Grade Level and Gender Differences in a School-Based Reading Tutoring Program

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the grade level and gender differences in a school-based reading tutoring program. The treatment group included 10 first-grade and 12 second-grade struggling readers, and the control group included 41 first-grade and 63 second-grade nonstruggling readers. The tutors were teacher candidates in an elementary education program at a Midwest university. Each student in the treatment group was given four 30-minute tutoring sessions every week for one semester. Results showed that first-grade struggling readers had a significantly higher reading gain than second-grade struggling readers. In addition, first-grade male struggling readers had significantly higher exit Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) scores than their entry DRA scores, but first-grade female struggling readers did not have significantly higher exit DRA scores than their entry DRA scores. Grade Level and Gender Differences in a Reading Tutoring Program • 63 Grade Level and Gender Differences in a School-Based Reading Tutoring Program Sau Hou Chang, Ph.D. Indiana University Southeast, New Albany, IN Abstract The purpose of the present study is to investigate the grade level and gender differences in a school-based reading tutoring program. The treatment group included 10 first-grade and 12 second-grade struggling readers, and the control group included 41 first-grade and 63 second-grade nonstruggling readers. The tutors were teacher candidates in an elementary education program at a Midwest university. Each student in the treatment group was given four 30-minute tutoring sessions every week for one semester. Results showed that first-grade struggling readers had a significantly higher reading gain than second-grade struggling readers. In addition, first-grade male struggling readers had significantly higher exit Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) scores than their entry DRA scores, but first-grade female struggling readers did not have significantly higher exit DRA scores than their entry DRA scores.The purpose of the present study is to investigate the grade level and gender differences in a school-based reading tutoring program. The treatment group included 10 first-grade and 12 second-grade struggling readers, and the control group included 41 first-grade and 63 second-grade nonstruggling readers. The tutors were teacher candidates in an elementary education program at a Midwest university. Each student in the treatment group was given four 30-minute tutoring sessions every week for one semester. Results showed that first-grade struggling readers had a significantly higher reading gain than second-grade struggling readers. In addition, first-grade male struggling readers had significantly higher exit Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) scores than their entry DRA scores, but first-grade female struggling readers did not have significantly higher exit DRA scores than their entry DRA scores. According to the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 33% of fourth graders read below the basic level for their grade, and 67% of fourth graders read below the proficient level for their grade (Lee, Grigg, & Donahue, 2007). This statistic is of concern for many reasons, among them that students who fail to acquire basic reading skills during early grades are at risk not only for poor academic outcomes but also for problematic behaviors (Elbaum, Vaughn, Hughes, & Moody, 2000). In addition, Federal initiatives such as the America Reads Challenge Act of 1997 and the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 proposed that all students would read independently by the end of third grade and both initiatives proposed that adult volunteers serve as individual reading tutors for students who were at risk for reading failure. 64 • Reading Horizons • V51.1 • 2011 In a typical classroom, little time is available for individual students to read aloud under the classroom teacher’s direct supervision. This lack of supervised reading time is particularly harmful to struggling readers who desperately need practice in a situation where feedback is available. A number of studies reported one-to-one tutoring as one of the best methods for working with students who were at risk for reading failure (Allor & McCathren, 2004; Hedrick, 1999; Moore-Hart & Karabenick, 2000; Vadasy, Jenkins, Antil, Wayne, & O’Connor, 1997). In fact, one-to-one tutoring was found to increase time on task, ensure instruction at the appropriate level, and afford timely reinforcement and corrective feedback during reading (Wasik & Slavin, 1993). Research notes important features in successful reading tutoring programs. For example, Wasik (1998) reviewed four one-to-one tutoring programs and identified several common programmatic elements: structured tutoring sessions, ongoing training, regular participation, and supervision of tutors by a qualified professional. Leal, Johnson, Toth, and Huang (2004) identified other elements as important to the effectiveness of one-to-one tutoring: supervision by certified reading specialists, intensive instruction, assessment-based programming, and regular reflective evaluation on the part of the tutor. Morris (2006) reviewed five one-to-one tutoring programs and further found successful elements to include twice-weekly tutoring lessons with guided reading, word study and reading for fluency, and supervision of the tutoring by a knowledgeable reading teacher. A number of school-based reading tutoring programs are based on these programmatic elements. Allor and McCathren (2004) developed a one-to-one reading tutoring intervention that included a game to teach phonemic awareness and lettersound correspondence, structured word-study activities, reading of leveled books, and simple comprehension strategies. Hedrick (1999) designed a one-to-one reading tutoring program that included rereading familiar material, reading new material, writing about the new material, and working with words (word identification or vocabulary activities). Moore-Hart and Karabenick (2000) developed a tutoring program that focused on reading and comprehending literature, conducting word building strategies to reinforce knowledge of letter-sound relationships or word recognition activities to reinforce fluency, and engaging in reading/writing activities (i.e., choral readings, readers’ theater, or journal writing). Vadasy, Jenkins, Antil, Wayne, and O’Connor (1997) developed a one-to-one phonologically-based tutoring Grade Level and Gender Differences in a Reading Tutoring Program • 65 program that included letter sounds and beginning sound instruction, rhyming, auditory blending, segmenting, spelling and analogy use, story reading, and writing. All of these school-based reading tutoring programs used nonprofessionals as tutors and found that the programs had a positive impact on the reading ability of the struggling readers. Allor and McCathren (2004) used minimally trained college students to tutor at-risk first-grade readers over a school year and found significant differences on measures of phonemic awareness, nonsense word reading, and realword identification between the treatment and control groups. Hedrick (1999) used teacher education students to tutor third, fourth, and fifth graders throughout one school year and noted that students demonstrated measurable progress in reading at the end of the tutoring program. Moore-Hart and Karabenick (2000) had undergraduate students tutor culturally diverse elementary students aged 6 to 10 years old over one school year and their research showed that the reading tutoring benefited all students. Vadasy et al. (1997) used community volunteers to tutor at-risk first graders for one semester and found significant differences between the treatment and control groups on one nonword reading and one spelling measure. Even though using nonprofessionals as tutors in school-based reading tutoring programs has been shown to be beneficial to struggling readers, little is known about the grade level and gender differences in tutoring programs. Leal et al. (2004) identified differences by grade level and gender in a four-month reading tutoring program. Tutors were undergraduate preservice teachers working on a reading endorsement to add to their licensure and data were collected from six different groups of students over the course of six years. The tutoring included fluency reading, reading aloud, writing, interactive games, and evaluations. Results of this study showed that even though students showed increase in reading skills, no differences were found among grade levels and gender. However, the lack of grade level and gender difference might have been due to the collection of data from six different groups of students over six years. The purpose of the present study is to further investigate the grade level and gender differences in a school-based reading tutoring program using nonprofessionals as tutors. Specifically, two research questions are asked. First, is there a reading grade level difference in the reading gain of students in a school-based reading tutoring program? Second, does gender make a difference in the reading gain of students in a school-based tutoring program? 66 • Reading Horizons • V51.1 • 2011 With limited resources, policy makers may not be able to provide tutoring programs to all struggling readers at all grade levels. The findings of this study could provide information on the gender and grade level that benefit more from the tutoring programs. Therefore, policy makers may refer to the findings in allocating the limited resources. This information could be critical for policy makers and others who want to develop their own school-based reading tutoring programs.