The Efficacy of a Balanced Literacy Intervention including Peer Tutoring among Underperforming Students from Poor and Minority Backgrounds

This dissertation investigated the effects of the cross age peer tutoring relationship when students in both the tutor and tutee roles were underachieving. The targeted population consisted of students who attended a charter school in the southwestern United States. Two studies were conducted: one in science and one in reading. Primarily, the goal was to investigate a model of cross-age peer tutoring that would benefit underachieving students in the content area of reading. Students who are underachieving in reading often struggle in other content areas as well, so finding a way to increase reading achievement in at-risk schools that lack funding and resources is of utmost importance to a child’s overall education. The first study, in the content area of science, was aimed at understanding if underachieving students could be placed in tutor roles to close gaps in their achievement. Sixteen middle school students (14 boys and two girls) in a mixed grade class (sixth through eighth) were trained to deliver a science curriculum to elementary students. The overall findings in this first study suggest that the tutors demonstrated significant gains in knowledge acquisition after having the opportunity to teach the material to the younger students. Findings also suggest that the act of teaching had a positive impact on the tutors’ attitudes towards learning about water conservation and in their valuing of water conservation. The second, larger study, in the content area of reading, paired underachieving middle school students with underachieving elementary students for a shared reading experience in which the middle schools students acted as tutors and were trained to focus on specific parts of the reading process to help the elementary students increase their EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORING FOR INCREASING ACHIEVEMENT 10 reading achievement. This study consisted of 64 tutors (27 seventh graders and 37 eighth graders) and 77 tutees (26 Kindergarteners, 16 first graders, 12 second graders, and 23 third graders). The overall findings in this study demonstrate significant gains in reading for both the tutors and tutees. Although the investigations in this dissertation were limited in terms of sample size and lacked control groups, the results suggest that overall, cross-age tutoring is a way to help at-risk students become more engaged in their own educations and provide resource-challenged schools with a viable resource within their own walls. EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORING FOR INCREASING ACHIEVEMENT 11 Chapter One The Case for Peer Tutoring to Address the Literacy Gap S. Nicole Meador University of Arizona EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORING FOR INCREASING ACHIEVEMENT 12 Chapter One “Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. ” – Dr. Seuss There is a clear link between education and economic prosperity, both for the individual and the nation. Hanushek and Wößmann (2007) report that the quality of one’s education, as measured by cognitive skills, has a strong impact on both individual earnings and the economic growth of a nation. Further, they state that education has positive effects on reducing crime, improving health and fertility, and enhancing citizen participation. Therefore, increasing the quality of children’s education experience in the United States is crucial to the nation’s stability and its stature within the global economy. One of the many components of improving education in the United States is closing the achievement gap that exists across the nation. The U.S. Department of Education (2011) describes the achievement gap as the difference in academic performance between different ethnic groups. It is reasonable to conclude that closing the achievement gap in literacy will have positive effects on other subject areas like math and science because if students are better readers with stronger comprehension ability, they are more prepared to engage in other content areas. Therefore, for the purpose of this dissertation, the discussion of the achievement gap will focus on literacy. The first national assessment that provides data about achievement gaps is the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), given to fourth graders. By fourth grade, African American and Hispanic students are, on average, nearly three academic years behind their White peers (NCES, 2009). Of the 40% of U.S. fourth graders that are not achieving basic levels of reading proficiency, the majority of them are among lowincome families, certain minority groups, and English language learners (NCES, 2011). As students get older and go up in grade, the curriculum only gets more challenging and EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORING FOR INCREASING ACHIEVEMENT 13 requires more advanced reading skills. Being three years behind in fourth grade sets students up to fall further behind as they continue into the upper grades. The achievement gaps present in the K-12 schools continue into adulthood with adverse effects for the individual and society as a whole. In 2009, McKinsey and Company, a global management consulting firm who commissions highly respected professors of education like Linda Darling-Hammond, released an analysis which concluded that America’s failure to close achievement gaps, especially among black and Hispanic students, had imposed “the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession” (p. 6). This report was highlighted in a 2010 press release by U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, in response to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) presentation of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results. Secretary Duncan’s purpose was to draw attention to the need for closing achievement gaps for American students so that they can keep up with their international competitors. He highlighted the fact that while we need to increase our overall scores, the need is greatest for black and Hispanic students. Failing to close the achievement gap that exists in K-12 schools renders a disparity among our adult population that continues the suppression of social and economic attainment of poor and minority communities in this country. The negative consequences extend beyond their own lives to the stability and future growth of our nation. Their employment prospects grow dimmer and the chance for anti-social behavior increases. The Encyclopedia of Children’s Health (2014) includes in its definition of anti-social behavior acts of deceitfulness, defiance, theft, and reckless disregard for self and others. If nothing is done, the anti-social behavior persists and EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORING FOR INCREASING ACHIEVEMENT 14 escalates over time. The Encyclopedia of Children’s Health also lists economic distress as one factor that can cause anti-social behavior and the educational environment as one setting where the behaviors are developed and can be mitigated. Sanson, Prior, and Smart (1996) demonstrated that increasing the amount of time students were engaged in meaningful learning activities leads to higher academic achievement while reducing incidences of problem behaviors. In such cases, it was important that the learning activities were of high interest to the students and were set up at an appropriate learning level so that students found them challenging but not overly difficult. In 1992, Haigler, Harlow, O'Connor, and Campbell reported that 49% of prisoners did not have a high school diploma or equivalent. Barton and Coley (1996) examined literacy rates of prisoners as compared to the general public. Prisoners’ average scores in all three areas (prose, document, and quantitative) fell significantly below the average scores on the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) of adults in the general public. Their prose and document scores hovered near the middle of the basic range and their quantitative score was 236, which just barely made the cut for the basic level (range: 235 – 289). In 2009, it was reported by the Bureau for Justice Statistics (BJS) that of the total prison and jail population, 39.4% were African-Americans and 20.6% were Hispanics. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau reported that the general population was made up of 13.6% African-Americans and 16.3% Hispanics. These statistics provide more evidence of the relationships among ethnicity, poverty, educational attainment, and incarceration rates in this country, and the importance of closing the achievement gaps for minority and low-income students. EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORING FOR INCREASING ACHIEVEMENT 15 It is well documented that the money spent annually for educating elementary and secondary students across the United States is far below the annual costs of keeping an inmate incarcerated (CNN, 2013). Funds that could be used to better education in literacy for high-risk children currently pay for their jail time as a consequence, in part, of their low literacy. These funds could go far to reduce the downstream costs of incarceration by heading off the problem before it emerges (McKinsey & Company, 2009). Raising literacy of at-risk students improves their chance at success in school and therefore their readiness to enter the workforce, making them less likely to engage in behaviors that will land them in jail. This chapter explores the themes of the achievement gap in literacy in children and adults and introduce peer tutoring as a strategy for addressing the achievement gap in schools. Subsequent chapters discuss models of peer tutoring and evidence of the success of peer tutoring, and provide the results from two studies of the use of peer tutoring to close the achievement gap in literacy among at-risk elementary and middle school students. Evidence of the Achievement Gap in Literacy The basic definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. Reading is a fundamental function of success for children during their school years and adults participating in a democratic society. Literacy po