Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring as an Academic-Instructional Method

By: Brittany HolmanSPY 620-Goss

What is Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring?

Peer tutoring is when fellow, same age students tutor kids who are struggling in their class, in hopes that both the child who is struggling, and the child who is tutoring, will learn and benefit from the grouping.

Cross-Age tutoring is similar, except that it involved older students tutoring and mentoring those younger than themselves. The goal of this is also that BOTH students benefit from the group, as teaching others often leads to learning things oneself.

These methods are effective in many ways. Not only do students learn academics from one another, but they also learn responsibility, social skills, and gain self-esteem.

History of Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring

The history or peer and cross-age tutoring goes as far back as man has existed. It has always been common for siblings and companions alike to learn from watching and conversing with another.

The first time we see this method utilized in an educational setting is in 19th century England, where Joseph Lancaster came up with the monitorial system, where his older students would teach and monitor the progress of his younger students.

This idea slowly swept into America, where financial difficulties made it impossible for large amounts of students to learn. Through peer tutoring, however, it was extremely doable.

What specific student populations benefit from this method?

One group of students particularly identified as benefitting from this method is students with different first languages than English. By being involved with a tutor, they get more of a chance to practice their English proficiency in a comfortable setting.

Students with behavioral problems also benefit, as they learn from their tutors to have a better attitude towards school, and their dropout rates decrease. Oftentimes, students that have behavior and attitude problems don't respect or trust authority, but will open up more to someone less intimidating and more like themselves.

Cost-Effectiveness of peer and cross-age tutoring

This type of method is seen to be extremely cost effective, especially when compared to having to pay outside tutors, or hire additional teachers to run small groups of struggling students. It is found to be extensively cheaper than computer-aided instruction, which would be an alternative method of tutoring. Really, the only cost is when starting up the program, as teachers and students have to be trained correctly, but it is well worth the money, since it has been successful in implementation!

How is Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring assessed?

When assessing how effective this method is for the tutors, it is recommended that they keep a journal that they write in at least once a week. In this way, they can reflect on what they've done and understand what they can learn from it. It is also standard for tutors to have group reflections with other tutors, where they can hear about each others experiences and learn from one another.

Certain ways that have been found to be effective when monitoring the tutees growth is through interviewing them, talking to the tutors and the students parents on a regular basis, observing the students, and taking pre and post standardized testing.

Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring in the 3 Tiers of RTI

Tier 1: Using this method in a tier 1 RTI group would basically mean that everyone in the entire group would be paired up, and each could become a sort of expert on a subject, and teach what they have strengths in to the other student

Tier 2: In tier 2 this tutoring would become more intense, where only students who are struggling would be assigned with a peer or cross-age tutor to give them extra help on specific difficulty subjects. In this tier, students who are struggling may also be asked to go and tutor younger students, in hopes that this task will help them learn and gain skills as well.

Tier 3: tier 3 would be the most intense form of peer tutoring, where perhaps a student would have a full time peer tutor that worked with them for most of the school day, and the assessments that the tutor and the students would fill out would have to be much more frequent, perhaps once a day instead of once a week.

Study 1: The Effects of Peer Tutoring on Reading

Miller, Topping, and Thurston (2010) investigated the effects that peer and cross age tutoring had on student's self esteem. They conducted a study of 125 primary schools in England, where either classrooms had 6th grade students tutoring 4th grade, or 4th with 4th and 6th with 6th. They had these match ups participate in a paired reading cycle, which had the tutors and the tutees read together, and the tutor would either praise if the student did well, or correct them and work with them on reading strategies if they made mistakes. The students progress was assessed by having them take pre and post self esteem tests. The results found that self esteem and self confidence went up for both groups of students, while self-worth only went up significantly in the cross-age groups. Regardless, the results were strong enough to show that this type of intervention works to improve feelings of self, and when students feel good about themselves, they have more confidence and are more on task. They also try harder and have less behavior issues.

Study 2: The Effects of Online Cross-Age Tutoring in College

De Smet, Van Keer, and Valcke (2009) examine the effects of cross-age (seniors to freshman) tutoring that occurs online at a college campus. When first hearing about peer and cross-age tutoring, my immediate thought was college, where one of my freshman classes was taught by a graduate student... it's kind of the same idea. This study follows 19 college seniors as they each lead their own discussion/tutor group of about 10 freshman. This, in a way, is peer tutoring as well, since the students worked with others in their same class as well. The results were measured through quantitative content analysis, where students responses in the group were measure through certain scientific guidelines. The study found that the tutors increased social and organizational skills in the tutees, but also found that tutors went from acting as a model, an example, to acting as a coach, and somewhat let the power go to their head, perhaps somewhat decreasing their social skills.

Study 3: Cross-Age Tutoring on Reading Attitude and Improvement

Davenport, Arnold, and Lassman (2004) examined the effects that cross-age tutoring had on fifth grade students with learning disabilities and kindergarten students. The fifth grade students pre-read the books selected for the kindergarten classes, and would go in twice a week and read a story to them for half an hour. They also sometimes went in an assisted in a literacy-related activity. The worked with the kindergarteners in small groups or one-on-one. Their progress was monitored through pre and post testing of reading skills. The results showed that both the fifth grade students with disabilities, as well as the kindergarteners, intellectually benefitted significantly from this type of intervention.

Study 4: Peer Tutoring as an Alternative to the Reading Resource Room

Fisher (2003) examines how well a group of 47 teenagers did on improving their reading when working as a tutor with younger children, as opposed to the more secluded choice of a segregated resource room. The teens were sent to read and tutor at the local elementary school for a year, where they implemented more difficult texts as the year went on. The teachers would come up with the tutors lesson plans and they would have time to look them over and practice them before hand. They were to read a book to the elementary kids and then ask clarifying questions about the reading. The study measured the tutors improvement through journals that the tutors kept, and direct observations of the students and their fluency and comfortability with the younger kids.

Bibliography

Dabkowski, B. (2000). The History of Peer Tutoring. Intertext. Accessed June 12, 2012. http://wrt-intertext.syr.edu/viii/dabkowski.html

Davenport, S. V., Arnold, M., & Lassman, M. (2004). The Impact of Cross-Age Tutoring on Reading Attitudes and Reading Achievement. Reading Improvement. (41,1). 3-12.

De Smet, M., Van Keer, H., & Valcke, M. (2009). Cross-Age Peer Tutors in Asynchronous Discussion Groups: A study of the Evolution in Tutor Support. Instructional Science. (37,1). 87-105.

Fisher, Douglas (2001). Cross-Age Tutoring: Alternatives to the Reading Resource Room for Struggling Adolescent Readers. Journal of Instructional Psychology. (28, 4). 234-240.

Kelly, B. (2010). Peer And Cross Age Tutoring. Washington Reading Corps: Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. 1-37. Http://servicelearning.org

Miller, D., Topping, K., & Thurston, A. (2010). Peer Tutoring in Reading: The Effects of Role and Organization on Two Dimsensions of Self Esteem. British Journal of Educational Psychology. (80). 417-433.