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As traditional pull-out programs for students who are identified as gifted and talented (GT) decrease in number, classroom differentiation is becoming more essential for general education teachers at the elementary level. Despite the importance of differentiation, teachers are still not implementing it on a regular basis. One strategy that may help teachers become more adept at differentiating content is mentoring or peer coaching. The literature is replete with studies examining both classroom differentiation and collegial peer coaching; however, few studies have examined how peer coaching may facilitate teachers' abilities to effectively differentiate instruction. The present study sought to understand how a peer coach for teachers may influence teachers' understandings and abilities to facilitate differentiated lessons for high-ability students., As traditional pull-out programs for students who are identified as gifted and talented (GT) decrease in number (Landrum, 2001), classroom differentiation is becoming more essential for general-education teachers at the [...]

A model of informal training that combines learning through experiences and learning from others is proposed. Workers on average can learn from others 10% of their own human capital upon entering one plant and catch half of their learning from others' potential in just two years.

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a supplemental peer-mediated reading program on reading achievement of first graders (N = 76) in a two-way bilingual [...]

A clear and consistent finding of educational research has been the importance of active student responding. During lectures and discussions, active responding most often takes the form of student responses [...]

The general education classroom has become the place where increasing numbers of students with disabilities are educated. Nationally, there are 5 1/2 million students with special needs, and slightly under [...], As students with severe disabilities are included in general education settings, the use of paraprofessionals has expanded to meet these students' needs. Unfortunately, paraprofessionals can have the inadvertent effect of intensifying the social isolation of students with disabilities. This study investigated the effectiveness of a training program aimed at teaching four paraprofessionals to facilitate interactions between students with severe disabilities and their peers. A multiple baseline, single-subject design across four paraprofessional/student pairs was utilized. Observational data were collected over the baseline and postintervention phases. Rates of paraprofessional facilitative behavior increased following the intervention. Additionally, rates of student interaction increased immediately and dramatically and were maintained through the maintenance probe.

In a computer-managed version of Keller's personalized system of instruction, students received frequent feedback from more advanced students within the course. Overall accuracy of student-provided feedback was 87%, and students complied with 61% of the feedback. DESCRIPTORS: instructional design, personalized system of instruction, online teaching, feedback

This study examines the positive effects a peer-mentoring program had on upper-class peer mentors at a minority engineering program at a Southeast university. The primary focus of the program was educational support for minority students, however the authors report the peer mentors also experienced academic and interpersonal growth.

Issues related to the influence of peer tutoring on text recall are examined, focusing on a study with 5th-grade African American students. Learning in peer and individual contexts are compared and peer learning provided better results.

We examined the effects of a cross-age peer-tutoring program on the social skills of 2 sixth-grade and 2 kindergarten socially rejected and isolated boys. Peer tutoring consisted of the older boys conducting social skills training with their younger tutees. The frequency of positive social interactions increased for all 4 boys, with maintenance of treatment gains following a 5-week interval. DESCRIPTORS: social skills, peer tutoring, cross-age tutoring

Byline: Smita Shukla (1), Craig H. Kennedy (2), Lisa Sharon Cushing (3) Keywords: peer support programs; peers without disabilities; students with severe disabilities; adult influence; social interaction Abstract: Three peers without disabilities who volunteered to serve as peer supports and were identified by general education teachers as having academic difficulties were studied across three conditions. In baseline, a peer without disabilities worked alone, while the student with severe disabilities was supervised by an adult. In the Peer Support condition, peers without disabilities worked with the student with severe disabilities, and both individuals were supervised by an adult. In the Adult Involvement condition, peers without disabilities were supervised by an adult as in the Peer Support condition, but peers worked separately from the student with severe disabilities. Dependent measures included the active engagement of peers without disabilities and students with severe disabilities, and social interactions between students and peers. Our data indicate that the Peer Support and Adult Involvement conditions resulted in higher, but similar, levels of active engagement for two of three peers without disabilities when compared to baseline. For the third peer, high levels of active engagement occurred across all conditions. Active engagement varied across students with severe disabilities, but was typically highest in conditions where peers without disabilities were involved. For all students with severe disabilities, social interactions were more frequent and longer in the Peer Support condition. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, Florida International University, Miami, Florida (2) Department of Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee (3) Department of Special Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon Article History: Registration Date: 28/09/2004

Recommendations for mathematics instruction frequently include the use of manipulatives as a critical component. There are few experimental analyses of teaching strategies involving the use of manipulatives (e.g., the number line). This investigation used a multiple baseline design across three groups of students to examine the effectiveness of an experimental procedure for improving low-performing children's skills in solving missing addend arithmetic problems using the number line. To address concerns about inadequate time for instruction and insufficient practice in most mathematics instruction, trained peer tutors implemented the procedure. The results suggest that student performance improved when trained tutors taught the students number line procedures and gave them feedback on accuracy. Further, social validation data indicate that the students, their tutors, and their classroom teachers liked the procedures. DESCRIPTORS: number line, peer tutoring, feedback, academic skills, low-performing students

The impact of individual differences on the performance of 2 roles - learner and learning facilitator - was assessed during dyadic cooperative learning. Eighty university students, 40 men and 40 women, participated in same-sex groups of 4. Each student cooperatively learned a text passage with 1 partner and then learned a 2nd passage with another partner. In a later session, the students recalled the information contained within both text passages and completed several personality measures. A social relations analysis (D. A. Kenny & L. LaVoie, 1984) was used to partition the variability in recall for the passages into various sources. Variability in recall depended strongly on individual differences in learning ability and (to a lesser extent) on individual differences in the ability to facilitate others' learning. Differences in the ability to learn text passages were independent of individual differences in the ability to facilitate others' learning. Effective learners were high in verbal ability, whereas effective learning facilitators were low in public self-consciousness and in self-monitoring. The influence of cognitive and rapport factors on the performance of the learner role and the learning facilitator role is discussed.

This study demonstrates that tutorial interaction can be structured so that same-ability age mates can scaffold each other's higher order thinking and learning. Seventh graders were assigned in pairs to 3 mutual peer-tutoring conditions: explanation only (E), inquiry plus explanation (IE), and sequenced inquiry plus explanation (SIE). Tutorial sessions followed teacher-led science lessons over a 5-week treatment. IE and SIE students were trained to ask comprehension and thought-provoking questions on the material when in the tutor role and to explain material to partners when acting as tutee. SIE students received additional training in asking their questions in a particular sequence. E students explained material to each other. SIE students outperformed IE and E students on ability to construct knowledge both during their tutorial interaction and on written measures.

The present study examined the effects of a home-based, parent involvement (PI) intervention and the reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) intervention on the self-concept and mathematics achievement of academically at-risk urban elementary school students. Seventy-two 4th- and 5th-grade students evidencing difficulties in mathematics were selected. Students were assigned randomly to 3 conditions: PI + RPT, PI, and practice control (PC). Student self-concept reports showed that students in the PI + RPT and PI conditions reported higher ratings of scholastic and behavior conduct than controls. Students in the PI + RPT conditions perceived themselves as more socially confident than did PI or PC students. Mathematics findings indicated that students who received PI + RPT displayed higher levels of accurate mathematics computations on a curriculum-based measure than PI or PC students. PI + RPT students also had significantly higher scores on a standardized measure of mathematics computation than PC students. The relationships between the PI intervention components and school adjustment were discussed.

Peer tutoring of a profoundly deaf girl (13) by a hearing tutor (12) in mathematics proved remarkably successful. The tutee quickly reached four objectives involving fraction computation, and showed a much better grasp of the underlying concepts. Communication between the two girls was not a problem despite the tutor's very limited initial knowledge of signing. The implications for mainstreaming are exciting, but bear further investigation. Peer tutoring for deaf students has not previously been tested.

A multiple baseline design across subjects with a reversal was used to examine the effects of classwide peer tutoring relative to traditional reading instruction on reading skills and social interaction time for 3 high-functioning students with autism and their typical peers in integrated, general education classrooms. Traditional reading instruction consisted largely of teacher-led instruction with individual student participation and seat work. Classwide peer tutoring consisted of 25 to 30 min of well-specified instruction in which tutor-learner pairs worked together on a classwide basis on reading fluency and comprehension skills. All students participated in 15- to 20-min unstructured free-time activities immediately following reading instruction. Results of reading assessments demonstrated that classwide peer tutoring increased reading fluency and correct responses to reading comprehension questions for students with autism and their peers. The procedure further increased the total duration of free-time social interactions for students with autism and typical peers, with individual variation in performance.

A script that was systematically faded from end to beginning was used to teach peer initiations about recently completed, current, and future activities. The effectiveness of the script-fading procedure was assessed via a multiple baseline design across 4 children with autism. During baseline, the children seldom initiated to peers, although all had previously acquired some functional expressive language and sometimes spontaneously addressed adults. When the script was introduced, peer initiations increased, and as the script was faded, unscripted initiations increased. With the minimal written prompts available in the final fading steps, initiations generalized to a different setting, time, teacher, and activity; and for 3 of the 4 children, peer initiations were maintained at a 2-month follow-up. After the script was faded, the participants' levels of peer initiations were within the same range as a normative sample of 3 nondisabled youngsters. The script-fading procedure enabled children with severe social and verbal deficits to practice context-specific, peer-directed generative language that was not prompted by adults or peer confederates.

Recent government policies mandated inclusion of students with special needs, including students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), into least restrictive classroom settings (No Child Left Behind legislation; U.S. Department of [...]

Peers with mild intellectual disabilities taught first aid skills to 4 students with moderate intellectual disabilities. A multiple probe design across participants was used to examine the effects of the peer teaching program during an acquisition and a partial sequential withdrawal phase. Generalization assessments were conducted in the participants' homes using novel, randomized simulated injuries. Results suggested that the peer teaching program resulted in acquisition of first aid skills, and the participants' skills generalized to the home, to novel simulated-injury locations, and to new trainers. Additionally, a more detailed analysis of the generalized responding suggested that when given a choice among first aid materials, participants treated burns using large adhesive bandages rather than the materials used in training. Participants also successfully treated injuries when novel instructional cues were used. The findings are discussed with respect to training issues, generalization and maintenance of the acquired skills, and the use of peer tutors with disabilities.

Analyses of cooperative learning between science pupils encourages objectivity, open-mindedness and higher scoring in lessons. Research on cross-age peer tutoring was undertaken in a multi-ethnic comprehensive schools in the UK between Mar and Jul 1990. Researchers were interested in the impact on tutors' and students' performance and improvement in communication and social skills. Results showed that better performance was achieved by well-motivated tutors who formed good relationships with their students.

We conducted a study designed to assess implementation of the classwide peer tutoring program and the relationship between implementation variation and student outcome. A clinical replication design was use. Five volunteer elementary teachers were trained to implement the program; their implementation was monitored for 19 consecutive weeks during 1 school year. Overall, the results indicated that specific variations in program implementation were associated with students' responses to treatment. It was also demonstrated that different teachers' applications of the program produced differential levels of student outcome. Implementation factors related to lower spelling achievement were (a) reduced opportunities to receive program sessions, (b) reduced probabilities of students' participation in program opportunities, (c) too many students assigned unchallenging spelling words and (d) reduced rates of daily point earning reflecting lower levels of spelling practice during tutoring sessions. The implications of these findings and methods of preventing these implementation problems are discussed in the context of quality assurance and social validity. DESCRIPTORS: peer tutoring, education fidelity, academic behavior, assessment

The effects of two levels of peer tutoring on the academic performance of 193 college students enrolled in two sections of introductory psychology were investigated. In Section 1, 10 groups of 3 men and 3 women randomly assigned to 10 undergraduate peer tutors participated in Experimental Condition 1 (E01). In Section 2, two groups of 20 and 21 students randomly assigned to two undergraduate peer tutors participated in Experimental Condition 2 (E-2). Students not participating in an experimental condition comprised the control groups for each section (C-1 and C-2). The treatment analysis of E1 vs. C-1 and E-2 vs. C-2 revealed significant differences where E-1 and E-2 were clearly superior in academic performance. These data demonstrate that undergraduate peer tutors can enhance the academic performance of college students. Positive ratings by the participating students and peer tutors provide further evidence of the positive program effects.

A classwide peer tutoring procedure was implemented in an urban elementary school classroom to improve students' spelling performance. Three students combined untrained or collateral tutoring behaviors with the core bahaviors initially taught. To explore the function of these natural and spontaneous behaviors, a multielement single-subject experiment with replicatons was conducted. Results indicated that the additional tutoring behaviors increased (a) the academic response frequencies of 3 tutees and (b) the weekly spelling achievement of 1 target tutee. The remaining class members were successfully taught and continued to use these behaviors over the final 3 weeks of the school year. These findings are discussed with regard to academic instruction, natural communities of peer reinforcement, and the social validation of intervention procedures. DESCRIPTORS: peer tutoring, group contingencies, peer supportive behaviors

209 college men and 327 college women took a 20 item Likert survey to assess the types of education-related information students may learn from other students during their informal interactions. Students were very likely to ask other students low level questions such as which professors were good and which classes to take. They were less likely to ask other students about concepts discussed in class and how to solve problems generated in class. If students asked about test taking, these students were also likely to ask about study skills and writing skills for the class. Other research suggests these higher level help-seeking behaviors seem to be related to classroom mastery and achievement.