STEVE LOHR reports that a wave of offshore tutoring exists, mainly through India.

Concerns about the quality of K-12 education in America and the increased emphasis on standardized tests is driving the tutoring business in general,(and its globalization).

Have you checked out TutorVista as well as other online tutoring services yet? Mobile learners may find these services useful for on-demand assistance.

Two year old Tutorvista has 10,000 U.S. subscribers and aspires to be in the budget of 1M U.S. households. They employ 760 people, including 600 tutors in India, a teaching staff it plans to double by year-end and a 52-person technical staff building the software system to schedule, monitor and connect potentially tens of thousands of tutors with students, all with a $15 investment from investors.

I wonder how long it will take for a U.S. school system to contract with one of these offshore tutoring companies to assist students in school? On the surface, such a contract appears potentially cost effective at $99 per month per student. It also appears politically sensitive, at least among teacher union members.

Kudos to those entrepreneurs who have found another need and offer a way to fill it.

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