The Effectiveness of Tutoring on Developmental English Grades.

Tutoring is an important form of academic support for developmental education students. A comparison study was conducted to investigate the benefits of tutoring on the final grades for developmental English students who participated in tutoring versus those students who did not. The final grades for three consecutive semesters were analyzed to determine tutoring efficacy at a community college in northeastern North Carolina. Results indicated that students who received tutoring were more successful than students who did not receive tutoring. Success was noted in a higher percentage of As and Bs, lower withdrawal rates, and higher persistence rates in developmental English courses. Implications were noted for students regarding tutoring, administrators considering the merits of tutoring programs, and instructors who teach developmental English courses.Keywords: tutoring, developmental education, English, grades, efficacyTutoring is a common form of learning support and academic assistance available to college students. Arendale et al. (2007) described tutoring as one-to-one or small group learning assistance sessions with the finalizing goal of fostering independent learning. Historically, tutoring has existed since ancient Greece and even during the Colonial Era Harvard students received tutoring in Latin (Lasiewicz, 2008). Since the earliest days of tutoring in higher education, many other tutoring models have emerged to assist student learning with most of the tutoring programs employing either peer or professional tutors. In essence, the programs are designed to positively impact student learning outcomes in both curriculum and developmental coursework.Statement of the Problem and SignificanceAccording to Boylan (2002), "At a minimum, successful developmental programs provide tutoring in English, reading, study strategies, and mathematics. It is not atypical, however, for developmental programs to provide tutoring in other subjects such as the social, behavioral, or biological sciences" (p. 49). This study analyzed the perceived benefits of tutoring for developmental English courses at a community college in northeastern North Carolina.Despite the implication from research that successful students will utilize tutorial services, the usage rates of the community college being examined in this study were too low, especially in developmental English courses. There is little research that examines the efficacy of tutoring for developmental education students in North Carolina. In addition, there is no formal research concerning tutoring for the specific community college in this study; thus, research was conducted to fill in this gap. If the results show a correlation between high student grades and frequent tutoring visits, this study may contribute to the body of literature regarding the benefits of tutoring and how to improve efficacy for a tutoring program. On the other hand, if the results do not show a significant impact on student learning outcomes, that information can be used to make more strategic decisions at the administrative level for the college moving forward.Research QuestionsThe purpose of this study was to examine the differences between final grades for students in developmental English who received tutoring versus those who did not receive tutoring at a community college in northeastern North Carolina over three semesters. The research questions follow:1. What are the differences between students who received tutoring versus students who did not receive tutoring on final grades in developmental English courses for the Spring semester of 2011 at a two-year community college? 2. What are the differences between students who received tutoring versus students who did not receive tutoring on final grades in developmental English courses for the Fall semester of 2011 at a two-year community college? 3. What are the differences between students who received tutoring versus students who did not receive tutoring on final grades in developmental English courses for the Spring semester of 2012 at a two-year community college? …