November 1996 'Hot Topics' Series Looks at Tutoring Programs
Most everyone has benefited from a tutor at some time in their life. Most likely, it occurred in an informal setting where a classmate, colleague, or mentor offered assistance on a perplexing problem.
In the Northwest and across the country, more and more schools are offering formal tutoring arrangements and finding that the benefits and payoffs are significant.
In Tutoring: Strategies for Successful Learning, Jennifer Fager, a specialist in NWREL's Planning and Services Coordination Unit, details approaches used in tutoring and provides examples from throughout the region of successful tutoring programs.
The booklet is the second in a series of "hot topic" reports that responds to the requests made of NWREL by teachers and other educators. "The series gives practitioners a glimpse of how fellow educators are addressing issues, overcoming obstacles, and celebrating success in specific areas," Fager notes. "The goal, ultimately, is to give educators current, reliable, and useful information on topics that are important to them."
Tutoring: Strategies for Successful Learning briefly defines three types of tutoring: peer, cross-age, and parent or volunteer. It then discusses the benefits of tutoring programs to the tutors, tutees, and teachers.
In "The Northwest Sampler" section, Fager describes successful tutoring programs in Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The section includes a contact person at the school where the tutoring program takes place, a program description, outcomes, and keys to success. The booklet also includes chapters on implementing a local tutoring program, tips for training tutors, potential pitfalls, and tending to your program once it's up and running. "One of the better aspects of human nature is our capacity and willingness to help each other," Fager says.
"Tutoring takes this and builds upon it, making it not only an instrument for building positive interpersonal relationships, but also an extremely flexible, cost-effective learning tool for everyone involved."
Copies of Tutoring: Strategies for Successful Learning can be ordered at no charge by returning the Document Order Form in this newsletter. It is also available at www.nwrel.org/request/oct96/.
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