Peer Tutoring Synthesis Paper

Peer Tutoring

The purpose of this synthesis paper is to combine multiple cited sources in a cohesive and clear analysis and explanation. Furthermore the idea of this paper is to explain the ideas of others on a research question, the research question chosen is, what is the effectiveness of utilizing peer-to-peer tutoring to improve the academic performance of elementary school special education students in the general education classroom?

Review of the Literature

Several studies concluded that peer assisted learning has a significant impact on student achievement in the elementary grades and some impact at the high school and college levels. Much of the research in regard to peer assisted learning entailed similar attributes: student roles,

Class-wide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) is one such example and is where students are taught by peers who have been trained and are supervised by the classroom teacher (Mayer, 1998). CWPT consists of four components which are (a) teams that change weekly, (b) highly structured tutoring protocol, (c) daily feedback through point earning, postings, and rewards, and (d) direct practice. CWPT is done only when the content has been taught previously through direct instruction and requires a 30-minute block per day anywhere from three to five days per

174). Twenty-two elementary and middle schools took part in the study, yielding forty teacher volunteers teaching grades 2nd through 6th Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies was implemented and conducted during regularly scheduled reading instruction for thirty-five minutes per day, three times per week, for fifteen weeks. Reading PALS students were partnered based on reading ability and ranking. During peer assisted learning students had the opportunity to be the tutor/coach and the tutee/reader. Three reading strategies are part of the PALS model: partner reading with retell, paragraph shrink/summary, and prediction relay. Students read from text at the instructional level of the weaker reader in the