The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the effects of a tutorial program on first-grade children's reading skills and their tutors' (also preservice teachers) knowledge of reading instruction. Participants consisted of a group of 30 first-grade children served in the program and a control group of 30 children. Literacy…

Given that many schools have limited resources and a high proportion of students who present with deficits in early literacy skills, supports aimed at preventing reading failure must be simple and efficient and generate meaningful changes in student learning. We used a randomized group design with a wait-list control to extend the work of Volpe,…

This article draws on previously employed methods for conducting fidelity studies and applies them to an evaluation of an unprescribed intervention. We document the process of assessing the fidelity of implementation of the Math Recovery first-grade tutoring program, an unprescribed, diagnostic intervention. We describe how we drew on recent…

This randomized-control trial examined the learning of preservice teachers taking an initial Early Literacy course in an early childhood education program and of the kindergarten or first grade students they tutored in their field experience. Preservice teachers were randomly assigned to one of two tutoring programs: Book Buddies and Tutor…

This study evaluated the relative effects of Tier II computer-assisted tutoring in small groups (Team Alphie) and one-to-one tutoring provided to struggling readers in 33 high-poverty Success for All (SFA) schools. In this year-long study, struggling readers in the Team Alphie schools were tutored in groups of 6. In the control schools, students…

Description of a tutoring program for struggling 1st grade readers focuses on use of Sound Partners, a program designed for non-teacher tutors. This program emphasizes basic phonological awareness and phonological reading skills. The article describes the program's theoretical ancestry, application, research outcomes, and obstacles/solutions…

"Tutor Huddle," a classwide peer-tutoring system, is described, and the results of a case study implemented to evaluate its operation are discussed. (MP)

Students can fall behind early in reading and never catch up. Hoboken (New Jersey) teachers are using Reading Recovery, an innovative New Zealand program, to provide low-achieving first graders with daily tutoring sessions for 18 to 22 weeks. Reading Recovery offers confidence-building strategies that combine skill-and-drill and whole-language…

Explores the evolving perspectives of six school members who served as tutors (three first-grade teachers, two Title I teachers, and the school principal) on professional development, classroom language arts instruction, and school-wide literacy curriculum. Describes how the program shifted to teacher development and curriculum reform as school…

Describes how fifth grade students can help first graders develop their language skills and also teach other fifth graders how to tutor. Provides a list of picture books for use in the program. (FL)

This article is a descriptive study of an evolving cybermentoring videoconferencing practice and tool developed to support preservice teacher training. Cybermentoring projects are synchronous distance learning collaborations using high-end video conferencing to foster interactive learning and tutoring among preservice teachers and K-12 students,…

Within the context of an ongoing classwide peer tutoring system for sight words, a training program was conducted to teach first-grade peer tutors to provide verbal praise for correct responses on an intermittent schedule. After training, the four observed tutors successfully delivered praise on the desired schedule. (Author/JDD)

Reviews 16 studies of 5 1-to-one tutoring models (Reading Recovery, Success for All, Prevention of Learning Disabilities, the Wallach Tutoring Program, and Programmed Tutorial Reading) used with at-risk first graders. Finds (1) substantial positive effects of tutoring; (2) effects of tutoring are generally lasting; and (3) results were more…

Describes the Reading Buddies program in which high school students tutor first graders at risk of failure in reading while receiving training provided by university professors. (SR)

Twenty at-risk first graders received 30 minutes of individual instruction from community tutors four days a week for up to 23 weeks. Subjects outperformed the control group on all reading, decoding, spelling and segmenting, and writing measures. Tutors who implemented the program with a high degree of fidelity achieved significant effect sizes in…