What about online tutoring or other technologies that provide extra help?

2. What about online tutoring or other technologies that provide extra help? • Online tutoring can help fix a particular spot that a child is having difficulty with • E.g., a small problem with one particular vowel • Online exercises practicing this vowel might be very engaging and beneficial to the child • But an online program is probably not going to be adequate if the child is having difficulty with reading at a basic level • It can't replace an individual person • Tutors can look at diagnostic work and assessments and plan a program appropriate to the individual child

3. Has NCLB changed the number and quality of tutoring programs available? • No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law created a funding stream called Supplemental Educational Services (SES) • SES provides a voucher, essentially, to parents of low-income children • Worth up to $2,000 • Parents can choose among state-approved providers • Because of SES, many new providers have sprung up in the last few years • They offer varied programs • Some programs provide as little as 10 hours of tutoring for that $2,000 voucher • Others, like BELL, will provide well in excess of 100 hours • Parents should consider such factors as • How many hours • Class size • Qualifications of the tutors • Curriculum • Outcomes • The end result is most important • Every really good provider will share outcomes • If they don't or won't, keep looking

4. Do parents and grandparents make good volunteer tutors? • Now is a unique time in history: there is a greater focus on national service, college students' volunteering, and Baby Boomers' volunteering • 5 million Baby Boomers are retiring every year • Many are thinking of being of service in retirement • Many voice a desire to work with children and education • A group called Experience Corps is recruiting seniors to come and provide great tutoring Two recent studies found Experience Corps volunteers improved outcomes for children, and also improved their own health, both physical and mental

5. How long should extra tutoring last — all the way through high school, or a grading period? • There are students will need tutoring and extra support throughout their schooling • But it's certainly not the 20 percent that are currently designated as learning disabled • By providing early intervention, that percentage can be decreased dramatically • Start assessing as soon as students walk into kindergarten • Provide additional instruction to make up for lost opportunities or lack of experiences • Begin in small groups, then, if needed, move to more intensive one-on-one tutoring • Research suggests the proportion of students who will need continued support over the long haul is under 3 percent

6. How long should extra tutoring last? (cont.) • The best way to determine how long tutoring should last is assessment • Do and a pre-post tests of students periodically • E.g. throughout a school-year program, during a summer program • Some students close the achievement gap quickly, within the one summer for example • For others it will take longer • Typically: the more students get involve, the more they want to keep coming back, and the greater the gains • Some tutoring programs are a "package deal" • Required to sign up for 20 sessions, whether needed or not • With this kind of arrangement, be doubly careful to see the assessments and ensure the student is getting the help he or she needs • The student may need fewer or more sessions, so trying to pre-pay or pre-decide how long tutoring will be needed could be a mistake

7. Can older kids serve as mentors for younger, struggling readers? • The same essential qualifications apply to young tutors as older tutors. They should: • Be committed to the process • Enjoy working with children • Love reading • Often commitment is the most difficult area for adolescent volunteers • But supporting them as tutors goes a long way to sustaining commitment: • Train them • Provide a consistent structured lesson plan • Organize materials ahead of time for them • Show them to do each component of the lesson plan • Model the behaviors • Demonstrate each part and observe them as they do it to provide immediate feedback rather then let problems develop • An important part of Kingston's program is to end a lesson with the tutor reading aloud to the student • Promotes a love of reading and the written text, even when children are struggling to read by themselves • Having high school students read aloud to younger peers is especially rewarding to both, because • Younger students really do love working with teenagers • It's a great advantage in creating a strong student/tutor relationship • Teens are role models for younger students

8. What should tutoring for a kindergartener look like? • Tutoring is definitely an option for children in kindergarten • If they already are exhibiting signs that reading and learning to read is going to be difficult • Tutoring sessions for a young child should be: • Short • Frequent • A child needs more sessions per week then an older student • Pay close attention to tutees attention span • Vary the activities to keep attention sustained • E.g., maybe a half-hour sessions would be enough, but do three, four, five different activities over that time • Very positive and encouraging • So that students are set up to be successful in school • Engaging, game-like formats are good for this age group • Speaks to the need for universal literacy screening • Research shows that children who come to kindergarten lacking foundational emergent literacy skills should receive extra support  either in small group formats or one-on-one • This support should be: more frequent; more varied and game-like; and developmentally appropriate

9. What role should the principal play? • The principal's is a very critical role • He or she is the gateway to that school • Many providers want to serve a particular school community. But if the principal is not "on board," it's almost impossible • BELL likes programs in schools, so that students don't "disappear" after school before tutoring begins • In-school programs are most successful when the principal is: • Supportive of the program • Encouraging children to participate • Encouraging parents to sign up • Viewing tutoring as a positive thing, specifically: • Tutoring as extended or expanded learning • Tutoring not as sign of failure, but rather as a sign of giving children every possible opportunity • It's very educational for a principal to tutor at least for one year

10. What are the first steps for a teacher to start a tutoring program for ELL students? • Collaboration is key • To find out who will be served  their ages, languages, cultures • To maximize the expertise available to you • When all the teachers who are providing instruction in language, literacy, and content collaborate: • The child's exposure concepts and vocabulary terms is more frequent • The child's exposure to the language, literacy, and content that you're trying to impart is greater • First step is to get with all the other educators who are involved in teaching the ELL students and brainstorming what an ELL tutoring program would look like • Collaborate also with parents • Just because parents may not speak English as their primary language, doesn't mean that they don't need to be involved and supportive. For example: • A child can go home and read to his or her parents • A parent can check homework even if they're not in a position to help with homework • Research proves that it goes a long towards boosting school success if parents are engaged and supportive of their children

11. How can a tutor engage a reluctant reader? • A very successful strategy is to use the child's interests as a means of engaging them in reading • Kingston, for example, emphasizes that a tutor's first job is to form a rapport and strong relationship with the student. One way to do this: find out the child's interests • For the child who doesn't like to read, but is very interested in sports, the sports page or baseball cards are a wonderful place to start • For the child who likes making things, help them read the instructions and follow diagrams to make paper airplanes or cook brownies • Writing about those experiences extends student learning even further Tutors can learn more about selecting appropriate reading materials in Hooking Struggling Readers: Using Books They Can and Want to Read

12. Can a summer meals program be incorporated with tutoring in a low income community? • Title I schools are often designated feeding locations for children who qualify for free and reduced meals during the school year • BELL will often partner with the school system so that • BELL runs the summer learning program • The school, through Title I dollars, makes breakfast and lunch available • That way students get academics in the morning, enrichment in the afternoon, and two very healthy meals every weekday during the summer • Research on childhood obesity finds that students who do not get nutritious meals during the summer have worsening obesity • Looking for a summer learning program that is somehow linked into Title I free and reduced meals programs is a great opportunity to keep kids healthy

13. Final thoughts • Tutoring is a positive experience. In fact, it can be one of the most powerful ways of enriching and engaging a student • Do not think about tutoring as a negative. It is not a sign of failure. It is an opportunity to enrich children and prepare them as well as we possibly can for this next century. It should be valued as such • Students in many other countries spend more time in the classroom than U.S. students do, and it shows in test scores. Tutoring is an opportunity to remedy this situation • Tutoring is cost effective. It is an important investment in our children's future and in our future as a nation

14. Thanks for watching Visit our website for recommended readings, discussion questions, and more about this topic: www.readingrockets.org/webcasts