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Tutoring programs that incorporate research-based elements produce improvements in reading achievement.
A meta-analysis of 65 published studies that used rigorous evaluation methods to evaluate high-quality tutoring programs found positive, though modest, achievement effects across all of the studies. [Cohen, P.A., Kulik, J.A., & Kulik, C.L.C .(1982). Educational outcomes of tutoring: A meta-analysis of findings. American Educational Research Journal, 19, 237-248.]
A British tutoring program involving 2,372 elementary and junior high students who were tutored by trained parents and peers for an average of 8.6 weeks improved their reading comprehension 4.4 times the normal rate and word recognition 3.3 times the normal rate. Four months after the end of tutoring, the average tutee was still improving at twice the normal rate in both comprehension and word recognition. [Topping, K., & Whitley, M. (1990). Participant evaluation of parent-tutored and peer-tutored projects in reading. Educational Research, 32(1), 14-32.]
Two tutoring programs in Dade County, Florida, that trained cross-age and adult volunteer tutors to work with elementary school students found that tutees outperformed a randomly assigned control group of students who were not tutored. [Madden, N.A., & Slavin, R.E. (1989). Effective pullout programs for students at risk. In Effective Programs for Students At Risk, R.E. Slavin, N. L. Karweit, and N.A. Madden, eds. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.]
An after-school tutoring program in which low-achieving second- and third-graders were tutored for one hour twice each week by university students, retirees, and suburban mothers also generated strong improvements in the tutees’ reading skills. Two reading specialists selected the children for tutoring, recruited and trained the tutors, and monitored the tutoring sessions. In each of two years, the tutored group outperformed a closely matched comparison group on word recognition, passage reading accuracy, and spelling. Fifty percent of the tutored children made a full year’s gain in reading while only 20% of the comparison group children did. [Morris, D., Shaw, B., & Perney, J. (1990, November). Helping low readers in Grades 2 and 3: An after-school volunteer tutoring program. Elementary School Journal, 91, 133-150].
Other studies have shown that carefully crafted peer, cross-age, and adult tutoring services can improve reading achievement among disadvantaged, mildly disabled, and limited-English-proficient students. [Bender, D.S., Giovanis, G., & Mazzoni, M. (1994). After-school tutoring program. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National Middle School Association; Warger, C. L. (1991). Peer tutoring: When working together is better than working alone. Reston, VA: Council for Exceptional Children.
Tutoring can also lead to improvements in self-confidence about reading, motivation for reading, and behavior, both among tutees and among peer or cross-age tutors.
The Partners for Valued Youth employed at-risk middle school students with limited-English-proficiency to tutor low-achieving elementary school students for four hours every week. After participating in the program, tutors had lower dropout and absentee rates and higher self-concept scores than a randomly selected control group. Tutees also experienced improved reading scores, lower absentee rates, and fewer disciplinary referrals. [Robledo, M. del R. (1990). Partners for valued youth: Dropout prevention strategies for at-risk language minority students. Washington, DC: US Department of Education.]
Surveys of targeted groups of students who are tutored in reading have shown positive results for students’ self-confidence as readers, motivation to read, and views of their control over their reading abilities. [Cohen, P.A., Kulik, J.A., & Kulik, C.L.C .(1982). Educational outcomes of tutoring: A meta-analysis of findings. American Educational Research Journal, 19, 237-248; Lepper, M.R., & Chabay, R.W. (1988). Socializing the intelligent tutor: Bringing empathy to computer tutors. New York: Springer-Verlag; Topping, K., & Whitely, M. (1990). Participant evaluation of parent-tutored and peer-tutored projects in reading. Educational Research, 32(1), 14-32; Merrill, D.C., e t al. (1995). Tutoring: Guided learning by doing. Cognition and Instruction, 13(3), 315-372.]
What research shows about high-quality implementation
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