This review examines non-North American ideas about reading difficulties. Noted is the success of such tutorial programs as Reading Recovery, used in Australia, the United States, and New Zealand. The potential of a Vygotskian perspective on assessment and teaching for children experiencing reading difficulties is outlined. (Author/DB)

The article describes application to mathematically gifted elementary age students of the diagnostic/prescriptive model developed by the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth. A five-step procedure of beyond-level standardized testing is followed by mentored instruction based on analysis of testing errors. (DB)

Gives some specific examples of previewing techniques for two types of modern literature (poetry and novels) that tutors can use to prepare adult students for the general style, concepts, and vocabulary of different writers, and to help students relate existing background knowledge to new information. (MG)

Findings are examined from studies published from 1980 to the present concerning the effects of peer tutoring on mathematics performance. Findings indicate the effectiveness of peer tutoring in promoting significant cognitive gains for both the tutor and the tutee with populations of low achievers, mildly handicapped, or socially disadvantaged…

The West Midlands (England) Police Force and the University of Nottingham collaborated on the development of a remedial course designed to assist ethnic minority applicants who failed the recruitment examination. Issues raised by formative evaluation of the course have implications for police-community relations and lifelong learning. (SK)

The use of classwide peer tutoring with six at-risk fourth graders resulted in moderate to substantial improvements in spelling performance for five students. In a second experiment, the addition of "Language Master" to the tutoring process resulted in only slightly greater improved performance for two of four students. (Author/DB)

Critics of student writing in British lecture courses as "mere rehash of lecture notes" are reminded that (1) by its nature, the lecture course focuses on and is limited to information conveyed in lectures, and (2) professors refuse to use materials such as U.S. textbooks that could supplement the information conveyed in class. (MSE)

Discusses the design and use of a Hypertext tutorial for teaching choice of access points to beginning cataloging students at San Jose State University. The tutorial, used widely by students, was designed to include linear, hierarchical, and decision tree metastructures to accommodate the multidimensionality of cataloging problems. (12 references)…

A government study of the tuition-guarantee programs emerging in the 1980s, promising college tuition to high school students persisting to graduation, has found the programs to be effective in retaining students. The most successful programs use adult mentors and offer tutoring, beginning as early as fifth grade. (MSE)

In this study of students (N=112) invited to participate in a hematology-transfusion medicine tutorial, it was found that students (N=59) receiving problem-based instruction did more poorly than controls on short-term examination but maintained their knowledge after two years better than control groups. (MLW)

William McKinley Middle School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has a parent volunteer program called FOCUS that targets average students who are not doing well academically. Program goals are to improve students' organizational skills, help them complete homework assignments, and reteach and preview lessons to increase understanding, so that students will…

Considers questions posed by students during e-mail tutorials to elicit information from guest lecturers and the use of that information by students in their essays. Findings indicate: tutees tend to pose questions to elicit information or clarification rather than to elicit opinions of the guest lecturer; and two-thirds of tutees' essays cited…

Describes The Pottstown Homework Center Partnership, which initiated homework centers and trained volunteer tutors to support middle school "at risk" students. Describes tutor recruitment and training; identifies eligibility requirements for student participants; and reports tutor-child interactions. Includes outcomes, interpretations,…

Describes the development of the Humanities Out There (HOT) program as a response to a reduction in government spending in both the sciences and humanities. Discusses how the program incorporates elements of two very different perspectives on humanities education. Describes the implementation of this outreach program and its crucial link in the…

States that after a qualitative survey of participating instructors suggested the success of an in-class tutoring program at the open-admissions Kingsborough Community College, a quantitative survey compared the writing performance of students served by the program and those who were not. Indicates the program's success--more of those tutored…