CLASSWIDE PEER TUTORING: LONGITUDINAL EFFECTS ON THE READING, LANGUAGE, AND MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT OF AT‐RISK STUDENTS

Abstract

Instructional practices that employ peer teaching and peer mediation are known to produce increased achievement and social competence in students. Peers have been used successfully to directly teach, supervise, and evaluate their partners’ performance. Additionally, techniques that enlist the natural sources of peer influence and peer pressure in support of academic and social behavior goals may be used to create powerful contexts for academic learning. Classwide peer tutoring is one such technique that has recently been evaluated during a wide‐scale, longitudinal application in a midwestern, urban school district and found effective. The teacher's traditional role is changed from that of directly imparting information to that of supervising students’ responding during peer‐mediated instruction. I illustrate how classwide peer tutoring orchestrates effective instructional processes and discuss implications for improving student achievement through the use of classwide peer tutoring.