Public elementary schools throughout the nation have hired increased numbers of support staff, including literacy tutors, through federal Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant funding. Prior research on volunteer tutors and preservice teachers highlights the potential impact of tutoring on student learning outcomes. Yet…

Concern about the state of literacy instruction in America's classrooms has recently exploded. As a result, policymakers, school system leaders, and teachers have increasingly sought to remake how children learn to read in order to improve literacy outcomes--a pursuit that has gained heightened urgency in the aftermath of the pandemic. This work,…

There is resounding evidence of the existence of direct precursors of written language, most specifically phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, and oral comprehension. The initial differences identified in the development of written language precursors are directly related to subsequent students' academic trajectories.…

To address the problem of low achieving math students, a cross-age math tutoring intervention paired middle school tutors with kindergarten and first grade students with low math skills. This instrumental group case study explored the effects of the intervention on the math skills of the students through teacher interviews and the testing program…

This study examines the perspectives of a group of 10 UK undergraduate students and one Master's student on a residential field trip to four Danish forest kindergartens. Two dimensions are examined: the impact of collaborative reflection and co-construction of knowledge on student learning; and the influence of cultural assumptions on…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "Student Voice." Contents include: (1) Maybe One Day, the Pain Won't Feel the…

A two-cohort cluster-randomized trial was conducted to estimate effects of small-group supplemental vocabulary instruction for at-risk kindergarten English learners (ELs). Connections students received explicit instruction in high-frequency decodable root words, and interactive book reading (IBR) students were taught the same words in a storybook…

A two-cohort cluster randomized trial was conducted to estimate effects of small-group supplemental vocabulary instruction for at-risk kindergarten English learners (ELs). "Connections" students received explicit instruction in high-frequency decodable root words, and interactive book reading (IBR) students were taught the same words in…

The study analyzed the conversational exchanges through which child tutors mediated literacy abilities and knowledge with young children in the framework of the project "From Child to Child: A Tutor-Child Literacy Program," that is being conducted in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The analysis considered the conversational moves deployed by…

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 was designed to research the difference in parental training in phonemic awareness on the achievements of their children who had been identified as struggling readers. Subjects were children from ten kindergarten and first grade classrooms residing in federally subsidized housing. An experimental group (the phonemic awareness trained…

This meta-analysis assesses the effectiveness of volunteer tutoring programs for improving the academic skills of students enrolled in public schools Grades K-8 in the United States and further investigates for whom and under what conditions tutoring can be effective. The authors found 21 studies (with 28 different study cohorts in those studies)…

We investigated the effects of a highly rated commercial electronic book (e-book) for young children on kindergarteners' emergent literacy skills within the context of paired peer versus individual use of the e-book. The sample of 110 kindergarteners had a mean age of 5.64 years and approximately equal numbers of boys and girls, randomly chosen…

Success for All (SFA)[R] is a whole-school reform model that includes a reading, writing, and oral language development program for students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. Classroom reading instruction is delivered in daily 90-minute blocks to students grouped by reading ability. Immediate intervention with tutors who are certified…

Although over 15 years have passed since Witt (1990) noted that no empirical evidence exists to support the contention that a collaborative approach to consultation leads to more positive outcomes than a hierarchical or expert driven approach, this issue generally remains unaddressed (Schulte & Osborne, 2003). While the literature documenting…