An after school cross-age tutoring program

Includes bibliographical references (pages 104-107)The purpose of this study was to determine if a\ud classroom teacher could 1. identify the necessary procedures\ud needed for a successful after school cross-age\ud tutoring program, 2. develop a program and 3. identify\ud both the benefits and problems of such a program as perceived\ud by the tutors, tutees, teachers, parents and the\ud researcher.\ud The sample consisted of twenty-five tutors, grades\ud four through eight, and thirty-two tutees, kindergarten\ud to fourth grade; all were from Laurel Hall School, a\ud private middle class school.\ud The tutors received four weeks of training before\ud being assigned a tutee. The tutees were tutored once a\ud week for forty-five minutes, for sixteen weeks. The\ud tutors were required to remain fifteen minutes after the \ud session to plan the lesson for the following week and to\ud receive extra training on such topics as effective discipline,\ud Berliner's Pause, Prompt, and Praise method, and\ud organizational skills. At the end of the program, evaluation\ud forms were distributed to the tutors, tutees, parents\ud and teachers. Seventy-five percent of the one hundred\ud seventy-one forms were returned and utilized in the\ud evaluation.\ud It was found that a classroom teacher could develop\ud an after school cross-age tutoring program, and that the\ud program was beneficial in numerous ways. For example,\ud the majority of the tutors and tutees felt that the program\ud helped them to like themselves better and like school\ud more. The problems ranged from some tardiness of tutors\ud and tutees, to tutors and tutees tiring of the games.\ud Over all, the program was perceived as a positive experience