Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) is a peer-tutoring program. According to the developer's web site, it is designed to be incorporated into the existing curriculum with the goal of improving the academic performance of children with diverse academic needs. Teachers train students to use PALS procedures. Students partner with peers,…

Presents a study where 12 poor readers of first grade were randomly assigned to one of two daily tutoring conditions designed to teach children to read regularly spelled short words by either blending sounds to form words, or cumulative introduction of whole words. Finds no initial difference, but finds different results in delayed posttest one…

Discusses three children who successfully learned phonics in three very different instructional settings (conventional, whole language, and tutoring in a learning center). Notes that the children developed in similar ways, yet at different rates; the teachers nudged the learners toward literacy development; and writing was a part of the curriculum…

Noting that parent involvement could be the single most important factor in children's success in school, this book helps parents act as tutors in reading and writing for their kindergarten children. It offers both general guidelines and specific strategies and activities to use for accomplishing specific objectives, such as improving decoding…

Despite recent efforts at compensatory education, thousands of children still go through first grade each year without learning to read. More often than not, these are children of the poor. The underlying assumption of this study is that the major attempt at educational compensation for disadvantaged children have failed because of fundamental…

Noting that parent involvement in student schoolwork ranks high as a cause of academic success for most children, this book helps parents act as tutors in reading and writing for their first- and second-grade children. It offers both general guidelines and specific strategies and activities to use for accomplishing specific objectives, such as…

This book offers suggestions to help parents make their children successful readers and learners. The first chapter, Getting Started, discusses setting an example, being a tutor, creating a positive environment, and letting children be the stars. The second chapter, The Reading Process: Building Meaning, discusses setting a purpose, stages of the…

Twenty-three first-graders at risk for learning disabilities received one-to-one tutoring from noncertified tutors for 30 minutes, 4 days a week, for one school year. Tutoring included instruction in phonological skills, explicit decoding, writing, spelling, and reading phonically controlled text. Participants significantly outperformed controls…

This study described a program designed to increase student reading comprehension in order to improve academic achievement. The targeted population consisted of third and eighth grade students in two schools located in Northern Illinois. Evidence for the existence of the problem included scores from the Stanford Test, low academic performance on…

The present study replicated the original evaluation of the Howard Street tutoring model (Morris, Shaw, & Perney, Perney, 1990), an intervention for struggling readers in second and third grade. It also evaluated the effectiveness of supervised paraprofessionals (Title I aides) in delivering that tutorial. For an entire school year, teachers or…