Middle School Tutorial Program Review - Research Proposal Example

Middle School ial Program Review ment of the problem The question of education is an important one and every society needs to know how to impart important knowledge and skills to the younger generation. Schools and teachers in particular are burdened with this task. However, teachers are not always able to meet the needs of each student. To deal with this, Stoneybrook Middle School has introduced a program that is geared to use other students to tutor their peers. The peer tutoring program involves older students who are in grade 8 to teach the students who are in inferior grades and who are not doing as well in class as would be needed. The students chosen to become peer tutors have to meet some criteria including good academic and behavioral achievements. While this program is intended to help the students to do better in school work, there is a need to determine how successful this program is in order to determine if it must be funded further. Literature review Cohen, Kulik, and Kulik (1982) found that peer tutoring has positive impacts on both the tutee and the tutor students. They identified positive immediate feedback and also that the student develop positive attitudes towards the subject matter. They also found that the peer tutoring program was an enforcer of the student tutors further understanding of the subject matter. Like many other scholars, these authors concluded that the use of a peer tutoring program was effective in terms of helping these students who were lagging behind in school work. They also identified that the peer tutoring program can be designed in a number of ways, including a case where the peer tutoring programs involves students of the same tutoring their classmates of the same level (grade). The other implementation mode that could be used was where the students were used to tutor other students of lower academic levels such as high school students tutoring the students in elementary schools. In both scenarios, the benefits to both the tutee and the tutor were clearly identified. Topping (1996) looked at the cost effectiveness of peer tutoring in colleges and universities. They argue that when used properly it can have both financial benefits as well as educational advantages when the peers get to understand the materials better especially in areas where the student did not manage to understand during normal classes with the teachers. The financial benefits were harder to determine, but due to the huge academic benefits that could be achieved through such programs when implemented properly indicated that the cost was justified. They cited the fact that since peer tutors did not need to earn too much money like trained tutors, the cost was small enough to match and even exceed the marginal benefit achieved from such programs. They also investigated how the compensation levels affected the motivation of the peer tutors. Their conclusion was that the monetary rewards were not in big part a determinant as to how motivated the peer tutors were. Grubbs (2009) also looked at the effectiveness of the use of peer tutoring. She identified that the use of peer tutoring has benefits for both the tutee and the tutor. She also identified that apart from giving both the tutee and the tutor academic benefits, the peer tutoring program can enhance a student’s self-esteem and this goes far in helping these students to perform well in their school work. In her study, she also wanted to identify whether peer tutoring has other benefits apart from helping the student to do better in exams and quizzes. In her study, she identified that students who are involved in peer tutoring programs are likely to understand the material better in terms of its application in real life. The study also identified that a good number of the students were able more willing to participate either as peer tutors as well as peer tutees. This willingness was credited as part of the reason why such peer tutoring programs were so successful in the long term. The author identified that the use of peer tutoring made it possible for the peers to be more involved in academic work and to also like it. This, compared to teacher tutoring was different in that for the students who were eligible for tutoring (those performing poorly in the class), they were more interested in learning the material when being tutored by peer students as opposed to when tutored by the teachers. This was credited to the power balance between the teacher and the student. In this regard, such students were being taught by their official teachers, the big power distance between them and the teachers acted as a barrier and that as a result ended being fearful or afraid of the subject being taught. Greenwood, Delquadri, and Hall (1989) looked at this issue from a longitudinal point of view and found that those who participated in peer tutoring had long term benefits. They identified that when students were tutored by their peers, they had better chances of asking questions where they did not understand. This then made it feasible for them to get a better understanding. In comparison to the students who were only tutored by teachers, these students had more confidence to ask questions and to also to answer questions. The presence of this kind of feedback was then translated to mean better understanding of the content. At the same time, Greenwood, Terry, Mayer and Finney (2003) also did a similar study. In their study, they wanted to investigate the effect of variations in the implementation of the peer tutoring program to identify how different tutoring methods affect the end result of the benefits on the students, as well as the tutors. They found that the different types of implantations affected the way a peer tutoring program was likely to benefit the students, both the tutee and the tutor. This findings are important because even as many studies have identified that peer tutoring is important and has benefits to the students in terms of increasing academic and behavioral performance of students, it must also be noted that the type of implementation used is always a factor that can determine how these benefits can be achieved. Purpose of the study Given the fact that peer tutoring can either have benefits or have no benefits, it is necessary to ensure that any such program is evaluated to analyze the benefits accrued from such and that the financial cost is justified by the academic and behavioral benefits accrued as such. As a result, this study is essential to make sure that the program at Stoneybrook Middle School is effective and that the financial cost is justified. In this regard, the cost will be evaluated with regard to the academic benefits accrued from the Stoneybrook Middle School peer tutoring program. Hypotheses Research Questions The study will take a positive hypothesis which is that the peer tutoring program at the Stoneybrook Middle School is effective and that the benefits accrued so will justify the cost. Research questions Does the Stoneybrook Middle School peer tutoring program lead to better student performance to the tutees? Does the Stoneybrook Middle School peer tutoring program lead to better student performance to the tutors? Des the Stoneybrook Middle School peer tutoring program lead to better behavioral performance to the tutees? Research Methods and Procedures Method The study will involve a total number of 100 participants chosen randomly. The 150 students will include an experimental group of 50 tutees and a control groups of 50 tutees. A further 50 peer tutors will be used to determine the effectiveness of this the program. Procedure The study will compare already existing data. The performance of the students both before and after the tutoring program will be compared to the academic performance data of the students who had not been in the program. This will make it possible for a clear identification of whether the peer tutoring program was effective in helping the students to perform better. To determine how the peer tutors were affected by the program, the peer tutors academic and behavioral data will be considered for before the program and after the program. The final outcomes will be compared with those of their other students who did not participate in being peer tutors. For this study, there will be no need for seeking the permission from parents since the parents had already given the persimmon for their children to participate in the program. Again, the study will only involve just collecting already existing data as opposed to carrying out an experiment that would require the permission of the parents of the kids who would be participating. Data analysis The data analysis will involve the use of statistic method to identify any variances in the student performance. Any positive variance will be taken as an indication of the progress of the program, thus the justification of the financial cost incurred. Conclusion The issue here will be to look at how effective the peer tutoring program has been in order to determine whether the financial cost is justifiable. The process will help in identifying any positive indication that the program was successful in helping the involved students to be better in their academics. References: Cohen, P., Kulik, J., & Kulik, C. (1982 ). Educational Outcomes of Tutoring: A Meta-analysis of Findings. American Journald of Educcation Resesearch, 19, 2 , pp. 237-248 . Greenwood, C., Delquadri, J., & Hall, R. (1989). Longitudinal effects of classwide peer tutoring. Journal of Educational Psychology, 81, 3 , pp. 371-383. Greenwood, C., Terry, B., Mayer, A., & Finney, R. (2003). The Classwide Peer Tutoring Program: Implementation Factors Moderating Students Achievement. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 25, 1 , pp. 25-101. Grubbs, N. (2009). The Effects of the Peer Tutoring Program: An Action Research Study of the Effectiveness of the Peer Tutoring Program at One Suburban Middle School. Georgia School Counselors Association Journal, 16, 1 , p. 21-31 . Topping, K. (1996). The effectiveness of peer tutoring in further and higher education: A typology and review of the literature. Higher Education, 32, 3 , pp. 321-345 . Read More