The author: Michael F. Hock, research associate, University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. A version of this article originally appeared in the January 2001 issue of Strategram, a newsletter for SIM teachers.
Return to Article ArchiveThe old story about teach a man to fish and he'll feed himself forever has a lot of merit. The trouble is that the way it works out right now, it just doesn't work. There isn't the time. ... Our focus has to be to make sure that the kids are getting through, and it is pretty difficult to do something that is separate from helping my kid pass the next test.
The truth is I have to ask myself which is more important: teaching them a strategy that they can use in a lot of classes, or getting them through the class they're in right now. And for me, the answer has to be both.
--Special education teacher in an interview with Jim Knight, KU-CRL research associate
In the quote above, one teacher's perception of the "real world" captures the dilemma faced by many special educators. That is, how can they address the immediate needs of their students and ensure that students learn strategies that support independence and self-sufficiency? Although there are several possible solutions to this dilemma, I'd like to describe an intervention called Strategic Tutoring (Hock, Deshler, & Schumaker, 2000). Strategic Tutoring is designed to address the real-world challenge described above by meeting both the short-term (assignment help) and long-term (strategy instruction) needs of students deemed to be at risk for academic failure.
Teachers who work with at-risk students are searching for ways to keep them from failing in general education classes. Increasingly, these teachers are tutoring their students. That is, they are helping them complete homework assignments, review for quizzes and tests, write papers, and complete other tasks for their classes. Although well-intentioned, assuming that tutoring will result in increased classroom performance and the development of independent learners may be overly optimistic.
Indeed, some forms of tutoring may be more harmful than helpful. For example, Carlson (1985) suggests that subject-matter tutoring for special education students by special education teachers may be unethical since students rarely acquire the skills necessary to become independent thinkers and learners through such tutoring.
Other researchers have reported that tutored student performance gains were minimal or non-existent. Specifically, Farr (1998) found that tutored student's grades in physical science classes showed little or no change after students received tutoring. Worst of all, tutoring may actually make students dependent on others for academic success.
An effective tutoring program should, at the very least, address the real-world needs of teachers and their students. Tutoring must be effective in significantly improving the scores of students on quizzes and tests and the semester grades they earn in general education classes. Additionally, tutoring must support the development of independent and strategic learners who know a large number of useful strategies and also know when, where, why, and how to use those strategies.
When tutors "strategically tutor," that is what they strive to accomplish. Strategies for learning how to learn and perform are taught to students while they receive help with class assignments (Hock, Schumaker, & Deshler, 1995). Thus, not only is short-term support provided (that is, help with homework), but students also are taught powerful learning strategies that allow them to perform independently in their classes.
For example, if a student is working with a tutor and has the assignment to complete a number of math homework problems and prepare for math quizzes and tests, a strategic tutor would quickly introduce the student to a strategy for learning math content while helping the student complete homework problems.
The strategy the tutor teaches might include several problem-solving steps. By using the strategy repeatedly and under the direction of a strategic tutor, the student applies a strategy that not only helps solve homework problems now but, more importantly, also provides a strategy for independently completing math assignments and taking quizzes and tests in the future.
Several research studies have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of Strategic Tutoring. In one study, conducted in an after-school tutoring program for at-risk junior-high-school students, Strategic Tutoring was found to be effective in improving the quiz and test performance of students enrolled in transition math, Algebra I, and biology classes. In general, these students improved their semester grades from Fs and Ds to Cs and Bs.
The improvement in scores were indicative of dramatic, socially significant, and robust gains for all students who attended tutoring sessions on a regular basis. For example, the student with the smallest gain improved from earning 60 percent to earning 87 percent of all possible points on math quizzes and tests. His quarterly grades improved from the D- range to the B+ range (Hock, Pulvers, Deshler, & Schumaker, in press).
In addition to the improvement in test and quiz performances, student knowledge of specific strategies also increased markedly. After Strategic Tutoring, most of the students were able to describe useful strategies that addressed the demands they faced in the tutored course. These strategies were very different from the strategies they described before the Strategic Tutoring intervention.
The ultimate goal of Strategic Tutoring is the development of proficient and independent learners. The majority of students in this study were able to maintain a high level of performance several weeks after Strategic Tutoring services were no longer available. Thus, some indication of Strategic Tutoring's effectiveness with regard to the development of independent learners was obtained.
In another study, at-risk youth in foster care were matched with a comparison group of foster care youth with similar profiles and academic needs. Students in the Strategic Tutoring condition made gains in academic performance that were greater than the students in the comparison group.
In fact, the students in Strategic Tutoring improved their achievement test scores in reading comprehension, written expression, and basic math skills as measured by the Woodcock Johnson Achievement Test Battery. As a group, they increased their mean achievement grade-level scores by 10 months during a four-month instructional period. The students in the comparison group experienced a mean gain of 3.50 months during the same period.
Additionally, the mean grade-point average of the comparison group actually declined by .04 even though they received traditional tutoring support. In contrast, the mean GPA of the Strategic Tutoring group increased slightly by .37.
Finally, the youth in this study significantly increased their knowledge of specific strategies and self-regulating learning behaviors (Staub & Lenz, 2000).
In sum, Strategic Tutoring has been found to improve student performance on quizzes and tests in general education classes; skill levels in math, reading, and written expression; and knowledge of cognitive and metacognitive strategies.
Carlson, S.A. (1985). The ethical appropriateness of subject-matter tutoring for learning disabled adolescents. Learning Disability Quarterly, 8, 310-314.
Farr, M. (1998). Nikerson high school physical science after-school tutoring program. Journal of Critical Inquiry Into Curriculum and Instruction, 1(1), 41-47.
Hock, M.F. (in prep). The strategic tutoring series: The math strategy. Lawrence, KS: Edge Enterprises.
Hock, M.F., Deshler, D.D., & Schumaker, J.B. (in press). The effects of an after-school tutoring program on the academic performance of at-risk and students with learning disabilities. Remedial and Special Education.
Hock, M. F., Deshler, D. D., & Schumaker, J. B. (2000). Strategic Tutoring. Lawrence, KS: Edge Enterprises.
Hock, M.F., Schumaker, J.B., & Deshler, D.D. (1995). Training strategic tutors to enhance learner independence. Journal of Developmental Education, 19, 18-26.
Staub, D. & Lenz, B.K. (2000). The effects of strategic tutoring on Casey youth. The Casey Family Program. Seattle, WA.
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