This article features Language Partners, an ESL program offered at the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security men's prison in central Illinois. The program in which prisoners teach ESL classes, supported by volunteer teacher-trainers, is a learning community with immense and sometimes unforeseen value. The authors discuss reasons for…

This study investigated the demographics and perceptions of participants who utilize animals in academic programs, specifically the volunteers who use dogs to work with at-risk children in reading programs. It presented an argument for incorporating research-supported elements of reading tutor skills into the volunteer tutor training for the…

Library-based adult literacy programs rely on volunteers to provide tutoring services to adult learners. A high percentage of volunteer tutors are matched with a reading-disabled adult literacy learner. Although all tutors are required to complete preservice tutor training, there is a limited amount of research that documents whether they utilize…

This research examined the impact of formative quizzes on e-learning designed to teach volunteers how to tutor struggling readers. Three research questions were addressed: (1) Do embedded quizzes facilitate learning of e-content? (2) Does the announcement of upcoming quizzes affect learning? (3) Does prior knowledge interact with quizzing and…

Through case studies of adult literacy learners and the volunteer tutors who instructed them, this article illustrates the strengths and challenges faced by these kinds of instructional pairs. The descriptions help to reveal critical issues that can inform researchers' and practitioners' thinking and practice with regard to tutor training and…

This study analyzed the relation between volunteer tutor training and reading instruction in 4 adult literacy programs. The data focus on tutors' choices of reading materials and strategies for assisting in the development of comprehension and word identification skills. Tutor training did not always transfer to practice, and it did not always…

This study evaluates the impact of minimally trained tutors on the pass/fail ratio of middle school students in core subjects such as English, reading, math, or science. Because a traditional experimental design comparing students who receive a treatment with those who do not was not financially feasible, the study employed an alternative that has…

The authors recommend a reading tutoring lesson framework, in a checklist format, to guide volunteer tutors during tutoring sessions for children in elementary grades 1-3. The reading tutor checklist is intended to be used by literacy coaches, reading specialists, and classroom teachers to train literacy volunteers in schools. The checklist…

This final performance report for the Brooklyn Public Library Literacy Program begins with a section that provides quantitative data. The next section compares actual accomplishments to project objectives for fiscal year 1992 in the following areas: (1) redevelopment of the tutor training, including redesign or addition of the writing process,…

This final performance report for the Bay County (Florida) Public Library literacy project begins with a section that provides quantitative data about: (1) the size of the community served; (2) type of project; (3) targeted populations; (4) tutoring methods used; (5) measurement of student progress; (6) printed items produced; and (7) total…

Project VITA (Volunteers in Tutoring Arrangements for County Educational Programs) was designed to develop a training and reporting system to coordinate services between 27 area educational and human service agencies serving special needs adult learners who require one-to-one tutoring. A training system was created with existing resources and…

This final performance report for the Sanford Library Association's Project Literacy U.S. (PLUS) begins with quantitative data. Background information on the community is then provided. Actual accomplishments are compared to project objectives for 1991-92 in the following areas: (1) continuation of individualized literacy instruction or promotion…

This final performance report for the Lewistown City Library L.E.A.R.N. (Let Every Adult Read Now!) literacy project begins with a section that provides quantitative data. The next section compares actual accomplishments to the following project goals for 1992-93: to serve a minimum of 25 adult literacy students within an 18-month period and to…

This final performance report for the Libraries of Middlesex literacy project begins with a section that compares actual accomplishments to the following objectives for 1992-93: (1) recruit and enroll at least 150 new volunteers in Basic Reading of English as a Second Language (ESL) tutor training; (2) have at least 125 volunteers successfully…

This final performance report for the Broward County Library Read Campaign literacy project begins with a section that provides quantitative data. The next section compares actual accomplishments to the following project objectives for 1992-93: (1) set up a literacy office in a branch library, located on the campus of a community college, by…