This article explores the relationship between cross-age peer mentoring and positive life outcomes as defined by the Five Cs: competence, character, confidence, connection, and compassion. Qualified high school juniors and seniors were randomly assigned groups of 4-5 freshmen to mentor through the challenges of transitioning to secondary school.…

Background: Paired reading (PR) is an application of peer tutoring. It has been extensively researched, and its efficacy across a range of outcomes has been established. Benefits include improvements in key reading skills, and also in affective aspects of learning. Several studies have shown gains in self-esteem, although measurement methods have…

Concerned professionals in the juvenile justice field frequently express concern for effective programs that help youth offenders successfully rejoin society. This mixed-method pilot study involved detention home teens functioning as tutors for special education students in a public school. Tutors were selected who, based on previous assessment as…

The article synthesizes results of studies dealing with cross age and peer tutoring in special education, noting both tutor and tutee benefits (academic and personal/social). Implications for instruction are noted. (CL)

In a voluntary tutor-based training program, socially disadvantaged adolescents acquired basic computer skills. Two training groups were compared: one group was instructed by adolescents, the other by adults. Both groups achieved comparable results in a final test. The tutees' learning results did not differ with respect to their initial…

The need to decrease the number of students repeatedly receiving after-school detentions was addressed by the implementation of the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program. The PAL program is based on the premise that students act out because they desire power. The program gave students power over tutoring situations by having input into planning for…

Peer tutoring recognizes that a pupil is in reality three individuals: the pupil he is, the one he himself perceives, and the one others see. Such a program is beneficial to students, teachers, parents, and administrators. (Author/IRT)

Studies the reactions to "self-threatening help" of members of 103 dyads of second-, fourth-, and sixth-graders in a peer tutoring context. Results indicated that threatening conditions were those in which tutors and tutees were similar in age and achievement levels. (RJC)

Upper-elementary behavior disordered (BD) students served as reverse-role tutors in two studies. In Study 1, BD tutors (N=10) and nonhandicapped first-grade tutees performed significantly better on reading achievement than controls, while self-esteem remained constant. In Study 2, gifted peers (N=30) had more positive attitudes toward their 10 BD…

The Study Buddies program is a partnership between an upper elementary classroom and a primary classroom. The program could be modified for any grade level as long as all the class members are willing to work with a different grade level class on a regular basis throughout the school year. Participating students and teachers plan social…

The article describes a cross-age peer teaching project which sought to explore the potential of peer teaching in encouraging disruptive secondary school pupils to participate more positively in school. Two Year 9 girls from a challenging urban secondary school were selected to teach a group of Year 6 pupils in the nearby primary school. The Year…

Describes the use of cross-age tutoring in which sixth-grade students are used to teach first-grade students about plants. Provides a list of praise words used by the sixth graders and discusses the mutual benefits received by the students. (MDH)

Dropping out of high school is a major concern for the nation. Dropping out of school, although it occurs at a specific moment, is the culmination of a number of factors, including problems from both home and school, and may begin before the at-risk student starts school. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of peer tutoring by…

Teaching thinking skills has been characterised by the teacher-directed "embedded", "infusion" and "bolt-on" approaches, for which outcomes have been mixed. Peer tutoring in thinking skills offers a fourth way of wide applicability. This study evaluated such a method (Paired Thinking) in a high school setting. A…

The psychological benefits of a high school tutoring program were investigated. Results gathered from questionnaires answered by high school students tutoring junior high school students, both before and after the tutoring experience, indicated that tutors' empathy, altruism, and self-esteem increased as a result of program participation.…