Peer and Cross-Age Tutoring

(Released to the web January 29, 2008)

It isn't often we have an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive, but in the Readington Middle School just such an opportunity exists.

Currently our middle school has a program known as the "homework room" which is sometimes said to provide assistance to students after school who need help with their schoolwork. As a practical matter, the homework room is used for three purposes. One is what we used to call detention: punishment for some classroom infraction. A teacher sends a student to the homework room for disrupting class or missing assignments, etc. (This is in spite of a school board policy expressly forbidding the use of homework as punishment.)  The second purpose is as a babysitting service. Parents ask their children to go to the homework room after school because they can't get there to pick them up in time or children in band or other activities are sent there to wait for parent pick-up after their activity is done. The third purpose, more rarely used, is for actually seeking help with homework.

The homework room is generally utilized as a detention and babysitting center, with no talking allowed and little interaction between teacher and student except for confrontation over noise. Children sent there by parents try to be quiet and do their homework alone, even though peers are right near by and might be helpful. Children sent there after a band rehearsal or similar event wait impatiently for mom or dad to show up. Children going there actually seeking help are likely in for a rude awakening.

What if we could transform this program into something that could not only offer real help for struggling students, but also provide leadership opportunities for advanced students and encourage a warmer, more communicative culture in the middle school?

Peer and cross-age tutoring programs have been implemented and studied in middle schools across the country.  Typically students with a certain minimum grade average and who have been recommended by a teacher are given the chance to work with peers or with younger students in a lightly structured environment in order to help with math, language arts or other core subjects.  In cross-age middle school programs it is likely eighth grade students who are working with sixth graders.  Peer programs exist in all grade levels, but more commonly in sixth through eighth grades.  Tutors are most often volunteers, but sometimes paid.   Most often the programs are conducted after school, at least once a week, and monitored by a teacher or other educator.  Tutors generally receive some basic training and guidance from adult supervisors.

Peer and cross-age tutoring programs are well studied and most rigorous examinations of the practice come up with three primary benefits.  First, the tutees receive help from peers who speak the same language and can relate better to their circumstances and learning difficulties than can adults.  Tutees typically show at least a modest achievement gain in the subject area being tutored, whatever the measure of performance.  Second, the tutors themselves gain in self-confidence and sometimes in mastery of a subject area.  They feel good about being able to share their hard work in a subject area and they develop strong bonds with the tutees.  Third, there is wide agreement that peer and cross-age tutoring programs encourage a culture of togetherness and belonging, stress cooperative and friendly relationships between peers, and that they can be the basis for fostering improved relationships between students of all ages, leading to a more close-knit school community.

Subject areas in peer and cross-age tutoring most often focus on core subjects like language arts and math, but can also be inclusive of science, social studies, music, and foreign language.  When used in areas like music and foreign language where parents may not have the expertise to help their own children at home, tutoring programs can provide a unique and very welcome source of assistance.  The vast majority of programs used in middle schools use homework and class work as the basis for determining what is covered in tutoring sessions and in most cases the tutors and tutees are in the same class or team or the tutors have previously experienced the same school work.

The scheduling of programs is most often after school hours, and can be as little as once a week or up to every day.  Sessions are generally at least an hour or so, and may be announced in advance for anyone interested or may be scheduled individually with teacher or parent referrals.  Gains in academic achievement show greatest correlation with tutoring programs scheduled at least three days a week.

In Readington, the opportunity exists to transform the existing homework room into a peer or cross-age tutoring program offering better academic support and to improve the tone of the middle school culture at the same time.  Consider some of the current problems which could be addressed with a tutoring program.  Sixth graders just entering the middle school and struggling with academic or scheduling issues could be served by the calming effect of eighth grade tutors offering advice and council.  Students in all three middle school grades who need a place to turn for specific and explicit help with homework could benefit academically from peer tutoring.  The negativity of the current homework room could morph into a positive atmosphere of friendly advice and encouragement.  That, in turn, could help lead the middle school toward a culture which is more cohesive and supportive than it is today.  Students who are academically advanced or who seek leadership roles could have a new outlet for their hard work, their knowledge and their enthusiasm.

What stands in the way of a Readington peer or cross-age tutoring program?  Very little.  The cost to begin would be a little bit of time from a handful of educators and perhaps the cost of a faculty advisor for the program.  If the current homework room is replaced with a tutoring program, even that cost would be a wash.  While there are commercially available start-up kits for school tutoring programs, even those are inexpensive.  Even better, a program could be easily based on the experience of other tutoring programs already in use in other public schools. Aside from the structure to refer tutors and tutees, to screen tutors for inappropriate behaviors, and to monitor acceptance and progress of the program, the biggest challenges for the school district are providing space for the sessions and scheduling what might become heavy demand.  In all, there is nothing which would prevent a quick adoption of a tutoring program in Readington.

The homework room is but one example of a middle school culture which continues to be divisive, mean-spirited and counter-productive.  With a relatively simple implementation of a peer or cross-age tutoring program replacing the homework room, a signal could be sent to both students and teachers that a friendly, supportive and cooperative culture is the wave of the future.  In the process, struggling students could find needed academic help and students with mastery of subject area or leadership skills could find a productive use for their talent. 

For further study:

http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/9/c018.html

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=401053

http://www.rsd13ct.org/schools/strong/index.html

http://communityconnections.wi.gov/connections_detail.asp?ccid=25&cctypeid=1