1. Where approved Utah Fits All providers are listed
Odyssey, the program manager for Utah Fits All, keeps track of approved providers in two places:
- The Odyssey Marketplace. This is where approved providers list what they sell and where families order with scholarship funds. Tutoring has its own Marketplace category, “Tutoring.” Odyssey pays Marketplace providers directly, so there is no reimbursement claim to file.
- Odyssey’s approved-vendor list. Odyssey publishes a downloadable list (a CSV spreadsheet) of approved vendors in its help center; the most recent version we checked was attached to a September 4, 2026 article. It is useful for confirming that a business is approved, but it is not a guide to quality or fit.
Two other routes exist. A school district or charter school can be a qualifying provider for contracted services, “including individual classes, after-school tutoring services,” as long as your child doesn’t enroll. And you can pay a provider outside the Marketplace and seek reimbursement, though that route has stricter paperwork and a 10% price rule (see our guide to paying for tutoring with Utah Fits All).
Whatever the route, the provider you pay must teach your child itself. Utah law bars an approved provider from acting as an “intermediary that connects a scholarship student with or otherwise facilitates the student’s engagement with a program or service that another entity provides” (Utah Code 53F-6-409(1)(c)), and Odyssey sums it up: “services must be provided by the provider themselves; no middlemen.”
2. What “approved” does and doesn’t tell you
Approval means a provider has applied through Odyssey and agreed to the program’s rules. Under Utah law, approved providers must, among other things:
- complete the required orientation programs and keep a current orientation status;
- provide their services directly, not pass families to another business; and
- not refund, rebate or share scholarship funds with families except through the program’s financial administrator.
Utah law also says Marketplace prices “shall reflect fair market value” (Utah Code 53F-6-405(11)(a)), and Odyssey’s vendor rules say no additional charges can be added on top of a listed price.
What approval doesn’t tell you is whether a tutor is right for your child. Odyssey’s provider application asks for “any Professional License Numbers/Documents relevant to the services you provide,” and offerings must list “Instructor or provider credentials, if required.” But Odyssey’s published tutor-credential rules name requirements only for other states, and we found no Utah-specific credential rule for Utah Fits All tutors. Utah law also says a provider “is not an agent of the state by virtue of the provider’s acceptance of payment.” Choosing the right tutor is up to you, and the rest of this guide is meant to help.
3. What to check in a Marketplace tutoring offering
Odyssey requires each offering to spell out the basics. Read them closely before you order:
| What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Delivery method: “in-person, virtual, or hybrid” | Online tutoring widens your choice beyond tutors who live nearby. Think about which format suits your child’s attention, comfort and schedule. |
| Number of sessions, frequency and duration | This is exactly what you are buying. Some children do better with shorter, more frequent sessions; others need longer blocks. |
| Instructor or provider credentials | Look for credentials that fit your child’s needs, such as certification in special education or training in a structured reading approach. |
| Price | The listed price is the price; Odyssey says no additional charges can be added on top. Tutoring has no cap, but your child’s award is finite. |
| Category | “Tutoring” is its own Marketplace category, separate from therapy services. Make sure you are buying the kind of service your child needs. |
Because Marketplace service orders are cancelled only if the provider authorizes it, the details of an offering are the details you are committing to.
4. Credentials and experience that fit your child
For a child with an IEP, a 504 plan or a learning difference, subject knowledge isn’t enough on its own. Ask about:
- Special education background. Is the tutor certified in special education, or trained and experienced in teaching children with needs like your child’s?
- Experience with your child’s profile. Dyslexia, dysgraphia, ADHD and executive function, autism and math learning differences each call for different adjustments. Ask for examples of how the tutor has adapted instruction for a child like yours.
- Reading approach. For dyslexia or reading difficulties, ask which approach the tutor uses, for example a structured, multisensory approach such as Orton-Gillingham, and what training they have in it.
- Who actually teaches. Ask whether your child will work with the same tutor each time, and whether that tutor works for the provider you are paying.
Share as much or as little about your child as you are comfortable with. A good tutor will ask about your child’s strengths and interests as well as the hard parts, and will use your words when describing your child.
5. Connecting tutoring to the IEP goals you share
A private tutor is not your child’s school, and tutoring doesn’t replace an IEP. The acknowledgment on every Utah Fits All application says it plainly: “A qualifying provider may not provide the same level of disability services that are provided in a public school.” A good tutor can still work toward the same skills. Practical ways to connect the two:
- Share what you choose to share. You decide whether to give a tutor your child’s IEP, 504 plan or recent evaluations. The goals, the present levels (a summary of how your child is doing now) and the accommodations are often the most useful parts.
- Agree on a few focus areas. Ask how the tutor would turn the goals you share into session plans, and how you will both know whether it’s working.
- Carry over supports that help. Accommodations such as extra time, breaks or visual supports can often be used in tutoring too.
- Ask how progress is reported. Will you get regular updates, and in what form? Odyssey lists “Progress notes” among its examples of renewal portfolio items; whether any document meets the portfolio requirement is Odyssey’s decision.
Remember that agreeing to establish a Utah Fits All account “has the same effect as a parental refusal to consent to services as described in 34 C.F.R. Sec. 300.300” (Utah Code 53F-6-402(4)(d)). Questions about what that means for your child’s IEP belong with your school district or the Utah Parent Center (800-468-1160). Our guide to Utah Fits All and your child’s IEP explains more.
6. Scheduling, missed sessions and cancellations
Odyssey has a “No Cancelation Policy” covering products and services, and “Service orders will only be cancelled if authorized by the vendor.” Any refund must be “requested and approved through Odyssey,” never paid to you directly. That makes scheduling terms more important than usual. Before ordering, ask:
- Which days and times are available, in Mountain Time?
- Is the same time slot held each week, and how far ahead are sessions booked?
- What happens if my child is sick, or if the tutor has to cancel?
- How long do we have to use the sessions in an order, and do they need to fall within the July 1 to June 30 scholarship year?
- If the fit isn’t right, can my child switch to a different tutor with the same provider?
7. Questions to ask a tutor before you order
About the tutor
- Is the tutor certified in special education? What other training relates to my child’s needs?
- How long has the tutor worked with children who learn the way my child does?
- Will my child have the same tutor every session?
- Does the tutor work for your organization, or for another business?
About the teaching
- How will you use the goals I share from my child’s IEP or 504 plan?
- What does a typical session look like for a child like mine?
- What do you do when my child is frustrated, tired or stuck?
- How will you measure progress, and how often will I hear about it?
About online sessions
- What platform do you use, and what equipment does my child need?
- How do you keep a child engaged on screen?
- Does a parent need to be nearby during sessions?
About paying with Utah Fits All
- Is your offering in the Odyssey Marketplace, and in which category?
- What exactly does the offering include: how many sessions, how often and how long?
- What is your policy if a session is missed?
- Are there any charges beyond the Marketplace price? (Odyssey says there shouldn’t be.)
8. Red flags
- Guaranteed results. No tutor can honestly guarantee a grade level, a test score or a date by which a child will catch up. Be cautious of promises like these.
- Therapy offered as tutoring. Speech-language, occupational, behavioral and similar therapies are a separate category, for services from a licensed or accredited practitioner. If a tutor offers therapy, ask about licensure and which category the offering is listed in.
- Cash back, gift cards or bonuses for paying with Utah Fits All. Utah law bars approved providers from refunding, rebating or sharing scholarship funds with families except through the program’s financial administrator.
- Offers to refund you directly or to send an invoice for a Marketplace order. Refunds go through Odyssey, and Odyssey’s vendor rules say transaction documents for Marketplace orders are not shared between providers and families.
- A business that won’t be the one teaching. If the provider you pay would hand your child to a different business, ask why; Utah law bars approved providers from acting as an intermediary for another entity’s services.
- Suggestions to bend the rules, such as splitting one purchase across siblings, using one child’s funds for another, or paying a parent to teach. These count as misuse under Odyssey’s policy.
- Claims to speak for the program. Providers are not Odyssey or the State. Accepting scholarship payments does not make a provider an agent of the state (Utah Code 53F-6-406(2)(b)).
None of these red flags is about any particular provider. They are simply the points the program’s own rules make worth checking.
9. Where Special Ed Resource fits
Special Education Resource LLC is an approved provider in the Utah Fits All Odyssey Marketplace. We are one of many approved providers, and we would encourage you to ask us every question on this page. Here is what we can tell you now:
- Our own teachers, certified in special education, provide the tutoring. The business you pay is the one teaching your child.
- Tutoring is online and one-to-one, so families anywhere in Utah can work with us.
- We provide academic tutoring only, including reading and dyslexia, math, ADHD and executive function, and autism support. We don’t offer therapy, speech services, ABA, diagnosis or evaluations.
- Special Ed Resource was founded in 2014, has 40+ tutors and has delivered 100,000+ sessions.
- Utah Fits All covers kindergarten through grade 12. We also work with children from age 3.5, but tutoring before kindergarten would be paid privately.
We are not Odyssey, the Utah State Board of Education or the State of Utah. To ask our team the questions above, book a free consultation or call (844) 773-3822.