently reside and plan to work within continental USA, Alaska, or Hawaii
• Experience working with students in the relevant grades (i.e. K-5, 6-12)
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills
• General knowledge of curriculum and instruction
• Ability to instruct and manage students
• Openness to change and innovation to meet the needs of all students
• Energetic, positive individuals with a passion for helping students achieve success
• Ability to inspire and motivate children to develop their confidence and skills and help students achieve their academic potential
• Must have a computer/tablet with the Chrome browser and access to Wi-Fi, a working microphone, and a camera

A Bachelor’s degree and 1+ years of online tutoring experience is preferred but not essential.

Littera Education Application Process

There are 5 steps to the Littera Education hiring process:

1. Submit your Application
2. Invitation to a Video Interview
3. Invitation to a Live Virtual Interview
4. Pass a Background Check
5. Sign the Tutor Agreement

You begin your application on the Littera Education careers page. All currently available Littera Education jobs will be listed here and usually include Remote/Virtual Tutor positions for Elementary, Middle and High School English, Math and Science, plus the Teachers College Readers and Writers Program. Be sure to click on the ‘Show More’ button, as many vacancies are hidden by it.

When you click ‘Apply for this job’ at the bottom of the job overview, you will be taken to an application form where you can import the details from your resume (via the computer, Dropbox or Google Drive) or fill in the following information:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address
• Phone number (optional)
• Physical address (optional)
• Are you authorized to work in the United States and a U.S. citizen?
• Will you now or in the future require sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H-1B visa status)?
• Are you at least 18 years of age?
• Do you have at least 1-year experience tutoring or working with students in grades K-12?
• Do you speak any other language besides English? (No/Spanish/Mandarin/Other)
• Describe your experience with tutoring or working with students
• What drew you to the role of an online tutor with Littera?
• Which subject areas would you be interested in tutoring? Check all that apply (ELA/Social Science, Math, Science)
• Current Resume (upload or drag and drop)
• All of the information provided is true to the best of my knowledge (yes/no)

Once you have submitted your application, it should take between a few days and a couple of weeks to receive an invitation to interview.

Littera Education Interview

There are two parts to the Littera Education interview, a recorded video interview and a live interview with a member of staff.

If your initial application passes screening, you will receive an email with instructions for the video interview, which consists of three questions (though the third comprises 3 elements you are expected to demonstrate through taught example):

1. Can you tell me a little about yourself? (2-minute answer)
2. What drew you to this role? (2-minute answer)
3. You are about to start a tutoring session with a new student: (3-minute answer combined)
   • How would you start a session with a new student?
   • How would you keep a student engaged?
   • How would you assess the student’s abilities at the end of the session?

There are also a couple of random practice questions at the beginning such as ‘What is your favorite food and why?’, but you are not assessed on these and they are merely there to help you learn how the recording system works and to test your camera and sound. You have 3 attempts to record each main question.

Should you pass this stage, the final live interview is relatively simple, lasting less than 10 minutes on average. Your video interview and background will be reviewed and you will be told a little bit about the company, the position and the hours. Past candidates have also been asked about:

• what led them to online teaching
• their online/ESL tutoring experience
• their teaching style
• what works and does not work with online teaching

Most successful candidates are hired immediately, with the background check following shortly thereafter.

Littera Education Reviews

Both the Littera Education Glassdoor and Littera Education Indeed pages give the company an average rating of 5 out of 5, with 100% willing to recommend them to a friend. These are calculated from just 5 and 4 reviews respectively (at the time of writing), none of which have been written by teachers but by Management and Marketing, so their views should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Being a relatively new start-up, it is hard to find Littera Education teacher reviews other than from a few Facebook group comments, with most tutors only having worked there since September 2021. As previously mentioned, many of these are still waiting for their bookings to grow.

We have heard directly from a Littera teacher, who paints a rather negative view of the company:

“Frustrations are running very high. Bookings remain very low for most despite waiting months and having to check our schedules daily for bookings (as Littera cannot notify you if you get booked) for no pay. Yet, Littera is hiring tons of new tutors. There are problems with the platform. Classes require substantial preparation time, again for no pay. Management is seemingly nonexistent. Communication is unbelievably poor.“

Conclusion – Is Littera Education Worth It?

Though it seems relatively easy to get hired at Littera Education, booking rates appear to be an issue and the pay is average for most, especially when one factors in the extra workload of reformatting or preparing teaching materials. Not all will be comfortable tutoring up to 8 students in longer classes, and the complaints that are emerging from teachers at the company is a worrying sign.

You can apply for Littera Education jobs through the Littera Education careers page.

A full list of other online teaching companies can be found here.