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…

Finds that at-risk first and second graders made statistically significant gains in instructional reading level that was attributable to tutoring by minimally trained America Reads Challenge college students. Finds that the greatest impact was in affecting children's ability to read words, and that most of their growth occurred during the second…

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 "Start Making a Reader Today" (SMART), a volunteer tutoring program that helps K-2 students at risk of reading difficulties. Finds that the program improved students' word reading, reading fluency, and word comprehension, though level of performance at end of second grade was still much lower than that of average-achieving…