Evidence
That Tutoring Works
By:
When tutors work closely with teachers and are provided with intensive,
ongoing training, they can make a difference in a child's reading success.
Learn what research has found about the elements of tutoring programs that lead
to increase reading achievement.
Research
has consistently shown that well-designed tutoring programs that use volunteers
and other non professionals as tutors can be effective in improving children's
reading skills.
Among
the features of tutoring programs associated with the most positive gains are
extensive training for tutors, formal time commitments by tutors, structured
tutoring sessions, careful monitoring of tutoring services, and close
relationships between classroom instruction and curriculum and the tutoring
services provided.
Students
with severe learning disabilities require special tutoring services, which can
be provided by professionals, combined with non professionals under careful
supervision.
What
the research shows about tutoring
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, Kulik,
& Kulik, 1982).
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 & Whitley,
1990).
Two
tutoring programs in
An
after-school tutoring program in which low-achieving second- and third-graders
were tutored for one hour twice each week by trained and supervised university
students, retirees, and suburban mothers also generated strong improvements in
the tutees' reading skills. 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, Shaw, & Perney, 1990.)
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, Giovanis
& Mazzoni, 1994; Warger,
1991).
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
drop-out 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,
1990).
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, Kulik,
& Kulik, 1982; Lepper
& Chabay, 1988; Topping, & Whitely, 1990;
Merrill, et al.,1995).
What
research says about high-quality implementation
Researchers
who have examined multiple tutoring programs generally agree on the factors
that generate the most consistent positive achievement for tutees. Six such
factors are:
Close
coordination with the classroom or reading teacher
When
tutoring is coordinated with good classroom reading practices, students perform
better than when tutoring is unrelated to classroom instruction (Venezky & Jain, 1996; Reisner,
Petry, & Armitage,
1990; Jenkins & Jenkins, 1987).
Intensive
and ongoing training for tutors
Tutees
whose tutors participated in ongoing, intensive training throughout their
participation in a
A review
of college-based tutoring programs that recruit college students to tutor
younger children concluded that tutor training was a key to project success (Reisner, Petry, & Armitage, 1990).
The
importance of tutor training is reinforced by several other studies, which
provide specific advice on the types of training that yield the best results.
Jenkins and Jenkins (1985) point to the importance of training in interpersonal
skills so tutors do not become impatient with tutees. Warger
(1991) says training should include strategies for reinforcing correct
responses and properly correcting incorrect responses.
Well-structured
tutoring sessions in which the content and delivery of instruction is carefully
scripted
In their
meta-analysis, Cohen, Kulik, and Kulik
found that structured tutorial programs demonstrated higher achievement gains
than unstructured programs. Wasik and Slavin (1993) reached similar conclusions when they
examined five successful tutoring programs.
In a
study of the use of tutorial scripts in teaching mathematics, McArthur, Stasz and Zmuidzinas found that
the most successful tutors often have well-rehearsed scripts for responding to
student errors. The results are general enough to apply to reading also
(McArthur, Stasz, & Zmuidzinas,
1990).
Careful
monitoring and reinforcement of progress
A study
of tutoring for 30 first-graders at risk for reading failure reported that
successful tutor-tutee relationships were characterized by strong reinforcement
of progress, a high number of reading and writing experiences in which the
student moved from being fully supported to working independently, and explicit
demonstration of appropriate reading and writing processes (Juel,
1996).
Frequent and regular tutoring sessions, with each session between 10 and 60
minutes daily. More
sessions a week result in greater gains.
Rigorous
evaluations of tutoring programs reported positive results for programs whose
tutoring sessions ran from 10 to 60 minutes in length, although longer sessions
did not necessarily result in better outcomes (Brailsford,
1991; Warger, 1991; Robledo,
1990; Jenkins & Jenkins, 1985).
Tutoring
programs in which tutors met with tutees at least three times a week were more
likely to generate positive achievement for tutees than programs in which
tutors and tutees met twice a week (Reisner, Petry, & Armitage, 1990).
Specially designed interventions for the 17 to 20 percent of children with
severe reading difficulties.
The most
important strategies for improving early reading instruction and learning have
been identified as creating an appreciation of the written word, developing an
awareness of printed language and the writing system, teaching the alphabet,
developing students' phonological awareness, developing phonemic awareness,
teaching the relationship of sounds and letters, teaching children how to sound
out words, teaching children to spell words, and helping children to develop
fluent, reflective reading (Kame'enui, Adams, &
Lyon, 1996).
Trained
volunteers under careful supervision from reading or resource teachers have
proved to be effective instructors for learning disabled and other students
with disabilities (Madden & Slavin, 1989).
Excerpted from: Office of the Under Secretary, Planning and Evaluation
Service. (1997). Evidence that Tutoring Works.