What kind of student can use extra literacy help The scope of the problem: –NAEP* found that 37 percent of fourth graders are not able to meet basic reading.

What kind of student can use extra literacy help

• The scope of the problem:– NAEP* found that 37 percent of fourth graders are not

able to meet basic reading levels– 20 percent of students have a learning disability

• Of these children, the majority (80-90 percent) have reading disabilities

– In Virginia, 15 to 16 percent of kindergarteners start school without rudimentary literacy foundations

Evidence That Tutoring Works from the U.S. Department of Education

* National Assessment of Educational Progress

Is tutoring the same as homework help

• Many parents do hire tutors to help their students with homework

• But tutoring can encompass larger areas of academic assistance– Literacy tutoring often focuses on students' remedial

needs — areas in which the student could use extra help

• In these situations, the tutor finds where the child is functioning comfortably, and builds from there

• Given the limited time a tutor has with a student (often two or three sessions a week), the focus for a child who's struggling with reading needs to be on remediation, rather than homework help

How tutoring models differ

– Format • One-on-one• Small-group• Larger student to tutor ratio

– Curriculum• "Out of a box," pre-established plans

– Most basal reading companies have such plans– These plans often consist of re-teaching material that

students didn't get the first time around

– Personnel• Experts such as reading specialists or highly trained teachers

deliver individualized tutoring to struggling readers• Volunteers or paraprofessionals (usually closely trained and

supervised in an ongoing way) tutor students

Find out What Reading Research Says About Volunteer Tutoring

Tutoring program locations

• Both in and out-of-school

• During school hours, after school, and before school

• On-site at school building, in other kinds of buildings, in homes

For information about the different kinds of tutors and tutoring programs, see From Poor to Soar: Finding the Help Your Child Needs

Tutoring program costs

• Cost is a consideration (and limitation) for both parents and schools choosing a tutoring program

• One-on-one tutoring is often expensive, but it can certainly be a good investment in a child's future

• Cost can be mitigated by smart use of resources– For example, have reading specialists or other experts

• Train the tutors

• Plan the program

• Supervise tutors' work

– This will save money over having experts work one-on-one with individual students

How parents can find out about local tutoring options

• There are a lot of choices, it can be overwhelming

• Start by talking to the classroom teacher

• Look for a program that can help with the child's specific difficulty, Kingsbury for example

• Consult the school principal, he or she can help navigate the field– For example, the principal will know if the school

participates in a program that provides up to $2,000 worth of free tutoring if parents qualify for a reduced lunch

Seeking Help for a Struggling Reader: 8 Steps for Parents

Tutoring and children’s attitudes

• Literacy setbacks can affect a child’s emotional wellbeing

• Children are smart, and they quickly sense when they are being successful in school

• If school becomes a place of anxiety and fear, then that's going to affect

– Their self-esteem– Their desire to go to school– Their desire to participate, raise their hand

• Reading success has strong effect on emotional development and wellbeing — everybody wants to be successful

• Tutoring can help address both literacy and emotional skills by: – Using games or things that a child is interested in to help them see

that they can be successful– Starting where a child is successful, and build on those successes

How teachers know which kids should get tutoring

• Assessment

• Determine what progress children make in response to instruction– Is instruction tailored to the child's specific level and

comprehensive (meeting the entire array of literacy needs)

– If so, and the child is still not making adequate progress, then the teacher should make arrangements to have additional instruction

• In a small group, or

• One-on-one tutoring

Is elementary school too young

Absolutely not, because:

• The "achievement gap" is best addressed early– This gap — well-documented by researchers — is a disparity

between the performance of groups of students, particularly between students of different socio-economic status

– Too often when a child from a low-income home comes to school as a kindergartener, they might be a few months behind their peers

• Children must learn the mechanics of reading early– Educators often say: from kindergarten through third grade,

you learn to read; but from fourth grade on, you read to learn

– Learning to read gives children the capability that they need to be successful

Parents, teachers, and tutors working together

• It's a critical dynamic• Generally, the initial request for tutoring comes from

the parent• Myth: parents shouldn't tell teacher that child is

receiving tutoring– Fact: most teachers can usually tell, and that's a good

thing

• Tutoring is much more effective if everyone is working on the same goal at the same time– Communication is essential to create this dynamic

• Parents, the tutor, and the teacher should talk on a regular basis and reaffirm that everyone is on the same page

Questions parents should ask

Start with the basics, because not all tutoring sessions are created equal

• What are the qualifications of the people who are doing the tutoring?

• Are they certified teachers? • What is the class size?

– Is it one-on-one? – Is it small group? – Is it a larger group session?

• Is there a curriculum that they follow?• As a parent, how often am I going to get progress reports?• How will I know how my child is doing?• Just how much tutoring is my child going to get?

– One hour a week? – More than that? – How many weeks?

What makes a good tutoring program

A variety of things:

• Qualifications of the tutor and program leaders

• Group size

• A tutor who is good match for your child– Who cares about children, and your child in particular– Who knows how to relate to your child– Who is skilled in the particular area where your child is

the weakest

• So check into qualifications, but also check that the tutor is a strong personality match for your child

What makes a good tutor

A good literacy tutor should:• Love to work with children• Love to read, and be a reader him- or herself

– Because communicating of that love for reading definitely comes through

• Be very familiar with literacy development – How children learn to read– How all the components becoming a reader interrelate

• The synchrony of literacy development understanding that spelling of words (orthography) feeds reading fluency, which feeds comprehension, and how all that relates to writing

• Be familiar with how to assess components of literacy• Know how to plan instruction to meet the child's individual needs

– If the tutor him- or herself is not the expert in these things, then program leaders certainly need to be

• Be committed to literacy• Be committed to putting forth their all into this very intimate

relationship

Signs of a poor tutoring program

If the following pieces are missing, it may signal a poor tutoring program: • The program itself should be sound, proven effective • Goals have to be well-defined• Goals should be realistic

– There are steps to learning to read: • Early on, a child works mainly on decoding, figuring out the phonics, learning phonics• Then sight words, fluency• Then vocabulary, comprehension, and skills that show that the child is beginning to

automatize the basic decoding– None of these things happen quickly, especially if a student is dyslexic or has

another learning disability. It takes time • Look for signs of success, that the child is making improvement, even slow and

steady• The child should not really hate to go to tutoring

– If they do, it's a warning sign – It takes a few lessons for the rapport to build between a child and a tutor– But if things continue poorly, it's time to talk with the tutor and perhaps

honestly assess whether that's a good match • The program should be appropriate for the individual child and focus on his or her

needs and strengths

What parents should look for

Look for:• A program that is not just a repeat of what goes on during the

school day• Qualified teachers, certified teachers, college students, or tutors

who might provide a role model• Academics• Enrichment – field trips or community service• A program that is engaging, so students will want to keep coming

back to day after day• Cultural relevance, so that activities and books are meaningful to

the child• A low student/teacher ratio (the lower the better)

– One-on-one can be ideal– But some students also learn very well by having peer interaction– Small groups are definitely better than large groups– Definitely no more than ten to one

Differentiated instruction and tutoring

• Differentiated instruction provides students different avenues to learn. The instruction is tailored to fit the strengths and needs of the student

• Even in a small group of three, children aren’t identical. Each will have their own constellation of strengths and weaknesses

• A good tutor will individualize, even within a small group

• For example, – Even if their reading levels are the same, they'll have slightly different

needs in other components of reading– They'll certainly have different personalities and approaches to tasks– Different children have different attention spans for certain kinds of

tasks

• These kinds of differences add up to the need for differentiating instruction

How a tutor can individualize within a small group

Example: tutoring a group of three students, all reading on a mid-first grade level

• I know that I can at least plan the same level of text• But I might choose a specific subject matter to engage one

student – E.g., Anne really likes to read about horses, and doesn't even

want to persevere through anything unless it's about horses. Carole really, really likes to read about Star Wars

• Or I might change part of the lesson to meet their phonics needs – E.g., Carole may know all of her short vowels, but might be

working on her consonant blends in phonics instruction. Whereas Anne doesn't know all of the short vowels. And so I'm going to have to differentiate those parts of the lesson

Individualized instruction and working one-on-one

• Individualized instruction does not necessarily mean working one-on-one

• It is possible to individualize in small groups

• A meta-analysis* of research about the effects of group size in short-term tutoring found significantly better effects for smaller group sizes

– Particularly groups of three or smaller, as opposed to groups of 10 or more– There were no consistent differences between groups of three and groups of

one

• Other research** finds that students don't all progress at the same rate– Within a group of three: two students may really take off, whereas one may not – So, over time, the need for differentiation grows stronger – It may be important and necessary to reconfigure that group to allow working

one-on-one with certain students

* Elbaum, B, Vaughn, S., Hughes, M.T., Moodly, S.W. (2000). How Effective Are One-to-One Tutoring Programs in Reading for Elementary Students at Risk for Reading Failure? A Meta-Analysis of the Intervention Research. Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 92, no.4, pp. 605-19.

** Vellutino, F. R., Scanlon, D. M., Zhang, H., Schatschneider, C. (2008). Using Response to Kindergarten and First Grade Intervention to Identify Children At-Risk for Long-Term Reading Difficulties. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 437-480.

Tailored lesson plans don’t preclude a structured curriculum

• A curriculum is useful because it can help:– Guarantee that the lessons are linked to the

expectations of the school system or state standards– Focus tutors on a wide breadth of skills– Provide an overview of all of the items that will be

covered over the course of the tutoring program, while allowing plenty of room for differentiation

– Maintain program pacing

Basic Tips for Reading Tutors

Tutoring session frequency and length

• Sessions should be as long as they need to be• Depends on the child. A study* that followed kindergarteners through

fourth grade found that:– Students who were easily remediated took off very quickly, caught

up to grade level expectations, and maintained those gains over time did so within one semester

– Students who made moderate growth needed more than one semester, perhaps a year or a year and a half

– Students who made slow growth in response to excellent tutoring, one-on-one every day for thirty minutes, really required much longer

• The study concluded that a student's response to high quality intervention should be part of a diagnosis of whether a child has a learning disability

– Look at the student's response to the intervention it can determine if the difficulty arises from lack of strong or appropriate instruction versus potential cognitive deficits

– One way to get such data is by providing high quality tutoring and watching children's progress over time

* Vellutino, F. R., et al. (1996). Cognitive Profiles of Difficult-to-Remediate and Readily Remediated Poor Readers: Early Intervention as a Vehicle for Distinguishing Between Cognitive and Experiential Deficits as Basic Causes of Specific Reading Disability. Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 88, no. 4, pp. 601-38.

The role of assessment

• Assessment is critical• Everyone – the tutor, the teacher, and the parent –

wants to know if it's working• Use authentic assessment all along the way

– Even once a week– Or once every two weeks

• Report on how the child is progressing towards the goal

• Talk to the tutor about more formal assessments– These take place in schools or when a child goes for a

psychological assessment– It will help tutors, teachers, and parents know how their

child is progressing

How long until tutoring shows results

• Assessment keeping a finger on the pulse is the key– Constantly monitor student's progress in:

• Reading• Phonics • Writing. • Decoding accuracy• Fluency• Comprehension• Vocabulary growth

• Assess not only during the school year, but also for potential loss over the summer

• Monitor a child's progress in these areas and it will be clear how long the tutoring has to be

• Students need tutoring and extra help as long as they need it– For students with specific reading disabilities, this maybe throughout

their entire schooling

Waiting before getting additional help

• Don't wait, get going as soon as children walk in the door of school (typically is in kindergarten)

• Universal preschool would help prevent reading problems• Once in kindergarten, there are assessments known to be

highly reliable predictors of who's going to have difficulty learning to read– For example, assessments that measure

• Alphabet knowledge• Basic awareness of speech sounds like rhyming and beginning

sounds

• As soon as a child who is having difficulties or is lacking in a fundamental emergent literacy foundation is identified, they should receive special attention immediately

What a tutor should do if a child doesn't seem to be progressing?

• First, try it a different way– Because different students have different learning styles

• Spend some time talking to the classroom teacher– Find out what's working in the classroom– Find out what isn't working

• Talk to the parent• Seek help from additional resources

– E.g., BELL puts people through extensive training• Ongoing training to refine tutoring skills• A lead teacher is placed at every site to observe tutoring

sessions, give tutors suggestions and feedback, and model different approaches

To learn some specific strategies, see Reading For Meaning: Tutoring Elementary Students to Enhance Comprehension

Minimum requirements for training and qualifications

• Complicated, much depends on context and the scale of the program• For example:

– The university-associated McGuffy Reading Center uses graduate students, so the minimum requirement is getting into grad school

– In a Book Buddies adaptation in NYC, volunteers are required to:• Participate in a week-long onsite training • Pass quizzes and tests• Provide a writing sample and demonstrate their own literacy• Be a high school graduate • Be able to read and write well themselves

– In Book Buddies in Charlottesville, Va., • Volunteers are recruited, trained by reading specialists• Reading specialists write the lesson plans, provide the materials, and provide ongoing

training to volunteer tutors throughout the year• Very minimum requirement for volunteers is a lack of a criminal record• Also, an interview process seeks to determine if volunteers have some experience

with children, a demonstrated love of reading, and commitment to literacy

– Larger scale tutoring programs have to be much more rigorous about minimal requirements and screening

Choosing continuous versus short-term tutor training

• BELL which provides tutors for over 12,000 children in five different states takes training very seriously

• In addition to a rigorous screening process, tutors– Go though 15 to 20 hours of e-learning

• Web-based, interactive program

• Must pass every segment before they're actually hired

– Go through additional classroom instruction (after the e-learning component)

– Are observed by a lead teacher and a site manager• They will model improved methods of delivering tutoring, as

appropriate

– Are reviewed

• BELL finds ongoing training is critical in terms of delivering a high quality, effective program

Tutor supervision and support

• Ongoing supervision, quality control, and feedback are absolutely essentially to any good tutoring program

• The best way for tutors to learn is by seeing good tutoring modeled and receiving constructive, specific feedback

• Parents should be very suspect of tutoring programs where tutors are left on their own

• It's critical to have ongoing fidelity mechanisms in place

Tips for Volunteer Tutors

What good student/tutor relationships look like

• Interpersonal relationships are very important– Because we learn better in situations that are meaningful to

us • If everything's going right, a good student/tutor relationship

should be a positive experience– Child should look forward (or at least neutral about going) to

tutoring– While some children complain a little, there shouldn't be

major complaints about going to tutoring– Goal: kids look forward to their tutoring session because they

are beginning to see learning success • A good student/tutor relationship is such an important part

of tutoring, it’s almost taken for granted. It's fundamental• At Kingston, parents rate their child's tutor each semester

– Helps assure good student/tutor relationship– Helps with quality assurance

How to interview potential tutors

• Look beyond a resume• Look at the tutor's commitment and passion for making a

difference in the life of that child• BELL uses a multi-stage screening process:

– First, potential tutors have to provide a writing sample• If they're going to be tutoring in literacy, they must be able to

write a coherent, grammatically correct sentence • Then they are asked about their motivation, why are they doing

this– Is this a mechanism of gaining income?– Do they really want to make a difference in the life of a

child? – Then a phone screen– Then an in-person interview– Then they have to complete the online e-learning system

• By the time a tutor has gone through all of those stages, it’s pretty certain that they're tutoring for the right reasons

Fostering volunteer retention and satisfaction

• When volunteer tutors see success with their tutee, it goes a long way towards creating satisfaction – When they see their child learn to become a proficient, eager

reader, they know they’ve made a difference in the life of that child. And they're eager to repeat that experience

• Volunteers appreciate a planned experience where there's a definite lesson plan, a framework, a structure

• Some volunteers have remarked that they appreciate:– Organized and prepared materials– Training and support in delivering the lessons plan– Feedback at the end of each lesson plan – A coordinator who listens– Showing how to do a lesson properly, or changing it, or taking

another tack • Volunteers who form a close bond with their student are

highly motivated to return• They need to feel good about what they do

Tutoring programs for children with learning disabilities

• It affects tutor selection and training– Kingsbury's tutoring program, geared toward children with learning disabilities

(LD), specifically trains all tutors to work with students with LD– All tutors also learn about dyslexia, since it is the most common learning

disability– Tutors must take two graduate-level courses

• It affects how lessons are planned– Tutoring for children with LD is really remediation, so it is vital to start where

the student is at– Good communication (with the student, and also parents and teachers) is key

to determining where the child's strengths and weaknesses are – Teaching methods should take advantage of students' strengths rather than

their weaknesses– Building the student's interest areas into the lesson is a good idea

• It affects time – A longer-term effort, usually– Let children know that this longer timeline is okay

• Many famous people have been successful in spite of the fact that they didn't learn to read at seven years old

• With the proper help, you too will be successful

Learn more about Finding a Good Reading Tutor for Your Child With LD

Considerations for working with inner-city kids

• Be sensitive and be culturally aware• At BELL, for example

– Books that share relevant stories of hope, overcoming obstacles, community, and democracy are selected

– Every tutor's training includes a culturally relevant segment– Each tutor is trained to be aware of the student’s home

situation• Staff makes sure they understand who the child can (and

cannot) go home with• Very focused on the child's safety

– A premium is placed on tutors who can transmit both hope and academic skills to the child

• Role models who prove that, whatever situation you find yourself born into, it does not limit your possibilities to succeed in the world

– Lessons address self-esteem issues as well

Including parents who find school intimidating

• Make it a positive experience• Too often, parents only get a call from school when their child has

acted up• To change this dynamic, BELL:

– Phones every parent with positive news (when parents start getting positive calls, they are more and more willing to become part of the education system)

• With a pre-program welcome call• With a call in the first week saying something like, "Anne did a

phenomenal job today in read aloud. And you should be so proud of her"– Sends progress reports that focus on the positive to every parent– Explains to parents how important they are to their child's success in

school• Tutoring programs can make measurable improvements in how

parents see themselves as engaged players in their child's education

Serving English language learners well and appropriately

1. Find out as much as possible about the native language, and about their schooling history

2. Pay particular attention to vocabulary and language development in adjusting a tutoring program for English language learners (ELLs)– ELLs do quite well at the word-level instruction in tutoring– But because background knowledge and vocabulary play

such a big role in text-level processing and comprehension, this is an area in which ELL students will often struggle

– So text-level instruction will need particular emphasis in working with English language learners

– Even ELLs who appear to have good social vocabulary often referred to as basic interpersonal communicative skills may have huge gaps in their academic vocabulary

– Sometimes unexpected, so that terms that we take for granted, like paragraph or stanza, need to be explained

Serving English language learners (cont.)

3. Find out about the cultural background of students– Don't want to commit any taboos inadvertently – Two suggested books for tutors:

• Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands (The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries) about cultural mores of social interactions and taboos you don't want to commit

• Learner English: A Teacher's Guide to Interference and Other Problems (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers), a great little book which lists the phonemes that are in English that don't exist in other languages, as well as some of the most glaring differences in syntax

– If tutors know what English sounds don't even exist in a student's native language, then they can be careful and explicit in teaching

– For example, drawing attention to how the tutor’s mouth moves to make a sound, and providing a mirror so the student can practice

Good parent involvement despite a language barrier

• A challenging problem– Especially challenging if no one in the tutoring program

speaks that language

• Where possible, find someone who can speak the native language – Even when tutoring is in English, often vocabulary

questions or conceptual issues came up. Tutors can switch into the native language get it straightened out and then switch back into English

• Find out about the parents' language as well as their cultural expectations

• Collaboration is key to working not only with native English speakers, but particularly with English language learners

Other ways to engage English language learners

BELL, for example:

• Tries to find a site leader and tutors who are fluent in the predominant languages

• Makes a point of having the parent/teacher conferences in the parent's native language, if possible

• Prints all outreach materials (such as the parent handbook) in the languages needed (Spanish, Haitian Creole, Bengali)

• Reaches out to the parents and makes them comfortable in whatever the native language is

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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