A practicum report addressed the problem of lack of interest in the literacy of young readers and the need to motivate them to want to read. A cross-age peer-tutoring program was established where primary students were paired with upper intermediate grade students who displayed positive reading attitudes and habits. The tutoring pair worked…

A project investigating the effects of peer tutoring on students' academic achievement focused on use of tutoring with underachieving, limited-English-speaking 11th- and 12th-graders. The method was designed to use materials readily available and require minimal expenditure of teacher time and resources. Students (n=18) voluntarily attended…

This practicum report describes a staff development program that was designed to implement a peer tutoring program in which nonhandicapped students instructed three trainable mentally handicapped peers in a regular high-school setting. The program was implemented to increase the achievement of handicapped students in basic academic skills that…

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…

A volunteer program coordinator developed and implemented an 8-month practicum study that provided opportunities for interaction between 20 elderly adult tutors--residents of 2 senior citizen facilities--and 37 fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students at five elementary schools in low- and middle-class metropolitan black communities. The tutoring…

This practicum paper uses previously unavailable data from the Chicago Board of Education and the 1990 census to update a 1992 study of Native American dropouts in Chicago public schools. An overview of Chicago's American Indian population focuses on the Uptown area, a low income neighborhood in which one fifth of the city's Native Americans…

A practicum addressing (1) elementary school students' need to increase their sight vocabulary, (2) their needs for self-esteem, (3) their individual learning differences, and (4) the practical difficulties of providing additional practice time and personnel to teach is described in this guide. The introduction of the guide discusses the community…

A practicum was designed to utilize various techniques to: (1) improve the involvement of parents and volunteers in the education of fourth grade students; (2) help the students develop a more positive attitude toward self, school, home, and community; and (3) increase students' school attendance rate and participation in school and community…

A practicum aimed to increase academic competence in math and/or reading and to improve study skills of 27 at-risk students referred by their classroom teachers to the school resource specialist. A before-school peer and cross-age tutoring program for at-risk students was developed. Proteges were monitored on the usage of the following study…

This report describes a cross-age tutoring program implemented to improve reading comprehension skills in a group of regular students in a rural elementary school. A targeted group of four fifth-grade students and four second-grade students were matched for cross-age tutoring sessions. The students developed reading comprehension skills through…

This practicum had six objectives: (1) to increase the training skills of exceptional teachers to enable them to mainstream students more successfully; (2) to increase the number of emotionally handicapped students placed in mainstream classes in elementary and middle schools; (3) to increase the number of mainstream classes attended by the…

This report describes a practicum project designed to help first- through fourth-grade teachers acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and strategies necessary to work effectively with a diverse student population; improve the social and academic performance of culturally diverse students; and increase parent involvement at school. The…

A practicum addressed the cognitive and affective needs of underachieving fifth grade students in a suburban school in southwest Florida. Twelve fifth grade students (the target group) were paired with same age tutors who provided supplemental reading instruction four times a week over a 12-week period. They also participated in weekly…

This study investigated the effectiveness of a variety of teaching techniques, including both standard English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) methods and the teacher's own strategies, in improving the English language proficiency of 15 Haitian and 5 Hispanic third-graders. The students were administered oral and written pretests and found to be…

The need to decrease the number of students repeatedly receiving after-school detentions was addressed by the implementation of the Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) program. The PAL program is based on the premise that students act out because they desire power. The program gave students power over tutoring situations by having input into planning for…