Teaching elementary students how to read is undeniably crucial, yet a substantial number of children encounter difficulties despite early interventions. Cross-age tutoring, a pedagogical approach that pairs older students with younger peers, emerges as a cost-effective solution that brings academic and social benefits to both the tutor and the…

Underpinned by positioning theory as both a theoretical lens and methodological tool, this paper asserts that educators can improvise asset-based discourse to create spaces for student writers to exercise agency. This single-case study, focusing on four education undergraduates situated as both writers and writing mentors in a literacy course and…

In this article, we report on a cross-age peer learning program, the Martha's True Stories Reading Buddies program, focused on supporting the vocabulary and comprehension of multilingual learners and their peers in elementary school. We describe the principles of the program and provide information about our evaluation of the program. Then, we…

This qualitative, phenomenological study explores the impact of employing a cross-grade grouping strategy in elementary advisory programs. The perceptions of advisors regarding the development of younger students' sense of community and connectedness due to interaction and collaboration with cross-grade peers were used to assess the impact. Data…

Self-Determination Theory's (SDT) most recent 'mini-theory,' Relationships Motivation Theory (RMT) focuses on the essential ingredients of high-quality relationships (i.e. feelings of autonomy, belonging, and competence). This study explores the applicability of RMT to cross-age peer mentoring. Of particular interest was whether the RMT framework…

Satellite laboratories, designed to ignite interest in technical and computer science topics, employ cross-age peer tutoring and physical computing platforms. Catering to students from 5th grade onwards, these laboratories are led by tutors from 9th grade onwards. Employing a design-based research approach, the project aims to comprehensively…

To address the problem of low achieving math students, a cross-age math tutoring intervention paired middle school tutors with kindergarten and first grade students with low math skills. This instrumental group case study explored the effects of the intervention on the math skills of the students through teacher interviews and the testing program…

This study examined how cross-age peers (ages 5-6 and 9-10) used and responded to Spanish (L1) as they read and talked about informational texts together written in English (L2). Grounded in sociocultural discourse analysis, we analyzed video recordings and transcripts from 10 sessions of peer reading in two elementary schools. We coded student…

This study focuses on "circle time," an innovative technique to promote classroom organization in primary schools across Germany and the rest of the world. Unlike previous research which primarily emphasizes on the functional and instrumental dimensions of circle time, the current study examines the non-cognitive aspects that emerged…

In this paper, we explore how tutoring could become a permanent feature of the U.S. public education system. We outline a blueprint for taking tutoring to scale nationally and estimate its costs, while highlighting a range of design and implementation challenges. Our blueprint is centered on ten core principles and a federal architecture to…

In many cases, the school failure cycle begins in elementary school for students with specific risk factors. Young students with learning difficulties and behavioral problems require a timely and sufficient program to prevent poor school outcomes. After-school mentoring programs are effective in providing meaningful relationships, structure, and…

Mentoring programs are an effective way to offer gifted students authentic learning opportunities. Although there are many mentoring models, the fundamental relationship between mentor and mentee has remained consistent throughout the ages. One mentoring model that has recently grown in popularity is the cross-age mentoring model. In this model,…

A quasi-experimental study examined some effects of cross-age tutoring on fourth grade tutors' and second grade tutees' ability to spell accurately and correct errors on their own rough drafts. Half of the participating tutors were trained in tutoring skills; half were not. All participants were given pre- and post-assessments. On dictated writing…

This paper adds to the limited body of literature and concentrates on investigating the impact of a new peer tutoring framework, 'Interdependent Cross Age-Peer Tutoring' (ICAT), on the socioacademic process of learning of self-concepts. ICAT is informed by Social Interdependence Theory, a socio-psychological perspective which aims to make…

This study explores the development of academic language and discourse by third grade English language learners (ELLs) in the context of inquiry-based lessons taught in Spanish with a focus on student development of questioning skills during content-based instruction (Wadham, 2013). The qualitative, narrative study is guided by the following…