Family partnerships should be a central component of teacher preparation. Although research provides family engagement strategies, little research offers teacher educators guidance from the perspectives of families themselves. The purpose of this convergent mixed-method study was to begin to fill the void in the literature by investigating family…

This convergent parallel mixed-methods pilot study explored the collaboration of preservice teachers (PSTs) in a university reading clinic. PSTs from a reading course and special education course were paired and shared responsibility for tutoring one child. Tutor surveys and focus group interview transcripts were used as data sources. Topics…

Researchers have demonstrated that tutoring is an effective instructional model that relies upon the relationships among the tutor, the tutee, and the curriculum and not merely instructional skills or strategies. In our microethnographic case study, we investigated interactional patterns of two tutors who were pre-service literacy teachers working…

Despite evidence that youths' literacy practices and identities are important contributors to literacy learning, studies of secondary literacy instruction often focus on understanding classroom storylines from the perspectives of teachers and schools. The purpose of this case study was to examine how one youth, Leo, shaped the storyline of his…

Mentoring for early career teachers is well-documented. Less research exists on formal mentoring for pre-service teachers, but early attrition rates are so alarming that we cannot afford to lose any time in preparing novices for the challenges they will face. This research explored mentoring support provided to pre-service, or novice, teachers in…

This study uses activity theory to examine collaboration between graduate students (in-service teachers) serving as literacy coaches and undergraduate students (pre-service teachers) functioning as tutors in a university reading clinic. The participants tutored students in grades first through sixth for seven weeks. The purpose of the study was to…

This study evaluates the impacts and costs of the Reading Partners program, which uses community volunteers to provide one-on-one tutoring to struggling readers in under-resourced elementary schools. The evaluation uses an experimental design. Students were randomly assigned within 19 different Reading Partners sites to a program or control…

This qualitative study examined the professional growth of literacy teachers as they scaffolded students' one-to-one literacy learning within a university reading clinic tutoring experience. These teachers--graduate students within a reading education program--documented both their own learning and that of their students through various venues.…