This review of the literature on student tutoring considers four questions: 1) are there patterns of cross-age, cross-culture, or cross-ability which increase or decrease the tutoring effectiveness? 2) does a highly-structured, controlled program mean better results than informal tutoring? 3) is the level of learning actually raised for both tutor…

Low-achieving fifth-grade children either taught a third grader or studied alone for a series of daily sessions. At the end of the two-week period, the low-achievers' performance was significantly better in the tutoring condition than in the studying condition. This showed a reversal in the direction from the initial difference between conditions.…

Proposes a peer-teaching-peer strategy that utilizes the low-achieving External as the tutor, a reversal of the usual procedure. The assumption is that the External must experience and perceive personal control over another child in order to begin orientation toward a more internal outlook. (Author)

Four low-achieving fifth-grade African-American males with behavioral disorders tutored sight words to four low-achieving second-grade African-American males with behavioral disorders. The tutoring appeared to have positive effects on sight word vocabulary and positive social interactions for both tutors and tutees but not on self-perceptions of…