With contributions from Partners in School Innovation and the National Literacy Corps

SPRING 1997 (archived information - please note the date of publication)

One of the great resources available to schools, teachers, and service programs is peer and cross-age tutoring. On the one hand, the tutor accepts responsibility, which raises self-esteem, and the tutoring experience provides a way of connecting academic learning in a practical context. At the same time, the tutee experiences the positive aspects of one-on-one attention and is given more opportunity to succeed.

Two examples of programs utilizing the resources of cross-age tutoring are Partners in School Innovation and Literacy Corps. Below is a brief overview of their projects.

Partners in School Innovation
A program on the forefront of cross-age tutoring is Partners in School Innovation in San Francisco, California. Partners is an AmeriCorps program that works in the public schools to achieve "whole-school change." The program commits to a five-year partnering with schools to help them realize their individual visions for excellence while contributing to improved student learning and cross-age tutoring is an innovative project that contributes directly to student learning.  As Co-Director Julien Phillips writes, "When implemented carefully, it (cross-age tutoring) also draws teachers together to reflect and learn with each other about the learning processes of their students, and agree on improvements in their own teaching practices. It also demonstrates that students can be active contributors to the learning processes with the school, and not only passive recipients."

A result of one Partners cross-age tutoring project is a manual, to be published by and available through Center for School Success at the Southern Regional Council in early summer, 1997. Entitled Students Teaching Students: A Handbook for Cross-age Tutoring, it was developed by AmeriCorps member Rachel Rosner. Rosner was given a two-year assignment at Ruus Elementary School in Hayward, California, and during the development and implementation of a small scale, cross-age tutoring project, she assembled a well-structured tutor training curriculum manual. In addition, the manual includes a compilation of information on the necessary components for running a successful cross-age tutoring program, including general program design, the necessity of tutor recognition, and the value of program evaluation. The following are excerpts from Rosner's manual which touch on these aspects.

Program Design: The Training
The three primary components of training the tutors includes:

• Initial training/orientation subject specific training and general tutoring skills training
• On-the-job training and coaching tutors are observed while they are tutoring and suggestions are given if they need help
• Ongoing training/reflection

The reflection time is regularly structured group reflection sessions, with interactive training and discussions that cover such areas as tutoring skills and methods, awareness of different ways tutees learn and develop, and the tutor's experience. Individual reflection through journal writing is also part of the training program.

Tutor Recognition
Public recognition of the work tutors perform is an important component of cross-age tutoring. Tutors should feel like a special group who are doing something valuable. They should be recognized in the school community, and they need to be able to take something tangible home with them after the tutoring assignment is completed. Ideas for recognition include designing a school bulletin board that highlights the tutors, submitting an article to the school bulletin or local newspaper, designing certificates acknowledging the tutors' work, and having a party at the end of the year, inviting parents, teachers, principal, and administrators.

Evaluation
Soliciting and using feedback from participants can help determine how the program is meeting needs and discover areas to build on and those to improve. Meeting regularly with participating teachers, asking tutors for their opinions, using questionnaires, and having a suggestion box for participants to use are but a few of the ways to evaluate how a program is working.

Growing Program
Starting with six 4th graders tutors working in a kindergarten class, the Partners program at Ruus Elementary School has grown to over 100 tutors providing individual and small group attention to 200 tutees, with Sharon Bernstein now managing the program. The tutors have begun taking a leading role and want to start their own newsletter. A group of "senior" tutors produced a training video entitled The Hot Shot Tutoring Video, in which they wrote, performed, and filmed. For information on obtaining the handbook on cross-age tutoring, contact Marcia Klenbort, Director of the Center for School Success, (404) 522-8764; fax: (404) 522-8791.

National Literacy Corps
The National Literacy Corps, a Learn and Serve America school-based program in Philadelphia, uses high school students to tutor elementary students in reading and writing. Studies by the Literacy Corps have confirmed the mutual benefits for tutor and tutee in this program.  The high school tutors improve their language skills, show more responsible behavior and have less disciplinary problems, and become more motivated to succeed. Tutees, reciprocally, also gain in language skill and improved behavior, with an increase in self-esteem and motivation as they strive to emulate their tutors.

Basic Competency Training
Crucial to the success of the Literacy Corps program is the training component. Corps members, district educators, and teachers collaborate to ensure academic standards are applied within appropriate parameters. Teachers participate in training workshops and are encouraged to attend service-learning conferences. Tutors learn effective strategies for tutoring reading and writing, emphasizing comprehension. They are required to plan, implement, and evaluate their own curriculum.

Tutors are trained in basic competencies for teaching and reading younger students. The competencies include the following:

• Tutor works with the teacher or reading specialists to determine the needs of the tutee
• Tutor identifies three levels of books to read to the tutee
• Tutor enunicates words clearly and reads without error
• Tutor conveys enthusiasm through the use of read-aloud techniques such as inflection
• Tutor supports vocabulary and critical thinking skills development for tutee through such reading methods as open-ended questioning
• Tutor provides introductory instruction in phonics

The tutors are required to be competent in five of the six basics before tutoring may begin. They continue to develop strategies, such as word-attack and writing skills, in scheduled reflection activities.

Family Participation
Establishing a structure to include family participation for both the older and younger students is important to the Literacy Corps program, and plans are being developed to implement this aspect. Tutors will design lesson plans for home instruction for tutees, while communication to families of tutors will emphasize the advantages of the experience and achievements of the students. Families will be encouraged to attend recognition celebrations.

Standards and Evaluation
The instruction given to the tutors supports state achievement standards, allowing for tailoring of specific standards in various geographical areas. Emphases in the program include language skill improvements, critical thinking development, character and leadership growth, and professional staff development.

• 
• Print-friendly page
• Send to friend