This article discusses the progression of tutoring system innovations from informal, dyadic, and subjectively evaluated arrangements to more formally arranged configurations that emphasize training, application, and evaluation. Suggestions for future innovations, based on existing prototypes, are discussed.

Background: Mosston's "spectrum of teaching styles" which composes of 11 pedagogical approaches in physical education (PE), has been popularly promoted for maximizing students' learning in the Western countries. However, very few of them have been put into practice and studied in Hong Kong. This article concerned a report of a pilot…

Using data from an existing pre-algebra computer-based tutor, we analyzed the covariance of item-types with the goal of describing a more effective way to assign skill labels to item-types. Analyzing covariance is important because it allows us to place the skills in a related network in which we can identify the role each skill plays in learning…

Interim assessments are hot in American schools. Also called benchmark or periodic tests, these assessments are given every four to nine weeks to check on students' progress. Although interim assessments are an important tool for school improvement, they are easy to misuse. In the author's work coaching principals in a number of districts, he has…

Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) that adapt to an individual student's needs have shown significant improvement in achievement over non-adaptive instruction (Murray 1999). This improvement occurs due to the individualized instruction and feedback that an ITS provides. In order to achieve the benefits that ITSs provide, we must find a way to…

Due to the challenges of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, many schools and school districts are implementing after-school tutoring programs to provide students additional instruction to score proficient or better in reading and mathematics. This doctoral study analyzed the effects of the ABC Middle School Educational Assistance Program…

Contemporary teachers need instructional practices that are (a) powerful enough to meet the needs of a rapidly diversifying student population, (b) feasible to implement on a classwide basis, and (c) socially acceptable to them and their pupils. Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) is one such instructional practice. In addition to describing CWPT, its…

Through the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project (PWTARP), the authors have set out to explore and document what peer tutors take with them from their training and experience. The Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project has made it possible for the authors to sample and analyze more systematically the reflections of 126 former tutors from…

The new literacy studies (NLS) is a tradition of research that includes ethnographic work on literacy that has many applications for classroom teachers. The NLS include explorations of local literacies and critical literacy as well as the notion of literacy itself. When teachers draw on the NLS, students are able to draw on their practices in…

Background: Paired reading (PR) is an application of peer tutoring. It has been extensively researched, and its efficacy across a range of outcomes has been established. Benefits include improvements in key reading skills, and also in affective aspects of learning. Several studies have shown gains in self-esteem, although measurement methods have…

This article describes the development and evaluation of a computer-assisted language learning approach which integrates a finite state dialogue engine with an animated pedagogical agent. The design of the request game is theoretically motivated by interlanguage pragmatics and Long's Interaction Hypothesis. The tutoring system creates a venue in…

This study examined the civic engagement of undocumented Mexican students. Civic engagement was defined as providing a social service, activism, tutoring, and functionary work. Survey data results (n = 126) suggest that despite high feelings of rejection because of their undocumented status, part-time employment, and household responsibilities,…

A pilot program in a public high school positions experienced student writing center tutors to become WAC liaisons who foster writing across the curriculum by raising questions, identifying needs, and providing support to their teachers with the goal of strengthening writing instruction school-wide. This article discusses the background and…

During the past decade Georgia has received strong international support for education reform, and it represents an interesting case by which the effectiveness of particular interventions in the region can be assessed. Most attempts to analyse progress within the system have so far been concentrated on two aspects of formal education: private and…

As a nearly global language, English as a Foreign Language (EFL) programs are essential for people wishing to learn English. Researchers have noted that extensive reading is an effective way to improve a person's command of English. Choosing suitable articles in accordance with a learner's needs, interests and ability using an e-learning system…