Examples of Tutoring Programs

AmeriCorps SLICE Corps, Simpson County, Kentucky
Mike Houston, Project Director (502) 586-2804

In this program, 25 AmeriCorps members provided intensive tutoring in reading to 128 second graders. The tutors are considered coaches; they support the targeted students' teachers by assisting their growth as readers. Over eight months, the students improved their reading comprehension by an average of 2.7 reading levels. One-third of the students improved by more than three reading levels. Midyear results for 1996-1997 show even higher gains on an informal reading inventory designed by Dr. Jerry John from Northern Illinois University to measure reading comprehension.

AmeriCorps SLICE members tutor students four times a week for 30 minutes during the entire school year. Coaches visit each student's home every other week to find out more about the students from their parents and to include parents as full partners. Parents are considered full partners in their children's success. Consistency and training are the keys to the program's success, and coaches develop close personal relationships with students.

Regarding a second grade student who entered the program as a non- reader, the classroom teacher said: "[The student] is in his second year of being tutored by a SLICE Corps member. Last year he was very shy and withdrawn. He was very adept verbally but not so at reading and writing. This year his reading is better and he really enjoys writing. He's a real worker and seems to enjoy school much more. [The student's] parents are very interested in his school progress. They are willing to come whenever you call them and they spend time working with him on his school work. He has thrived on the individual attention that only a SLICE Corps member could give him."

Hilliard Elementary School, Houston, Texas
Rufus Allen, Principal (713) 635-3085

Hilliard -- a very high poverty, predominantly African American, urban school -- runs an intensive after school, weekend and summer school program. And it works. For four afternoons each week throughout the school year, six teachers and six to eight parent volunteers work with students on their reading skills -- emphasizing hands-on activities to reinforce what students learn during the day. The parent volunteers work closely with and receive training from classroom teachers. Eight Saturday mornings during the year, 125 students also participate in reading classes led by a team of teachers and parents. The students who participate in these programs also take advantage of a summer school program centered around thematic units. One special project is the creation of storybooks by and for the students.

This approach has resulted in improved reading scores for the school over the past five years. In the spring of 1995, 80 percent of Hilliard third graders met the state's expectations on the state assessment in reading, an increase from 20 percent five years prior.

Belmont Community School, Worchester, Massachusetts
John Monfredo, Principal (508) 799-3588

According to Principal John Monfredo, Belmont Community School is a reading school. "We sell a product at our school and that product is reading." The school, 95% of whose students receive free or reduced lunch, has instituted a schoolwide reading initiative -- Books and Beyond -- intended to build the skills and the desire of every child to read. From the morning announcements to the after school program, it does what it can to make sure this happens.

For example, 150 students attend before- and after- school programs focused on language arts that run three days a week with the help of college student volunteer tutors. Special workshops introduce the parents to children's literature and to the school library, where they are welcome to check out books to read with their children at home. A school staff member also works with the parents on how to read aloud with their children and Mr. Monfredo stresses the importance of reading to children and making books a regular part of daily household life. The school offers parents literacy training and GED classes during the day and participates in the Books and Beyond kick-off rally and an end-of-the-year celebration that emphasize the parent partnership. Every Friday, volunteers from all walks of life--parents, business people, police officers, fire fighters--come to the school to read to the students. The school holds a family literacy night, a Read-A-Thon, where students, sometimes in their pajamas, gather with their families in the school courtyard to read.

Ten years ago, kindergarten test scores in the school ranked 40th out of the 42 elementary schools in the district. Within a couple of years, the school ranked in the mid-20s of the ranking scale. Despite a 50 percent student turnover rate, reading scores at the school have continued to improved since the reading initiative was launched. The after school programs shows an 80 percent attendance rate. Each year, the school brings the reading skills of more and more students up to grade level. Last year, the school earned a gold medal in the Books and Beyond Program: 320 of its 520 students read over 120 books over the course of the year. Most important, reading has become fun.

Reading One-One, RISD Academy, Richardson, Texas
George Farkas, University of Texas (214) 883-2937

Through a partnership with the University of Texas at Dallas, RISD Academy offers a one-on-one tutoring program to its at-risk students in grades 2-6, many of whom are limited English proficient. The tutors -- college students and community volunteers -- are carefully trained in the tutoring curriculum and closely supervised by on-site tutor coordinators. They engage students in a variety of activities during their forty-minute sessions. The program stresses consistency: each student works with no more than two tutors three to four times a week during the school year. Since 1991, more than 5,000 children in more than 50 schools in Dallas, Richardson and Brownsville, TX and Salt Lake City and Magna, UT have been tutored. A statistical analysis shows that 70 forty minute sessions produce an average net gain (attributable to program intervention alone) of approximately 0.5 grade equivalents.

Students make very large positive gains through the program; from the beginning to the end of tutoring, over the course of a semester, tutored students increase their reading by the equivalent of one full level as measured by the Woodcock Reading Comprehension Test. In addition, survey results of teachers and parents showed that 88% of the teachers and 95% of the parents thought reading skills had indeed increased. 95% of parents thought their child's interest in reading had increased and 97% thought their child's interest in attending school had increased. As one 4th grade teacher remarked "I'm very impressed with the program. I am so impressed with one student's turn around, I withdrew his referral to Special Education testing... My students love going and more want to go!"

Reach out and Read Program, Boston Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Perri Klass, Co-Director (617) 534-5701

Physicians at Boston Medical Center saw both the need and the opportunity to work on literacy with their patients, namely young children from impoverished families. In 1989 they launched the Reach Out and Read Program to meet those needs by integrating literacy development into regular pediatric care for children ages 6 months to 6 years. As of January 1997, the Reach Out and Read Program is in 71 sites in 31 states. The program is directed by a pediatrician and has three components. In the clinic waiting room, community volunteers read to the children, engaging their interest while modeling book-related interactions for the parents. In the examining room, the doctor looks at a book with the child, assessing the child's developmental progress and sharing it with the parent present. At the end of the visit, the child receives a new book to take home. This gift conveys the importance of reading to both the child and the parent. Through exposure to the ROR program pediatric residents at teaching hospitals learn how to implement it and incorporate it into their routine examination procedure. A parent commented on the program's effect on her daughter: "I know that by keeping her nose in books, she's going to be a reader. If she's a reader, she could be a writer. She could be a doctor. She could be anything!" In a 1991 pilot study, parents reported that their who received a book were four times more likely to report that reading was one of their favorite activities.

Cabrini-Green Tutoring Program, Cabrini-green Housing Development, Chicago, Illinois
Jill Christie, Executive Director (312) 467-4980

The largest one-to-one scholastic tutoring organization working with young kids in the Cabrini-Green area, it serves 480 kids a week and has 450 volunteer tutors. The program operates three nights each week from 5:30-7pm. Kids are tutored for grades K-6, then graduate and can become Junior Assistants who help volunteers and program staff, peer-tutor younger kids, and help run the library, art, and resource areas. All tutors are volunteers and most are professionals who work in nearby downtown Chicago. Parents also volunteer in the program. All tutors go through a training and orientation session, take a tour of the program, speak with program coordinators and veteran tutors before beginning work, and attend three additional workshops each year. Through its three-year relationship with Reading is Fundamental, the program distributes books for the kids, tailored to their individual tastes, to take home and to keep. Books are also distributed in conjunction with annual holiday celebrations. The program is 31 years old, and its participants often bridge generations of the same families.

All funding is private and the program relies heavily upon donations. Last year, for example, Scottie Pippen, star of the Chicago Bulls ran several fund-raisers for the program which raised $50,000 that is paying for 2 new computers and a library up-grade. He also participated in an incentive program consisting of a four- month reading contest. Eighty-five students participated by reading (more than 300) books and writing reports on the books they finished. Thirty-three winners joined Pippen for a pizza party before a Bulls game. During the party Pippen signed a copy of their favorite book. The program has only two paid staff members, with the rest of the costs arising from school supplies, buses for field trips, nightly snacks, and other needed materials. It is housed in space donated by Montgomery Ward stores.

Jackson, Tennessee Tutoring Program
Jim England (901) 427-9666, email jengland@usit.net

In Jackson, Tennessee, 10 churches have already joined forces with 11 public housing projects to ensure the reading success of the city's children. Currently, approximately 400 church members tutor 350 children, mostly elementary students, throughout the city. While the churches design their own programs in accord with their talents and physical facilities, all of the students have progress charts that follow them from church to church as they move. Volunteers check in with teachers by calling the local district's "Lesson Line" to listen to daily recordings of the assignments they give their students. Tutors also call teachers, parents, and other tutors to coordinate strategies. Among those pitching in are local supermarkets and businesses who have shown their support by donating food for the program. According to one of the organizers, the program is entirely volunteer and the cost is negligible. Many students and families report that this tutoring program has made a major difference in their lives. Because of the project's initial success, 12 other churches are joining the project in the coming year.

Pilot Tutoring Programs, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Jerome Kagan, Professor, Harvard University (617) 495-3870

In this pilot tutoring program, senior citizen volunteers, many of them former teachers, tutor at-risk first graders three times a week in forty-five minute sessions -- with significant results. Paid, early childhood educators provided tutors with training, prior to and during their service. Through daily tutor logs, training sessions, and tutor observation, the educator trainers worked closely with the tutors. Graduate students assess the students prior to tutoring to determine their needs. Tutors then work with the diverse group of African Americans, Whites, Haitians, and Asian students based on their skills, needs, and talents. One of the student's classroom teachers remarked: "[The student's] frustration level changed, he learned to focus, how to handle a book, felt he was a reader, learned he is an okay kid, learned beginning skills and to like books." The program showed significant results on the reading of both words and text. Sixty three percent of the tutored students showed major gains in reading text compared with only 30 percent of the control group; 63 percent of the tutored students gained in a major way in reading words compared with 10 percent of the control groups. The program was equally effective for children who spoke English as their first language and bilingual children learning to read English. In September 1996 the program expanded to include 80 first-grade students in the Boston school system.

Early Identification Program, Reading Community City School District, Reading, Ohio
Bob Stark, Coordinator of Special Services, Cincinnati, Ohio (513) 483-6793

Fifty-one trained parent volunteers work one-on-one with 79 kindergartners, over half of the kindergartners in the district, who enter the program based on measurements of their pre-literacy skills as well as the recommendations of their teachers and parents. During the 1995-1996 school year, scores of students participating in the program increased 29.8 points in visual perception, 19.2 points in fine motor skills, and 19.3 points in basic language concepts. In contrast, students not participating in the program had gains of 5.4 in visual perception, .3 in fine motor skills, and 7.4 in basic language concepts. Since its inception in 1987, the program has served 871 children with 9,425 hours of volunteer service. Tutors and students meet four times a week in personal sessions that make use of a variety of methods intended to build pre-literacy skills. This program seeks to set the foundations for literacy before these at-risk students fall behind in their reading skills. Teachers note that by the end of the kindergarten year, the academic performance of program participants nearly matches that of the children who did not qualify to participate in the program.

Growing Together, Washington, D.C.
Teresa Knudson, Executive Director (202) 882-5359

A total of 100 students each year receive tutoring two or three days a week, either after school, on Saturdays, or during the summer. After completing a training program, community volunteers work one-on-one with students under the expertise of an experienced teacher/tutor. Through the program, parents also may get counseling on how to best help their children. While tutors emphasize reading skills, they often tutor students with reading materials from other subject areas. The program boasts widespread community support and involvement. One local elementary school principal praised the program as follows: ". . . our children benefited tremendously from your program. Academic progress is quite evident. Our teachers, parents and counselors commend your effort and dedication. Growing Together is definitely a valuable asset to the community." Ninety percent of the students grow one or more grade levels in reading as indicated by their mastery of the program's reading series.

Parent Training and Involvement Examples

Missouri's Parents as Teachers (PAT) program, launched in 1981, has been replicated in 46 other states and Washington, DC. The program's goal is to enhance parents' ability to nurture and teach their children from birth through age 5. PAT provides home visits, group meetings for parents, regular monitoring of children's health and development, and referral to social services and other agencies when necessary. Designed to serve all families, the program offers intensified services for those with high needs. Independent evaluations have shown positive gains for parents and children: PAT children display significantly enhanced language, problem solving, and social development by age 3, and score higher on standardized reading and math tests in early elementary grades; PAT parents are more confident in their parenting knowledge and skills, read more to their children, and are more involved in their children's schooling. PAT also results in savings to school districts due to early resolution of developmental delays such that fewer children are placed in special education or remedial classes or are retained in grade. Parents as Teachers promotes family literacy, and is a member of the Missouri Partnership for Parenting Assistance. The Partnership includes a school-age component and a 1-800 information line under PARENTLINK and family literacy centers under LIFT (Literacy Investment for Tomorrow). PAT is one of the legislated early childhood components of the Parental Information and Resource Centers funded under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Currently, there are centers in 28 states.

HIPPY USA, (Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters) New York, New York
Miriam Westheimer, Executive Director (212) 678-3500

HIPPY is a home-based early intervention program that seeks to establish parents as their children's first teachers. Through training from paraprofessionals, themselves parents from the participating community, parents use the HIPPY curriculum and materials to prepare their 3-5 year old children for success in school. HIPPY is designed to increase the parents' self esteem and to improve their children's cognitive abilities. According to research evidence from a five-year study of the program, teachers rated children who had been in HIPPY as better adapted to the classroom and more likely to do well in school than children who had not been in the program. HIPPY is one of the legislated early childhood components of the Parental Information and Resource Centers funded under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. Currently, there are 103 operating centers in 26 states and the District of Columbia. The program began in Israel in 1969 and was introduced into the United States in 1984 by the National Council of Jewish Women. Arkansas is deeply committed to the HIPPY program where 31 sites serve about 6,000 families. This commitment was made possible by the 1991 Arkansas Better Chance Program Act that increased the availability of funds for early childhood education programs such as HIPPY. The core HIPPY Program consists of home visits every other week in which a paraprofessional works with a parent on sequenced activity units to perform with their children on a daily basis. Alternate weeks, home visits are supplemented by group meetings. Parents meet together for discussions of lesson topics and parenting issues.

Megaskills Teaching Program, Holyoke, Massachusetts.
Pauline Carriere, Director, (413)534-2011

Parents meet one evening each week for eight weeks (one session in the Fall, one session in the Spring) to receive instruction in the Megaskills teaching program developed by Dorothy Rich of the Home and School Institute, Inc. Childcare is provided and sessions are conducted in English and Spanish by four Megaskills-certified instructors. Sessions usually serve 20-30 parents (enrollment peaks in the Fall). One half hour of each one hour session is devoted to small group discussions led by the instructors. The goal is to improve the parent's own literacy skills and to provide them with the means and the confidence to supplement their children's learning at home. Parents are given books and activities to take home and use with their children. For many parents this will be their first experience working alongside their children. The program is widely praised by parents, as reflected by their comments on evaluation forms they complete after each session: "I believe the workshops have helped me understand myself and the needs of my child." "This program has really helped me understand the different aspects of a child's education." "I enjoyed learning new methods to help my children work at home, and a support group helped me know where to get information."

Parents First, NashvilleREAD, Nashville, Tennessee
Jackie Thompson-Suggs (615) 255-4982

The success of NashvilleREAD's mission comes from its mobilization of the public and private sectors in support of greater literacy services for parent and adult workplace, and family-based education. For example, the Parents First project, part of the overall effort, has brought together the Nashville Metropolitan Public Schools, the United Way of Middle Tennessee and the corporate sector, along with a dozen other partners, to serve families in metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County as well as the four rural middle Tennessee counties of Robertson, Dickson, Wilson, and Rutherford. The project provides parents with information and materials that enhance their efforts to teach and nurture their children, and it facilitates parent-to-parent communications through computers statewide, the 1-800 HELP LINE, newspaper articles, and parenting fairs. The project also provides training and support for parents that increase their parenting skills and ability to engage their children in home-based learning activities, and it provides training for educational personnel in Head Start, Family Literacy, and compensatory education programs. Nashville Reads serves as a Goals 2000 Parent Information and Resource Center.

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