How after-school tutors handle mixed-age groups in one room

Mixed-age tutoring looks manageable on the schedule until everyone sits down. One child needs help reading the question, another is ready for algebra, and a third is finished early and looking for something to do. If the tutor tries to teach everyone one by one, the room gets noisy fast. I had better luck building the session in layers. Younger students got a short task they could start without…