The Effectiveness of Volunteer Tutoring Programs for Elementary and Middle School Students: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

This meta-analysis assesses the effectiveness of volunteer tutoring programs for improving the academic skills of students enrolled in public schools Grades K-8 in the United States and further investigates for whom and underwhat conditions tutoring can be effective. The authors found 21 studies (with 28 different study cohorts in those studies) reporting on randomized field trials to guide them in assessing the effectiveness of volunteer tutoring programs. Overall, the authors found volunteer tutoring has a positive effect on student achievement. With respect to particular subskills, students who work with volunteer tutors are likely to earn higher scores on assessments related to letters and words, oral fluency, and writing as compared to their peers who are not tutored.

An Examination of an Online Tutoring Program’s Impact on Low-Achieving Middle School Students’ Mathematics Achievement

“…The results are intended to provide sound, statistical evidence of the impact of mathematics tutoring, a need identified in the literature (Ritter et al, 2009, Baker et al, 2006. We addressed the following research questions in this study: (1) How does online mathematics tutoring affect mathematics scores of low achieving students?…”

“…Huang (2013) compared tutoring influences on performance across countries, controlling for social and educational differences among them, and found that tutoring significantly increased national mean performance in mathematics. However, other researchers have concluded that not enough is known about the effect of tutoring on mathematics scores (Ritter, Barnett, Denny, & Albin, 2009;Baker, Rieg, & Clendaniel, 2006). Furthermore, some studies have found promising evidence to suggest that interactive online mathematics tutoring in particular may result in learning and achievement benefits for students (Beal, Walles, Arroyo, & Woolf, 2007;Chappell, Nunnery, Pribesh, & Hager, 2011;Nguyen & Kulm, 2005), but less is known about how these programs function as Tier 3 interventions in contexts that carefully structure Tier 1 and 2 supports.…”

Exploring the impact of student tutoring on at-risk fifth and sixth graders' self-regulated learning

“…Positive outcomes for tutees include increased aspirations, improved basic skills, deeper learning, improved motivation, affective and attitudinal gains, intrinsic interest in the subject matter, and a reduction in drop-out (e.g., Cohen et al, 1982;Gordon et al, 2007;Ritter et al, 2009;Topping & Hill, 1995). Moreover, Dubois, Holloway, Valentine, and Cooper (2002) argue that students at-risk are more likely to benefit from participation in tutoring programmes.…”

“…Research generally shows positive outcomes for tutees on the cognitive, affective, and social level (e.g., Cohen, Kulik, & Kulik, 1982;Gordon, Morgan, O'Malley, & Ponticell, 2007;Ritter et al, 2009;Topping, 2000;Topping & Hill, 1995). Positive outcomes for tutees include increased aspirations, improved basic skills, deeper learning, improved motivation, affective and attitudinal gains, intrinsic interest in the subject matter, and a reduction in drop-out (e.g., Cohen et al, 1982;Gordon et al, 2007;Ritter et al, 2009;Topping & Hill, 1995).…”

“…Therefore, it is imperative to study initiatives that can enhance the educational opportunities of these target groups. Recently, tutoring has been considered as a promising method to provide individual support to students who are at-risk for educational failure (Barley et al, 2002;Cassio, 2008;Ritter, Barnett, Denny, & Albin, 2009). In this respect, the present study centres on the implementation and evaluation of a student tutoring project focusing on self-regulated learning.…”