Designing volunteer literacy programs for successful intergenerational tutoring
Abstract
Literacy development is intensely social, and senior tutoring meets this important need, as well as others, for students who are learning to read. This 2000 National Service Fellows study by Amy Blake, Senior Volunteers in Literacy Programs: A study of design and practice, seeks to understand the unique bond that occurs between seniors and students, and articulates how intergenerational relationships work in conjunction with program design, tutoring practices, and tutoring environment, to positively impact students, and to create successful literacy programs, as well as feelings of satisfaction and effectiveness for volunteers. Although the study focuses on seniors, these are principles that could easily be applied to other volunteer tutors as well.Issue
The importance of intergenerational relationships formed around reading is greater than reports to funders can convey. The question is not, if senior tutors impact students' performance and attitudes in reading, but rather, how can programs and schools help senior tutors be most effective in serving students?Action
The 2000 National Service Fellows study by Amy Blake, Senior Volunteers in Literacy Programs: A study of design and practice, identified several critical elements that can help improve tutoring effectiveness.These included:- Performance-related goals that set guidelines for tutors: ensuring they provide direct service and are engaged in reading-related activities with students
- Development or use of assessment tools that gauge student performance in areas likely to be impacted by tutors
- Initial and follow-up training for tutors (by programs and/or schools) that address effective tutoring techniques and provide opportunities for hands-on learning
- Ongoing support by programs and schools that allows tutors to network with each other, and with teachers and other school staff
- Access to information, training, and resources relevant to the personal and professional needs and interests of tutors (e.g., tutoring and reading skills, as well as information related to their service program)
- Tutoring environments and sessions that allow tutors to engage in meaningful, direct service to students and that promote student learning
- Teachers who integrate tutors into their instructional approach
- Tutoring sessions that incorporate elements of effective practice identified by research
- Frequent tutoring sessions that allow tutors and students to form relationships, which promote student learning and volunteer satisfaction
- Support and leadership from principals that help teachers engage tutors in direct service, making them feel welcome and effective
In the five programs studied by Blake, program design was the foundation on which effectiveness was built.
Goals:
Effective programs clearly and frequently communicated their goals to school partners, and in some cases worked with teachers to refine the stated goals in order to align them with the realities of school resources.
Partnerships:
Clear communication with partners about program goals and parameters for tutors' activities seemed to be the most significant factor in this aspect of program effectiveness.
Assessment and Programming for Impact (PFI):
In some cases, PFI served as a catalyst for Senior Corps programs and schools to revisit partnership goals, review shared assumptions, and reconfigure tutor roles. PFI allowed them to define new goals together, discuss the best ways to achieve them, and plan new activities accordingly. Despite some/many Senior Corps programs having very/generally effective assessment methods, all felt the reported outcomes of seniors' activities and students' outcomes failed to communicate the extent of their success, probably because it is the unique nature of the senior tutor/student tutee relationship that is difficult to quantify.
Established modes of communication:
More effective communication was demonstrated by those programs whose main school contacts were the teachers who hosted tutors: problems were addressed in a timely manner, feedback was given and received frequently, and tutor activity was closely aligned with program goals. When information had to filter through other school personnel, such as a volunteer coordinator, before reaching the teachers whose students worked with tutors, there were frequent misunderstandings about program goals and tutors' roles.
Tutoring session content:
Reading researchers and practitioners agree that the following four components are part of effective tutoring sessions with students who are reading below grade level:
- Rereading familiar texts
- Phonics
- Writing
- Reading new material
- Research-based tutoring practices
- Well-structured sessions
- Coordination with school and/or classroom
- Frequent sessions
- Supervision of tutors by a reading specialist
- Reading classroom volunteers
- Independent volunteers
- In-class volunteers
- Enrichment
Volunteer training:
The ideal situation involved tutors being placed in dedicated reading classrooms, in which the training experiences reflected the following practices:
Initial training:
The Foster Grandparent (FGP) and RSVP programs with tutors in reading classrooms provided training specifically related to reading, literacy development, and tutoring techniques. Tutors in reading classrooms received an initial orientation to tutoring practices, reading curriculum, session structure, and resources. Those who did receive tutoring-specific training said that it was the most valuable aspect of their initial training, citing the opportunity to practice techniques through role-plays as particularly helpful.
Ongoing training:
Ongoing, skill-related training fell mostly to stations and teachers. Tutors in reading classrooms said they received most of their instruction and guidance "on-the-job" from teachers, classroom assistants, or other volunteers.
Opportunities for feedback and interaction:
- Tutors stated that opportunities to talk with teachers, other volunteers, and coordinators were far more valuable than any training they had or could receive. General conversations with teachers and other school personnel gave volunteers a sense that their time was valued and their efforts had impact. Tutors learned about the school and felt more a part of its community, and therefore, were more engaged during the hours they were at school.
- Also of significance were the conversations tutors had with host teachers before, during, and after reading sessions.
- Tutors placed in reading classrooms reported having many meaningful opportunities to talk with other volunteers, including Senior Corps volunteers, AmeriCorps members, and other community volunteers.
Available training and resources:
Schools with dedicated reading classrooms included tutors in training and workshops offered by school staff, school districts, local universities, and others. The curriculum used in these classrooms provided tutors with a variety of resources and information, and working under the supervision of a reading specialist helped them use those resources most effectively.
Tutoring environment:
Programs with tutors stationed in regular classrooms had the most difficulty creating environments that promoted effective practices. Alternately, those programs with tutors stationed in dedicated reading classrooms had tutoring environments and sessions that reflected the effective practices discussed above.Other factors included:
- Principal support
- School environment
- Teacher background and approach
- Service program staff and other elements: Several factors at the program management level helped tutors be more effective.
- Programs that could fund at least one staff person to coordinate tutors and school partnerships were better able to support their tutors, communicate with schools, ensure tutors were engaged in direct service, and work with schools to assess what impact tutors made on students.
- New partnerships were more likely to engage volunteers in direct service as reading tutors. Programs with established volunteer programs were more likely to use volunteers to provide indirect, service to schools and students that did not involve tutoring.
Recommendations from the study included:
Program Design
- Use goals and objectives to structure and guide tutor activities
- Include goals and objectives for impacting student attitudes and behaviors
- Include goals and objectives for tutor outcomes and assess those outcomes
- Design student assessments that measure both performance and attitudes
- Design tutoring content based on proven practices that are in alignment with program goals
- Be flexible to accommodate schools' particular needs and limits, but maintain a basic framework for tutoring activities throughout stations
- Communicate frequently with classroom teachers, school contacts, and tutors
- Orient tutors to program goals and effective tutoring practices, as well as program and school procedures
- Work with schools to ensure tutors are oriented to their classrooms and schools receive appropriate training
- Provide periodic follow-up training
- Provide opportunities for ongoing feedback and discussion among teachers and tutors
- Identify and tap available resources for training
- Work with school partners and host teachers to design effective reading tutoring sessions
- Encourage schools to integrate tutors into their community
- Understand and talk about the value of intergenerational relationships to school partners, volunteers and other stakeholders
- Senior volunteers are valued for their special qualities, but coordinators, partners, and funders must also understand that these qualities lend to the outcomes programs report
Context
Amy Blake's National Service Fellowship research focused on identifying impacts on reading performance and attitudes of students who worked with seniors volunteering in Foster Grandparent Programs (FGP) or Retired and Senior Volunteer Programs (RSVP). The study also sought to detail the outcomes senior volunteers experienced as well as elements of design and practice lending to programs' success. Blake conducted an extensive search, reviewed information and data, and interviewed program directors to identify programs and partnering schools to participate in the study. She identified five programs — one FGP and four RSVP — and conducted in-depth interviews with their tutoring coordinators, volunteers, teachers, principals, and other school and district staff. Additional information was gathered through program reports and school data.Citation
Blake, Amy. Senior Volunteers in Literacy Programs: A study of design and practice. Washington, D.C.: Corporation for National and Community Service, September 2000.Outcome
According to Blake, above all else, this study shows that both FGP and RSVP volunteers can and do impact students in significant ways, and that service is a meaningful part of all senior volunteers' lives. And like some mentoring studies, this study shows that sound, thoughtful design of tutoring programs can facilitate and expand volunteers' positive impact on children, and schools. Additionally, it demonstrates that RSVP and FGP volunteers can be successfully integrated into classrooms using research-based reading curriculum or intervention programs. While senior and other tutors did not take the place of teachers or even of paraprofessionals working individually and in small groups with students, their sessions allowed students to practice and hone the skills they were learning from teachers and assistants. Indeed, seniors were invaluable members of these classrooms.
With careful design and thoughtful practices in management and service delivery, volunteer programs can positively impact students' reading attitudes and performance. However, recorded scores and increased grade levels alone fail to communicate some of the most important aspects and outcomes of FGP and RSVP programs. Focusing the discussion of impact in terms of design and practice draws a truer, more complete picture of national senior service in education.
Only two programs conducted systematic, reliable assessment of student performance, but teachers and volunteers with all five programs reported that students working with senior volunteers, regardless of the goals or structure of tutoring/reading sessions, showed increases in:
- Self-confidence
- Self-esteem
- Participation in large groups
- Motivation and interest in reading
- Self-direction in reading
- Attention or focus to reading-related activities
In the two programs that conducted assessments, students working with RSVP or FGP volunteers improved at least one to two grade levels in reading.
Some teachers note that these students seem to improve their attendance, and one principal feels that the senior tutors lent significantly to lowering the number of discipline problems during the year.
Teachers and coordinators identify these attitudinal and behavioral impacts as some of the most important outcomes of seniors' service, but none of the programs formally assessed these aspects of volunteers' work.
Teachers, principals, and the volunteers themselves value the programs as much for their services to seniors as they did for their services to children. Although no program assessed seniors' experiences, interviews with volunteers, teachers, and coordinators identified these outcomes for seniors volunteering as reading tutors:
- Increased self-confidence and self-esteem
- Stronger personal motivation
- Opportunities for social and professional interaction
- Connections to neighborhood and/or community
- Connections to other resources (e.g., social, health, financial)
- Positive images about youth and schools
Volunteers who work consistently with individual children and are involved in programs that use their skills well and actively engage them in the classroom community report strong feelings of self-efficacy, connections to their fellow volunteers, and commitment to their schools and programs.
Many seniors who are disconnected from their families and friends and isolated from their communities, but who volunteer in school-based reading programs, become vital participants in their neighborhoods and communities.
Seniors also enhanced the quality of their tutoring environments in ways not addressed by most research. Studies of elders in mentoring programs and child-elder care programs have shown that the strongest, most satisfactory relationships are formed between children and seniors when programs free pairs to connect personally: children find support and acceptance in seniors, and seniors meet their needs by providing support and acceptance. Styles and Morrow (1992) found that seniors who mentored children and youth supported their mentees unconditionally, taught problem-solving and coping skills, and took their interests seriously; this made the children feel cared for and valued.
Seniors bring consistency, dependability, and acceptance to tutoring sessions, creating a level of comfort that allows tutoring sessions to be a gateway to meaningful connections.
Evidence
Program coordinators, teachers, principals, and volunteers said the relationship between a senior volunteer and a child was not only the most important component of Senior Corps programs but also their most valuable outcome. Yet the role of that relationship in student and volunteer performance was the most difficult for participants to discuss in detail and the least likely to be assessed or evaluated by programs or schools. Program partners and participants had a sense that seniors brought something special to their stations and the children they served, and that children gave seniors something in return. But precise evidence could not be articulated.Posted On
February 13, 2004For More Information