Improving the Transition of Sixth-Grade Students during the First Year of Middle School through a Peer Counselor Mentor and Tutoring Program.

This practicum project evaluated the effectiveness of a peer counseling, mentoring, and tutoring program to enhance the transition of students from elementary to middle school by reducing behavior problems and absenteeism, and by enhancing students' ability to deal with academic or peer difficulties. The problem of adjustment to the transition from elementary to middle school was documented through school and teacher records, especially the number of teacher referrals for behavioral, emotional, and social problems and the number of student-generated help forms asking for assistance in resolving academic and social problems. The 8-month intervention consisted of a peer counseling, mentoring, and tutoring program. The tutors were seventh and eighth graders in the same school. The Pause, Prompt, and Praise tutoring method was taught to student mentors and tutors. Sixth graders were matched to a mentor/tutor and they met twice weekly to become acquainted and to work on academic and other concerns. Both tutors and tutees maintained journals detailing the problems, discussions, and possible solutions for each session. The process was monitored to identify potential serious student problems. Evaluation findings indicated that there was a reduction in student-generated help forms requesting assistance with an academic problem, teacher-generated referrals for problem behaviors, and absenteeism. In addition, students were able to write transition problem statements with resolution strategies and achieve a passing 1.0 or better report card grade. (Seven appendices include forms used in the intervention. Contains 60 references.)