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…

This mixed method research was designed to examine the effects of cross-age mentoring in an inter-institutional online learning community. The research questions focused on the impact of mentoring on high school students' confidence in their information seeking skills, perceptions of their information seeking standards, and the application of…

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…

The Youth Tutoring Youth program, funded under Title I of the 1965 Elementary Secondary Education Act, was directed toward attitude and ability change of underachieving high school and elementary school pupils. It also attempted to effect a change in basic language study skills of these students by using the Youth Tutoring Youth (YTY) model which…

This article describes a cross-age peer tutoring program in reading developed and implemented at a special school for students (ages 8-18) with moderate learning difficulties in Ireland. Evaluation studies indicate multiple benefits accruing to both the learners and the helpers including progress in reading, enhanced feelings of self-worth, and…

This "Research" section contains three articles. "Pedagogy" discusses the need for explicit phonics instruction combined with whole language as the most effective way to teach beginning readers. "Practice" describes a first-grade whole language reading class which incorporates phonics. "Findings" reviews briefly three studies on mixed-age…

In the "Just Do It, Jr." program, 81 at-risk fifth-grade students in rural Nevada attended life skills training sessions, then taught self-esteem concepts to second graders. The fifth graders averaged a 16% improvement on self-observed school attitudes and self-esteem, and the second graders thought the programs were well taught. (TD)