A Special Kind of Tutor
By Linda Brown Anderson

I was talking to a fellow teacher one afternoon about a student in my class. "I'm going to get Tim into tutoring soon." I said. "Oh, that's good," she said. "His skills are pretty low, aren't they?" "Yes," I replied, "But he'll be the tutor, not the tutee." She looked at me strangely. I hastened to explain that, while studies show that both tutor and tutee benefit from peer tutoring (same-age students tutoring one another) and cross-age tutoring (an older student tutoring a younger student), in either scenario the child who is the tutor benefits the most.

Learning by tutoring. I teach elementary-aged students who have emotional and behavioral disorders. Our classroom is self-contained. All of my students are oppositional and defiant, feel alienated from school and the community, have poor social skills and rock-bottom self-esteem. Some also have low academic skills.

Perhaps you're thinking, "No wonder that teacher looked at you strangely. Why would you think your students could be successful tutors?" To which I reply, "Because they are."

Tutoring has long been recognized as superior to group instruction, especially for students with special needs. Tutors can adapt instruction to the learner's pace, learning style and level of understanding. Feedback and correction are immediate. Basic misunderstandings can be quickly identified and corrected.

We also know that tutoring has emotional as well as cognitive benefits. Students can work at their own pace without being compared with faster learners. The extra attention and emotional support may help meet important psychological needs for children from troubled homes.

As for the tutors themselves, studies show impressive gains for children who are low achieving, limited English speaking, learning disabled or behaviorally disordered. This is evident in both the academic and affective areas, and at all ages and grade levels. Tutors benefit by learning through teaching, particularly in reading and mathematics. In the affective area, the internal focus of control is improved, which means the child feels increased control with himself or herself, rather than feeling that control is mainly external. In addition, the tutor's self-esteem is shown to increase, social skills improve, his or her attitude toward school becomes more positive and drop-out, truancy and tardy rates decline.

Successful models. The following three programs illustrate some of the different configurations possible with peer and cross-age tutoring.

• The Williamette High School Peer Tutoring Program in Oregon tries to improve the academic performance of high-risk ninth graders. This program selects academically strong students as tutors and gives them academic credit for training classes and tutoring.
• The Coca-Cola® Valued Youth Program was developed by the Intercultural Development Research Association in San Antonio, TX. This program recruits low-achieving Hispanic middle school students to tutor at-risk Hispanic elementary students. The tutors, who are the program's primary focus, are paid as well as given academic credit. The program works to foster the tutors' academic skills and attitudes toward themselves and school. By making the tutors valued members of the school community, this program has decreased truancy and disciplinary referrals. It is being used in 17 elementary and secondary schools in five states.
• The Companion Reading Program was developed by a Brigham Young University professor for grades K-3 and higher. All students in a class take turns acting as tutors and tutees, so that they get the benefits of both roles. Teachers and parents in Fairbault, MN, found that The Companion Reading Program reduced competition and created a more supportive classroom environment.

Me, a tutor? When I first mentioned the idea of tutoring to my students, there was a stunned silence. Had they heard me correctly? They knew that because of their sometimes poor behavior, they were kept away from the other students. They ate lunch separately and had recess by themselves. Now I was talking about them being tutors; how could this be?

But as we continued to discuss this revolutionary idea, I could see the faint beginnings of pleasure in their expressions; obviously, the idea had a certain appeal. In their comments and questions, uncertainty became obvious as well. What if they didn't know something? What would they do then?

Never fear, I said; they would all be engaged in cross-age tutoring, working with children younger than themselves. They would also get some training in tutoring beforehand. We would all practice being tutors and tutees, and Mrs. Johnston, one of our very capable instructional assistants, would go with them to every tutoring assignment.

So our training began. I explained the importance of waiting for a reluctant learner to respond, and showing how to "give hints" without actually giving the answer. We role-played this scenario several times, giving everyone a chance to be a tutor and tutee.

We discussed how to follow a simple lesson plan, which was thoughtfully provided by one of our school's second-grade teachers. The lesson plan contained a review of previously learned material, the assignment and the purpose of the work to be done and a review of the work completed with praise or a tangible reward.

We talked frequently about the "three Ps" – pause, prompt and praise – and role-played this sequence, an activity my class hugely enjoyed.

Cross-age engagement. Each child began to tutor on a daily basis. Because of his low skills, fifth-grader Tim went to a first-grade classroom to help students with spelling. Fifth-grader Carl, who is very bright and capable, worked with a fourth-grade student on reading and math. Fifth-grade student Larry, who is bright but has abysmal social skills, worked with two second graders on reading and math. Peter, a fourth-grade student, worked with a second grader on reading. I met with each of my students at a set time (usually once a week) to review the activity and to provide assistance.

Toward reintegration. Cross-age tutoring for my students is not a panacea, but it's an important part of our daily behavior management program and curriculum. Acting-out behaviors and opposition to daily assignments have decreased; following class rules and individual academic skills have improved. Our goal in this classroom is to reintegrate every student into his or her regular classroom environment. For the first time in our class history, every student is now at some stage of reintegration.

So, let's hear it for peer and cross-age tutoring! If children with severe behavioral problems can benefit, every child can.

Linda Brown Anderson teaches emotionally disturbed and behaviorally disordered children in grades K-5 in Prescott, AZ.

February, 2007, Vol.37, No.5