Transcript Slide 1

What about online tutoring or other
technologies that provide extra help?
• Online tutoring can help fix a particular spot that a
child is having difficulty with
– E.g., a small problem with one particular vowel
– Online exercises practicing this vowel might be very
engaging and beneficial to the child
• But an online program is probably not going to be
adequate if the child is having difficulty with reading
at a basic level
– It can't replace an individual person
– Tutors can look at diagnostic work and assessments
and plan a program appropriate to the individual child
Has NCLB changed the number and quality
of tutoring programs available?
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No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law created a funding stream called
Supplemental Educational Services (SES)
SES provides a voucher, essentially, to parents of low-income children
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Because of SES, many new providers have sprung up in the last few years
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Worth up to $2,000
Parents can choose among state-approved providers
They offer varied programs
Some programs provide as little as 10 hours of tutoring for that $2,000 voucher
Others, like BELL, will provide well in excess of 100 hours
Parents should consider such factors as
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How many hours
Class size
Qualifications of the tutors
Curriculum
Outcomes
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The end result is most important
Every really good provider will share outcomes
If they don't or won't, keep looking
Do parents and grandparents make good
volunteer tutors?
• Now is a unique time in history: there is a greater
focus on national service, college students'
volunteering, and Baby Boomers' volunteering
– 5 million Baby Boomers are retiring every year
– Many are thinking of being of service in retirement
– Many voice a desire to work with children and
education
• A group called Experience Corps is recruiting seniors
to come and provide great tutoring
Two recent studies found Experience Corps volunteers
improved outcomes for children, and also improved
their own health, both physical and mental
How long should extra tutoring last — all the way
through high school, or a grading period?
• There are students will need tutoring and extra support
throughout their schooling
• But it's certainly not the 20 percent that are currently
designated as learning disabled
• By providing early intervention, that percentage can be
decreased dramatically
– Start assessing as soon as students walk into kindergarten
– Provide additional instruction to make up for lost opportunities
or lack of experiences
– Begin in small groups, then, if needed, move to more
intensive one-on-one tutoring
• Research suggests the proportion of students who will
need continued support over the long haul is under 3
percent
How long should extra tutoring last? (cont.)
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The best way to determine how long tutoring should last is
assessment
– Do and a pre-post tests of students periodically
• E.g. throughout a school-year program, during a summer program
– Some students close the achievement gap quickly, within the one
summer for example
– For others it will take longer
– Typically: the more students get involve, the more they want to keep
coming back, and the greater the gains
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Some tutoring programs are a "package deal"
– Required to sign up for 20 sessions, whether needed or not
– With this kind of arrangement, be doubly careful to see the
assessments and ensure the student is getting the help he or she
needs
– The student may need fewer or more sessions, so trying to pre-pay
or pre-decide how long tutoring will be needed could be a mistake
Can older kids serve as mentors for younger,
struggling readers?
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The same essential qualifications apply to young tutors as older tutors. They
should:
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Be committed to the process
Enjoy working with children
Love reading
Often commitment is the most difficult area for adolescent volunteers
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But supporting them as tutors goes a long way to sustaining commitment:
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Train them
Provide a consistent structured lesson plan
Organize materials ahead of time for them
Show them to do each component of the lesson plan
Model the behaviors
Demonstrate each part and observe them as they do it to provide immediate feedback
rather then let problems develop
An important part of Kingston's program is to end a lesson with the tutor
reading aloud to the student
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Promotes a love of reading and the written text, even when children are
struggling to read by themselves
Having high school students read aloud to younger peers is especially
rewarding to both, because
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Younger students really do love working with teenagers
– It's a great advantage in creating a strong student/tutor relationship
– Teens are role models for younger students
What should tutoring for a kindergartener look like?
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Tutoring is definitely an option for children in kindergarten
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If they already are exhibiting signs that reading and learning to read is going to
be difficult
Tutoring sessions for a young child should be:
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Short
Frequent
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Very positive and encouraging
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A child needs more sessions per week then an older student
Pay close attention to tutees attention span
– Vary the activities to keep attention sustained
– E.g., maybe a half-hour sessions would be enough, but do three, four, five
different activities over that time
So that students are set up to be successful in school
Engaging, game-like formats are good for this age group
Speaks to the need for universal literacy screening
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Research shows that children who come to kindergarten lacking foundational
emergent literacy skills should receive extra support  either in small group
formats or one-on-one
This support should be: more frequent; more varied and game-like; and
developmentally appropriate
What role should the principal play?
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The principal's is a very critical role
– He or she is the gateway to that school
– Many providers want to serve a particular school community. But if
the principal is not "on board," it's almost impossible
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BELL likes programs in schools, so that students don't "disappear"
after school before tutoring begins
In-school programs are most successful when the principal is:
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Supportive of the program
Encouraging children to participate
Encouraging parents to sign up
Viewing tutoring as a positive thing, specifically:
• Tutoring as extended or expanded learning
• Tutoring not as sign of failure, but rather as a sign of giving children every
possible opportunity
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It's very educational for a principal to tutor at least for one year
What are the first steps for a teacher to start a
tutoring program for ELL students?
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Collaboration is key
– To find out who will be served  their ages, languages, cultures
– To maximize the expertise available to you
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When all the teachers who are providing instruction in language, literacy, and content
collaborate:
– The child's exposure concepts and vocabulary terms is more frequent
– The child's exposure to the language, literacy, and content that you're trying to
impart is greater
First step is to get with all the other educators who are involved in teaching the ELL
students and brainstorming what an ELL tutoring program would look like
Collaborate also with parents
Just because parents may not speak English as their primary language, doesn't
mean that they don't need to be involved and supportive. For example:
– A child can go home and read to his or her parents
– A parent can check homework even if they're not in a position to help with
homework
Research proves that it goes a long towards boosting school success if parents are
engaged and supportive of their children
How can a tutor engage a reluctant reader?
• A very successful strategy is to use the child's interests as
a means of engaging them in reading
• Kingston, for example, emphasizes that a tutor's first job is
to form a rapport and strong relationship with the student.
One way to do this: find out the child's interests
– For the child who doesn't like to read, but is very interested in
sports, the sports page or baseball cards are a wonderful
place to start
– For the child who likes making things, help them read the
instructions and follow diagrams to make paper airplanes or
cook brownies
• Writing about those experiences extends student learning
even further
Tutors can learn more about selecting appropriate
reading materials in Hooking Struggling Readers:
Using Books They Can and Want to Read
Can a summer meals program be incorporated with
tutoring in a low income community?
• Title I schools are often designated feeding locations for
children who qualify for free and reduced meals during the
school year
– BELL will often partner with the school system so that
• BELL runs the summer learning program
• The school, through Title I dollars, makes breakfast and lunch
available
– That way students get academics in the morning, enrichment
in the afternoon, and two very healthy meals every weekday
during the summer
• Research on childhood obesity finds that students who do
not get nutritious meals during the summer have
worsening obesity
– Looking for a summer learning program that is somehow
linked into Title I free and reduced meals programs is a great
opportunity to keep kids healthy
Final thoughts
• Tutoring is a positive experience. In fact, it can be
one of the most powerful ways of enriching and
engaging a student
• Do not think about tutoring as a negative. It is not a
sign of failure. It is an opportunity to enrich children
and prepare them as well as we possibly can for this
next century. It should be valued as such
• Students in many other countries spend more time in
the classroom than U.S. students do, and it shows in
test scores. Tutoring is an opportunity to remedy this
situation
• Tutoring is cost effective. It is an important
investment in our children's future and in our future
as a nation
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