Peer Tutoring to Increase Mathematics Performance: An Examination of Generalized Changes in Classroom Behavior.

A peer-tutoring package was implemented to improve the accuracy of mathematics performance of two students, aged 11 and 14 years, in an engineered school classroom. A reversal design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of peer tutoring for one student, with subsequent extension of the tutoring package to the second student. Examinations were made of changes in accuracy as a result of tutoring, as well as the correlated effects of treatment on on-task and disruptive behavior. Investigations were also conducted of the generalized effects of treatment to another math period (with similar problems) in which tutoring was never implemented, differentiated between days tutor presence and tutor absence. The tutoring package significantly improved academic performance in both students, with desired changes observed in the correlated behaviors. Improvements also occurred in the generalization period, with no noticeable differences in performance as a function of the tutor’s presence or absence