Since its inception in 1963, the Homework Helper Program, funded under Title I of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Act, has provided an effective vehicle for the challenging of traditional theory in regard to the tutoring of educationally retarded children. It began on the assumption that children in slum area schools could benefit from tutorial assistance administered by other students from similar demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. As initially realized in the 1962-63 school year, the program consisted of tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students who were to serve as tutors to pupils in the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades who were working below grade level. During the following years the program was extended horizontally in order to include subjects aside from reading, and vertically to include junior high school students as well as senior high school students. At the high school level, centers were established at both academic and vocational high schools. In 1970-71 there were 48 high schools in the program; and approximately 800 college and high school students provided tutorial assistance to over 6000 high school students. The operation of the Homework Helper centers is the responsibility of a Master Teacher who sees to it that every student who requests individual help is able to get it either from a qualified tutor or from the teacher himself. (Author/JM)