The effects of Classwide Peer Tutoring on the reading achievement of urban middle school students.

The effects of Classwide Peer Tutoring on the reading achievement of urban middle school students. Abstract This study investigated the effects of Classwide Peer Tutoring(CWPT CWPT Civil War Preservation Trust ) on the reading skills of urban middle-school students usingnovels as the curriculum. Teacher-led instruction was compared with CWPTand CWPT plus a lottery lottery,scheme for distributing prizes by lot or other method of chance selection to persons who have paid for the opportunity to win. The term is not applicable when lots are drawn without payment by the interested parties to determine some matter, e.g. contingency for appropriate on-task and tutoringbehaviors. Three sixth-grade general education reading classes under thedirection of one teacher participated. Data were collected on allstudents from weekly written tests of vocabulary and comprehension comprehensionAct of or capacity for grasping with the intellect. The term is most often used in connection with tests of reading skills and language abilities, though other abilities (e.g., mathematical reasoning) may also be examined. .Additional oral reading rate and academic engagement data were collectedfrom three "low-achieving" target students. Overall, resultsdemonstrated improved performance on weekly tests under CWPT conditionscompared with teacher-led instruction. CWPT plus lottery resulted infurther increases. Data also revealed differences in the types ofacademic responses made during teacher-led instruction and CWPT andincreases in oral reading rates for two target students. These findingssuggest that CWPT, particularly CWPT plus lottery, can improve thereading skills of urban middle school students. ********** Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP NAEP National Assessment of Educational ProgressNAEP National Association of Environmental ProfessionalsNAEP National Association of Educational ProgressNAEP National Agricultural Extension PolicyNAEP Native American Employment Program )indicate that more than one-third of our nation's fourth-gradestudents are performing below basic achievement levels in reading. Analarming 26% of eighth-graders, and 23% of twelfth-graders are in thatsame category. Further, Caucasian students consistently outperform OutperformAn analyst recommendation meaning a stock is expected to do slightly better than the market return.Notes:Exact definitions vary by brokerage, but in general this rating is better than neutral and worse than buy or strong buy. theirAfrican-American, Hispanic, and other minority peers (National Centerfor Educational Statistics, 1999). These figures are disturbing,especially when one considers the fact that students who are already atthe greatest risk for academic failure (i.e., economically disadvantagedstudents) typically receive the least amount of instruction and practiceas they progress through school (Hall, Delquadri, Greenwood Greenwood.1 City (1990 pop. 26,265), Johnson co., central Ind.; settled 1822, inc. as a city 1960. A residential suburb of Indianapolis, Greenwood is in a retail shopping area. Manufactures include motor vehicle parts and metal products. , &Thurston, 1982; Kamps et al., 1989). Mathes, Fuchs, Fuchs, Henley andSanders San´dersn. 1. An old name of sandalwood, now applied only to the red sandalwood. See under Sandalwood. (1994) reported, however, that when low-achieving, at-riskstudents do receive effective reading instruction, they tend toexperience greater success in their remaining school years. Fortunately, effective strategies exist to improve students'reading skills. One such strategy, peer tutoring, is an instructionalmethod in which students teach one another in school settings under thedirection of a teacher (Wagner, 1982). The general term "peertutoring" is often used to describe instruction delivered bysame-age students (peer tutoring) and older, more advanced students(cross-age tutoring). While this instructional strategy is not new (cf.Lancaster, 1805), experimental validation See validate. validation - The stage in the software life-cycle at the end of the development process where software is evaluated to ensure that it complies with the requirements. of its efficacy has only beenof research interest for about the last 35 years. Peer Tutoring and Reading Research assessing the effects of peer tutoring on"reading" has focused on many skills. Because standardizedtests of reading proficiency pro��fi��cien��cy?n. pl. pro��fi��cien��ciesThe state or quality of being proficient; competence.Noun 1. proficiency - the quality of having great facility and competence often include assessment of skills such assight word reading, vocabulary, oral reading fluency flu��ent?adj.1. a. Able to express oneself readily and effortlessly: a fluent speaker; fluent in three languages.b. , and comprehension,efforts to improve students' reading skills generally focus onthese areas. Studies directed at assessing the effects of peer tutoringon sight word reading have generally obtained positive results (e.g.,Barbetta, Miller, Peters, Heron, & Cochran, 1991; Butler, 1999;Chiang, Thorpe Thorpe? , James Francis Known as "Jim." 1888-1953.American athlete. An outstanding collegiate football player, he later played professional football and baseball. , & Darch, 1980; Cochran, Feng, Cartledge, &Hamilton, 1993; Heron, Heward, Cooke, & Hill, 1983; Giesecke,Cartledge, & Gardner, 1993). Other studies, which focused specifically on oral reading fluency,have produced positive results when comparing peer tutoring andteacher-led instruction. Jenkins, Mayhall, Peschka, and Jenkins (1974)found that peer tutoring produced better oral reading rates on timedreadings then when students participated in small group instruction.Salend and Nowak (1988) used a multiple baseline design to demonstratethe effects of a peer tutoring strategy on the oral reading fluency ofthree second- and third-grade students. After 15 days of tutoring, errorrates decreased from 24.5, 25.6, and 18.8 during baseline to 8.2, 10.4,and 6.5 during tutoring for each of the three students respectively. Themarked decrease in student error rates over such a short period of timesuggests that tutoring improved reading fluency for these students. While the research to this point is encouraging, each of thesestudies only examined small component pieces of the skill called"reading" (see also Sindelar, 1982; Vaughn et al., 2000), andalthough reading fluency is considered to be an important componentreading skill, "reading words well does not constitute goodreading" (Stoddard, Valcante, Sindelar, O'Shea, &Algozzine, 1993, p. 54). Fortunately, peer tutoring programsincorporating two or more of the component skills (i.e., vocabulary,comprehension, oral reading fluency) also show promise for improvingstudent reading skills (e.g., Ezell, Kohler, & Strain, 1994; Fuchs,Fuchs, Mathes, & Simmons, 1997; Kamps, Barbetta, Leonard, &Delquadri, 1994; Kamps, Leonard, Potucek, & Garrison-Harrell, 1995;Mathes & Fuchs, 1994; Simmons, Fuchs, Fuchs, Hodge, & Mathes,1994; Simmons, Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes, & Hodge, 1995; Stoddard et al.,1993; Trovato & Bucher, 1980). Another program, Classwide Peer Tutoring (CWPT), was originallydeveloped by researchers in conjunction with a third-grade teacher whowanted to improve the spelling achievement of her students (Delquadri,Greenwood, Stretton, & Hall, 1983). The premise of the program wasto allow students more "opportunities to respond" to academicmaterial. That is, by using a reciprocal Bilateral; two-sided; mutual; interchanged.Reciprocal obligations are duties owed by one individual to another and vice versa. A reciprocal contract is one in which the parties enter into mutual agreements. tutoring format, the CWPTprogram allowed all students in the classroom opportunities to practicespelling in a situation that provided constant monitoring, errorcorrection, and consequences for correct responding. Certainly, thesecircumstances would be optimal for improving reading skills of childrenof varying ability levels, as well as those with disabilities (seeGreenwood, Delquadri, & Hall, 1984; Hall et al., 1982; Kamps et al.,1994). While the data suggest that peer tutoring can improvestudents' reading skills, the majority of the research documentingthe effectiveness of peer tutoring on reading has been conducted withelementary school elementary school:see school. children. What is noticeably absent from thisliterature is the examination of the efficacy of peer tutoring on thereading achievement of students beyond primary grades. The data fromNAEP show clearly that, although a smaller percentage of students arecategorized cat��e��go��rize?tr.v. cat��e��go��rized, cat��e��go��riz��ing, cat��e��go��riz��esTo put into a category or categories; classify.cat as "below basic achievement" levels afterfourth-grade, nearly one-third of eighth-graders and one-quarter of highschool seniors demonstrate insufficient reading skills. This indicatesthat the problem persists beyond elementary school and, therefore,requires attention at the secondary school level. Peer Tutoring in Secondary Schools Although peer tutoring research has been conducted at the secondaryschool level (i.e., middle school and high school), the literature,especially with regard to reading, is much more sparse sparse - A sparse matrix (or vector, or array) is one in which most of the elements are zero. If storage space is more important than access speed, it may be preferable to store a sparse matrix as a list of (index, value) pairs or use some kind of hash scheme or associative memory. than thatavailable for peer tutoring with elementary school students. Perhapsthis is due to the nature of the school day at the secondary schoollevel, which is characterized char��ac��ter��ize?tr.v. character��ized, character��iz��ing, character��iz��es1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless.2. by short class periods and movementbetween classes, as opposed to spending the day with a single teacherfor academic instruction. Another potential problem is that, whenentering middle and high school, unless students are identified ashaving disabilities, reading is often not provided as a separate area ofinstruction (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Kazdan, 1999; Harris,Marchaud-Martella, Martella, 2000). Arguably ar��gu��a��ble?adj.1. Open to argument: an arguable question, still unresolved.2. That can be argued plausibly; defensible in argument: three arguable points of law. , these circumstances areless than optimal for implementation of an intervention such as peertutoring. Despite these potential barriers, available research examining theeffectiveness of peer tutoring with older students has produced positiveresults. Harris et al. (2000) combined peer tutoring with the Corrective cor��rec��tiveadj.Counteracting or modifying what is malfunctioning, undesirable, or injurious.n.An agent that corrects.corrective,n Reading Program (Engelmann, Hanner, & Johnson, 1989) and repeatedreadings to examine the effects on reading achievement of at-risk highschool students. Dependent measures included pre-post performance onvocabulary and comprehension subtests of a standardized reading test,oral reading rates, number of repeated readings, and lessons completed.Eighty-eight students participated in 50 min sessions five days per weekover the course of the school year. At posttest post��test?n.A test given after a lesson or a period of instruction to determine what the students have learned. , students' mediangrade equivalent on both the vocabulary and comprehension subtests hadimproved by at least two grade levels, an increase of a full grade levelabove what would normally be expected in one school year. Further, meanoral reading rates improved by at least 97 words per minute Noun 1. words per minute - the rate at which words are produced (as in speaking or typing)wpmrate - a magnitude or frequency relative to a time unit; "they traveled at a rate of 55 miles per hour"; "the rate of change was faster than expected" from pre- toposttest, with collateral improvements in accuracy. Fuchs et al. (1999) compared the effects of peer tutoring(Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies; PALS) and teacher-led instruction onthe reading skills of high school students enrolled in 15 specialeducation or remedial REMEDIAL. That which affords a remedy; as, a remedial statute, or one which is made to supply some defects or abridge some superfluities of the common law. 1 131. Com. 86. The term remedial statute is also applied to those acts which give a new remedy. Esp. Pen. Act. 1. reading classes. Comparison classes usedtraditional teacher-led instruction, which included no peer-mediatedinstruction. PALS classes supplemented reading instruction with fivetutoring sessions biweekly bi��week��ly?adj.1. Happening every two weeks.2. Happening twice a week; semiweekly.n. pl. bi��week��liesA publication issued every two weeks.adv.1. Every two weeks. . The total amount of instruction was heldconstant across the two conditions. Components of the PALS programincluded partner reading, paragraph shrinking (i.e., main idea andsummary), prediction, and earning points for correct responses. Alottery system was added to augment aug��ment?v. aug��ment��ed, aug��ment��ing, aug��mentsv.tr.1. To make (something already developed or well under way) greater, as in size, extent, or quantity: the points and team competitioncomponent usually used with elementary school students in the PALSprogram. Each day, both students in the highest scoring dyad dyad/dy��ad/ (di��ad) a double chromosome resulting from the halving of a tetrad. dy��adn.1. Two individuals or units regarded as a pair, such as a mother and a daughter.2. postedtheir names on a chart in the classroom and entered a monthly"drawing" that resulted in one student winning $10. Resultsindicated that students who participated in PALS outperformed comparisonstudents on standardized measures of reading comprehension, however,generalized gen��er��al��izedadj.1. Involving an entire organ, as when an epileptic seizure involves all parts of the brain.2. Not specifically adapted to a particular environment or function; not specialized.3. reading fluency was similar for the two groups (see alsoMastropieri et al., 2001). These findings suggest that peer tutoring caneffectively improve students' reading comprehension; effects onfluency, however, warrant further research. Recognizing that the novelty Novelty is the quality of being new. Although it may be said to have an objective dimension (e.g. a new style of art coming into being, such as abstract art or impressionism) it essentially exists in the subjective perceptions of individuals. of peer mediation mediation,in law, type of intervention in which the disputing parties accept the offer of a third party to recommend a solution for their controversy. Mediation has long been a part of international law, frequently involving the use of an international commission, was insufficient to maintain student motivationresulted in a potentially cost-effective reinforcement reinforcement/re��in��force��ment/ (-in-fors��ment) in behavioral science, the presentation of a stimulus following a response that increases the frequency of subsequent responses, whether positive to desirable events, or system that alsomerits further investigation. The research with elementary aged students indicates that peertutoring can be more effective than teacher-led instruction at improvingreading skills; thus, one might assume that extensions to secondaryschool would produce similar changes in students' reading. However,preliminary research, although encouraging, has produced mixed results,making it difficult to ascertain the efficacy of peer tutoring as astrategy for improving the reading skills of secondary school students.These deficits necessitate ne��ces��si��tate?tr.v. ne��ces��si��tat��ed, ne��ces��si��tat��ing, ne��ces��si��tates1. To make necessary or unavoidable.2. To require or compel. that more research be conducted to determinethe viability of peer tutoring as a reading intervention for olderstudents. Summary The data from NAEP indicate that unless something is done todramatically improve the reading skills of our nation's students,nearly one-quarter of them will graduate from high school withinsufficient reading skills. The prospects grow even dimmer dim��mer?n.1. A rheostat or other device used to vary the intensity of an electric light.2. a. A parking light on a motor vehicle.b. A low beam. for studentswho begin school at high risk for academic failure due to challengessuch as low socioeconomic status. Because reading is a fundamentalskill, students who are inefficient readers suffer cumulative deficitsacross many content areas that require reading as a prerequisite pre��req��ui��site?adj.Required or necessary as a prior condition: Competence is prerequisite to promotion.n. skill(e.g., social studies, science). Furthermore, data indicate thatinsufficient reading skills increase the likelihood of dropping out ofschool (Greenwood et al., 1989), out-of-wedlock pregnancies, dependenceon welfare, and arrests (Smith & Lincoln, 1988). Thus, findingeffective strategies to improve students' reading skills isimperative. While the body of research documenting the effects of peer tutoringon reading skills for elementary school children is abundant, thereexists little evidence to support the use of peer tutoring for improvingreading with secondary school students. This is problematic, because thecrisis of insufficient reading instruction and practice persists beyondelementary school. Therefore, studies involving more secondary schoolstudents are needed to determine the extent to which peer tutoring canaffect students' reading. Further, research directed at readingwith different content (e.g., novels, other texts) and simultaneousintervention on multiple skills (i.e., vocabulary, comprehension, oralreading fluency) is needed. Finally, research to determine thefeasibility of implementing peer tutoring with secondary school studentsdeserves attention. Purpose and Research Questions Given what is known about the efficacy of peer tutoring, and thegaps in the research base, the purpose of this study was to advance whatis known about the use of CWPT in middle school reading and thecontribution of an additional reinforcement contingency on studentacademic performance. The first objective of this study was to examine the effects ofCWPT on the reading achievement of sixth-grade middle school students inan urban, economically disadvantaged area. The following questions wereaddressed: 1. What are the differential effects of teacher-led instruction,CWPT, and CWPT plus lottery on weekly reading and vocabulary tests asmeasured by class means? 2. What are the differential effects of teacher-led instruction,CWPT, and CWPT plus lottery on weekly reading vocabulary andcomprehension tests for individual "low-achieving" students? 3. Does student engagement change as a function of method ofinstruction? 4. Do teacher-led instruction and CWPT differentially affect theoral reading rates of "low-achieving" students? A second objective of this study was to assess the acceptability ofthe procedures (Schwartz & Baer, 1991; Wolf, 1978). The followingquestions were addressed through questionnaires: 1. What is the level of student satisfaction with the CWPTprocedures? 2. Is CWPT acceptable to the teacher in terms of workload The term workload can refer to a number of different yet related entities. An amount of laborWhile a precise definition of a workload is elusive, a commonly accepted definition is the hypothetical relationship between a group or individual human operator and task demands. , effectson student academic outcomes, and overall management of students? Method Setting and Participants Seventy-one sixth-grade students enrolled in three generaleducation reading classes in an urban middle school in the Midwestparticipated in this study. The school qualified as a Title I school,due to the fact that approximately 75% of the student population waseligible for free or reduced lunch. Ethnicity ethnicityVox populi Racial status–ie, African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic data for the entire schoolindicated that the student population was comprised of 69%African-Americans, 24% Caucasians, 5% Asian Pacific Islanders Islanders may refer to: New York Islanders, a ice hockey team based in Uniondale, New York that plays on the National Hockey League (NHL). Puerto Rico Islanders, a Puerto Rican soccer team in the USL First Division, that currently play their home games at Juan Ramon , and 2%Hispanics. Class A (n=25) contained 12 females and 13 males comprised of80% African-American students, 16% Caucasian students, and 4% Hispanicstudents. Class B (n=20) contained 5 females and 15 males, with 80%African-Americans and 20% Caucasians. Eleven females and 15 malescomprised Class C (n=26), with 61% African-Americans, 27% Caucasians,and 12% Asian Pacific Islanders. The same teacher, who had been teachingin the district for four years and at this school for three of thoseyears, taught all three classes. All sessions were conducted in theclassroom in which the teacher regularly taught. Originally, the teacherused CWPT in only one class (Class A), but later began implementation inClasses B and C after viewing the data from the first seven tests withClass A. Target students. In order to assess the effects of differentmethods of instruction on the weekly test performance, academicengagement and oral reading rates of individual lower achievingstudents, the experimenter asked the teacher to identify three or fourstudents in Class A who were either receiving special education servicesor were "low-achieving", from whom these measures could beobtained. Because no students in the participating class were receivingspecial education services at that time, the teacher chose four"low-achieving" students, based on the results of a recentlyadministered Informal Reading Inventory (IRI Iri(ē`rē`), former city, North Jeolla (Cholla) prov., SW South Korea. An agricultural center and transportation hub, it was absorbed into Iksan. ; Burns & Roe, 1999),used to assess student reading skills school-wide. Thomas was a 12-year-old African-American male who performed at asecond-grade level on the IRI prior to the start of the study. Cathy, an11-year 3-month-old African-American female, and Michelle, an 11-year3-month-old Caucasian female, both scored in the second- to third-gradereading level on the IRI. These three students served as the targetstudents from whom individual measures of academic achievement (i.e.,weekly test scores), academic engagement, and oral reading rates wereobtained. Experimental Design and Conditions A reversal or ABAB design (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968),modified to accommodate a third "C" condition, was used toassess the effects of teacher-led instruction (A), CWPT (B), and CWPTplus lottery (C) on student academic achievement as measured by weeklytests. The sequence of manipulation of the independent variables forClass A was ABABCACACA, and ABCACACA for Classes B and C. See Table 1for novels, content coverage, and experimental conditions. Procedures Teacher-led instruction (A). The teacher met with each class fourtimes weekly for 43 min (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) and onetime weekly (Wednesday) for 25 min. The curriculum was composed mainlyof reading from novels chosen by the teacher interspersed with otherreading related activities. The three novels read tionary and writingdefinitions in a notebook, students taking turns reading aloud from thenovel as the teacher called on them, following along silently in thenovel while listening to selections on an audiotape au��di��o��tape?n.1. A relatively narrow magnetic tape used to record sound for subsequent playback.2. A tape recording of sound.tr.v. , and completingactivities designed to coincide with novels from Novel Units[c] studentpackets or other teacher or publisher developed materials (e.g.,character mapping, summarizing story events in journals, comprehensionworksheets). Introduction of vocabulary occurred on the first day of newmaterial coverage. Generally, one full class period (usually Monday) wasdevoted to the vocabulary activity and the other four days were spentreading from the novel (either taking turns or listening to theaudiotape) and completing worksheets corresponding to the selection.Prior to participating in the study, assessment of student progress wasbased solely on completion of these activities. Usually, students workedon activities either independently or in whole group fashion; however,on rare occasion they assisted each other in looking up words in thedictionary. Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) (B). The tutoring procedure usedduring reading was similar to that described by Delquadri, Greenwood,Whorton, Carta, and Hall (1986) and Duvall, Delquadri, Elliott, and Hall(1992). The procedures implemented are summarized below: 1. Tutoring occurred for the entire 43 min class period on Mondays,Tuesdays, and Thursdays. Oral reading procedures, described below, werein place on these days. On Wednesdays and Fridays, CWPT sessions lastedapproximately 15 min and consisted of vocabulary procedures only(described below). 2. The experimenter instructed the teacher to pair students basedon "ability" and compatibility. In most cases, the teacherpaired students of approximately equal "ability" to worktogether, however, students judged by the teacher to be low-achievingwere paired with higher achieving students who might provide a bettermodel of correct performance. Once paired, dyads were instructed to sittogether and then assigned to one of two competing teams. Student dyadsremained the same for the duration of each novel, however, the teacherreassigned dyads to different teams more frequently so that studentsalways had the chance to be on the winning team. For instance, dyad 1might be on team A for the first couple of weeks but then at the startof the third week be reassigned to team B. Dyads were only reassigned atthe start of a new week, and not all dyads were reassigned at the sametime in order to keep the teams as heterogeneous as possible. 3. Folders containing materials for tutoring (e.g., point sheets,vocabulary flashcards, "help" card, comprehension questions,and crayons for marking point sheet) were pre-assembled and located inplastic tubs in the classroom. Daily, the teacher wrote the materialsneeded for that class period on a dry erase board outside the classroomdoor (e.g., tutoring folder In a graphical user interface (GUI), a simulated file folder that holds data, applications and other folders. Folders were introduced on the Xerox Star, then popularized on the Macintosh and later adapted to Windows and Unix. In Unix and Linux, as well as DOS and Windows 3. , a copy of the novel Freak the Mighty Freak the Mighty is a children's novel by Rodman Philbrick. Published in 1993, it was followed by the novel Max the Mighty in 1998. The primary characters are friends Maxwell Kane, a large kid, but very slow, and his friend Kevin Avery, nicknamed "Freak," who is ), sothat students could obtain materials upon entry to the classroom and beprepared to begin when the bell rang. 4. During the oral reading procedures, each student in the dyadperformed each role (i.e., tutor TUTOR - A Scripting language on PLATO systems from CDC.["The TUTOR Language", Bruce Sherwood, Control Data, 1977]. and tutee) for approximately 13-15minutes. The teacher began each session by reading aloud the entireselection, typically six to eight pages in length, to be covered thatday. Students were instructed to follow along silently in their books.After the teacher finished reading, she told the students the stoppingpoint for the first tutee, wrote the page numbers on the chalkboard, andset the timer timer,n radiographic timing device that functions as an automatic exposure timer and a switch to control the current to the high-tension transformer and filament transformer. The face of the timer is calibrated in seconds and fractions of seconds. for 8 to 10 min. The tutee read the selection and earnedtwo points for each correctly read sentence. Any errors (i.e.,mispronounced words, omissions, additional words, substitutions, mixedword order, or hesitations longer than 4 s) resulted in correction bythe tutor. A correction consisted of the tutor saying, "stop",pointing out the error, requiring the tutee to repeat the word correctlyand then reread Verb 1. reread - read anew; read again; "He re-read her letters to him"read - interpret something that is written or printed; "read the advertisement"; "Have you read Salman Rushdie?" the sentence correctly. Sentences read correctly afteran error correction resulted in one point. If students reached the endof the passage before the timer sounded, they returned to the beginningof the selection and continued reading. When the timer sounded, theteacher reset the timer for 5 min and instructed students to beginasking comprehension questions. The teacher provided scriptedcomprehension questions for the first 7 sessions for class A and thefirst two sessions for classes B and C. After that point, students usedonly "question starter" prompt cards (i.e., Who, What, Where,When, How printed on them) for asking comprehension questions. Whenusing the scripted comprehension questions, tutors asked tuteesquestions about the story and compared the responses against an answerkey. Later, when only the prompt cards were used, students determinedcorrectness of answers without the aid of an answer key, based on theirown comprehension of the reading selection. Correct responses resultedin two points. If the tutee could not answer a question, the tutordirected the tutee to the page in the book on which the answer could befound. Questions answered correctly after prompts to refer back to thebook resulted in one point. If the students answered all questionsbefore the timer sounded, they were instructed to go back through thelist or make up questions of their own from the reading until the timersounded. At the end of the 5 min question session, students switchedroles and resumed the oral reading procedure. The second tutee beganreading at the point where the first tutee had been instructed to stop,and continued reading to the end of the passage read by the teacher (Forthe first novel read, The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963, bothstudents read the same selection orally). 5. The teacher introduced new vocabulary words (12-15 words weekly)via the overhead projector on Wednesdays, immediately precedingvocabulary tutoring. The teacher read each word and definition whilestudents echoed chorally cho��ral?adj.1. Of or relating to a chorus or choir.2. Performed or written for performance by a chorus.[Medieval Latin chor . As soon as vocabulary introduction wascomplete, the students took the vocabulary flashcards out of theirfolders and the teacher set the timer for 5-6 min. The tutor held up onevocabulary flashcard at a time and required the tutee to read the wordand attempt to give the definition. If the tutee was unable to read theword, the tutor prompted the correct response or requested assistancefrom the teacher by raising a "help" card. If after readingthe word the tutee could not give the correct definition, the tutorpresented the correct definition, either orally or visually, and thetutee said the word and definition aloud three times. Initially correctresponses earned two points, while responses requiring error correctionearned one point. Students cycled through the vocabulary flashcards asmany times as possible before the timer sounded. When the timer sounded,students switched roles and followed the same procedure. 6. During CWPT, the teacher circulated among the studentsmonitoring and assisting when needed and awarding bonus points for good"tutoring behavior" (e.g., praising and giving points totutees, following procedures, giving correct responses). 7. After completion of CWPT, students totaled their points andreported them to the student assistant appointed by the teacher. Theassistant recorded and totaled the points on a CWPT chart at the back ofthe classroom. Due to district concern about promoting competitionbetween students, points were posted but announcement of the"winning team" was downplayed. CWPT plus lottery (C). All procedures described above for CWPTremained intact during the CWPT plus lottery condition. The lotterydiffered from CWPT in the following way: When the teacher circulated among the students, she passed outsmall "tickets" (e.g., slips of paper, or "raffletickets") to students for good tutoring and on-task behavior. Thesetickets replaced the bonus points used in the CWPT condition. At the endof each tutoring session, the lottery tickets, on which the students hadwritten their names, were collected and placed in a bucket A reserved amount of memory that holds a single item or multiple items of data. Bucket is somewhat synonymous to "buffer," although buffers are usually memory locations for incoming data records, while buckets tend to be smaller holding areas for calculations. See hash table, buffer and variable. . On Fridays,the teacher or experimenter drew between 5 and 8 names from the ticketscollected that week. Additionally, occasional surprise drawings weredone throughout the study by the experimenter. Students whose names weredrawn were allowed to choose an item from a box of assorted inexpensivenovelties A novelty is a small manufactured adornment, especially a personal adornment. In this sense, the word is usually used in the plural, novelties. The word is also used to denote novelty item. (e.g., pop-a-point pencils, gel pens, high bounce 1. bounce - (Perhaps by analogy to a bouncing check) An electronic mail message that is undeliverable and returns an error notification (a "bounce message") to the sender is said to "bounce".2. bounce - To play volleyball. The now-demolished D. C. balls,potato chips, candy candy:see confectionery. candySweet sugar- or chocolate-based confection. The Egyptians made candy from honey (combined with figs, dates, nuts, and spices), sugar being unknown. bars). Students could only "win" onceduring each drawing, and a name pulled more than once was returned tothe bucket. Each Monday, the ticket bucket was emptied so that everyonebegan the week with no tickets. CWPT training. The teacher in this study was trained during asingle two-hour staff in-service training at the school. Teachertraining included verbal explanation, demonstration by the projectstaff, and role-playing. Additionally, the experimenter provided theteacher with a copy of the CWPT training manual, Together We Can!(Greenwood, Delquadri, & Carta, 1997). Students were trained during the first post baseline week (i.e.,five class sessions) by the experimenter and another project staffperson. Training procedures consisted of (a) explanation of the tutoringprocedures, (b) modeling of each component (i.e., oral reading, errorcorrection, point recording, flashcard presentation) by the experimenterand project staff person, (c) practice by the teacher and a student infront of the class, and (d) students role-playing while project staffand teacher circulated among the students praising correct tutoringbehavior and assisting or correcting when necessary. Additional trainingfor the lottery involved explaining to the students behaviors that wouldearn "tickets" and making explicit that the more ticketsearned, the greater the chances of "winning" the drawing onFridays. By the completion of student training the teacher was conductingsessions independently. Monitoring of procedures was ongoing duringtutoring sessions, with prompts given as necessary. A single, classwiderefresher training Refresher training is a form of updating military knowledge of the reservist troops. After one has completed the conscription service, he or she can be called for refresher training for some amount of days. was done by the teacher after the students returnedto school from the Winter Break. Fidelity of Treatment Fidelity of the oral reading procedure was verified by theexperimenter or other project staff member using a 38-item fidelitychecklist, which included questions regarding materials (e.g., Teampoint charts posted, All tutors have score sheets), teacher procedures(e.g., Teacher moves among students during tutoring, Teacher awardsbonus points for tutoring correctly), students procedures (e.g., Tuteereads orally, Tutor scores properly for correct sentences read), andcomprehension (e.g., Tutee answers questions, Tutor corrects responsesquickly). Fidelity checklists were completed twice during CWPT inClasses A and B, and once in Class C while the teacher implementedprocedures independent of the experimenter. Because the experimenter wasfrequently in the classroom observing and collecting various measures,the teacher was unaware when fidelity was being assessed. Followingfidelity observations, the experimenter provided a copy of the checklistand feedback based on the checklist to the teacher. Percentage ofprocedures properly implemented during oral reading CWPT was 88% and 82%for class A, 86% and 92% for class B, and 93% for class C. CWPTprocedures did not occur during teacher-led instruction. Dependent Measures Class mean scores from weekly posttests and periodic pretests werecollected in each of the three classrooms, and additional measures ofindividual test scores, oral reading rates and academic engagement werecollected for three target students. Weekly tests. Weekly tests, developed by the experimenter andedited and approved by the classroom teacher, were administered onFridays immediately following vocabulary CWPT. Pretests contained thesame questions as the weekly posttests with the order of questions andanswer choices changed. Administration of pretests occurred on eightoccasions for Class A and on three occasions for Classes B and Cfollowing completion of the weekly test on Fridays. Tests were composedof 20 questions, consisting of five vocabulary word and definitionmatching, five vocabulary fill-in-the-blank questions, seven shortanswer questions, and three multiple-mark questions (i.e., similar tomultiple choice, but students choose all correct answers). The teacherscored weekly tests, with spot checks done by the experimenter, and theexperimenter scored all pretests at the teacher's request. Onceduring baseline and once during tutoring, the teacher and experimenterscored the tests independently and another project staff member figuredpoint-by-point reliability on each of the 20 test items. An agreementwas recorded if both the experimenter and the teacher marked an item thesame way (i.e., correct or incorrect). Reliability equaled the number ofagreements divided by the number of disagreements multiplied by 100.Reliability of student test scores equaled 96% (range 78%-100%). Academic engagement. The behavior of the three target students wasmeasured twice during teacher-led instruction (A) and twice during CWPTconditions (i.e., CWPT [B] or CWPT plus lottery [C]). Observations wereconducted using the Code for Instructional Structure and StudentAcademic Response (CISSAR: Greenwood, Carta, Kamps, & Delquadri,1997), a momentary mo��men��tar��y?adj.1. Lasting for only a moment.2. Occurring or present at every moment: in momentary fear of being exposed.3. Short-lived or ephemeral, as a life. time-sampling computerized data collection program.Categories observed included activity (e.g., reading, math), task (e.g.,worksheet, readers, pen and paper), structure (i.e., whole group, smallgroup, individual), teacher behavior (e.g., teaching, no response,disapproval), and student response (e.g., reading aloud, raising hand)(see Greenwood, Delquadri, & Hall, 1984). Observers were trained via a combination of written definitions andclassroom practice sessions to a criterion of 90% overall reliabilityand 85% across each individual category (e.g., student response) beforedata collection began. Interobserver agreement was calculated for 10% ofthe CISSAR observations by dividing the number of agreements by thenumber of agreements plus disagreements and multiplying by 100. Overallreliability was 91.73% agreement, with a range of 80% to 100% acrosseach individual category. Reliability for student response was 89.33% Oral reading rates. To determine the effects of oral readingprocedures on student reading fluency, oral reading rate data wereobtained from each target student. At least one check during teacher-ledinstruction (A) and one check during CWPT (B or C) occurred for eachnovel. Two-min timed readings were done with each target student overmaterial that had been covered in either baseline (A) or CWPT (B or C).After completion of the timed reading, the assessor asked fivecomprehension questions about the material read. Errors made during oralreading, as well as correct and incorrect responses to comprehensionquestions were recorded. Oral reading rates (i.e., correct number ofwords read) were calculated by taking the total number of words read,subtracting the number of errors made, and dividing by two. Social validity. To ascertain consumer satisfaction with CWPT, thestudents and teacher completed questionnaires at the end of the schoolyear. Student surveys were completed anonymously in the absence of theexperimenter. Fourteen of the 16-items on the student questionnaire useda 4-point Likert scale Likert scaleA subjective scoring system that allows a person being surveyed to quantify likes and preferences on a 5-point scale, with 1 being the least important, relevant, interesting, most ho-hum, or other, and 5 being most excellent, yeehah important, etc to solicit information from students regardingactivities (e.g., How did you like doing the vocabulary lists?), peerinteraction (e.g., Do you think your classmates Classmates can refer to either: Classmates.com, a social networking website. Classmates (film), a 2006 Malayalam blockbuster directed by Lal Jose, starring Prithviraj, Jayasurya, Indragith, Sunil, Jagathy, Kavya Madhavan, Balachandra Menon, ... are friendlier to youwhen you do peer tutoring?), and learning (e.g., How much did peertutoring help you with reading?). It also contained two open-endedquestions that required comment on what students liked least and mostabout CWPT. The teacher questionnaire, which was also completed in theabsence of the experimenter, solicited responses to 24 items using a5-point Likert scale. Again, two additional questions required writtenresponses to questions of least and most preferred aspects of CWPT. Results Academic Outcomes Differential effects of instructional method on student quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players (as individuals or in teams) attempt to answer questions correctly. Quizzes are also brief assessments used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills. performance. As shown in Figure 1, student performance on weekly testsimproved during CWPT and CWPT plus lottery compared with teacher-ledinstruction. Classes B and C began participation in the study at point8, thus there are no data for the first seven tests for these twoclasses. Notations at 1, 8, and 15 (8 and 15 only for Classes B and C)on the graph indicate when novels changed. The notation notation:see arithmetic and musical notation. How a system of numbers, phrases, words or quantities is written or expressed. Positional notation is the location and value of digits in a numbering system, such as the decimal or binary system. at 13 indicateswhen scripted comprehension questions were withdrawn. Also at test 13,vocabulary words that had been written on the chalkboard earlier in theweek were inadvertently left on the chalkboard during the test. The lineon each graph running horizontally from the 60% point on the abscissa abscissa:see Cartesian coordinates. (mathematics) abscissa - The horizontal or x coordinate on an (x, y) graph; the input of a function against which the output is plotted.The vertical or y coordinate is the "ordinate".See Cartesian coordinates. indicates the criterion for "passing" grades established bythe classroom teacher. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Weekly data for Class A are displayed in the top panel of Figure 1.Mean percent correct for Class A across conditions equaled 32% duringpretest pre��test?n.1. a. A preliminary test administered to determine a student's baseline knowledge or preparedness for an educational experience or course of study.b. A test taken for practice.2. , 63% during teacher-led instruction, 75% during CWPT, and 81%during CWPT plus lottery. Weekly data for Class B are shown in themiddle panel of Figure 1. Mean percent correct for Class B equaled 32%,58%, 61%, and 74% during pretest, teacher-led, CWPT, and CWPT pluslottery, respectively. Similar results were obtained for Class C, shownin the lower panel of Figure 1. Class means by condition for Class Cwere 32%, 62%, 71%, and 82% for pretest, teacher-led, CWPT, and CWPTplus lottery, respectively. Differential effects of instructional method on targetstudents' quiz performance. Percentage correct on weekly tests foreach target student is shown in Figure 2. As with the class meanfigures, notations at 1, 8, and 15 indicate when novels changed, and thenotation at 13 shows when scripted comprehension questions werewithdrawn. Data for post test 16 are absent for all three targetstudents because they participated in a field trip that day and missedthe test. For Thomas (top panel), mean percentage correct on weekly tests was16%, 33%, 61%, and 72% across pretest, baseline, CWPT, and CWPT pluslottery, respectively. With the exception test 9, percentage correct onweekly tests during CWPT and CWPT plus lottery exceeded performance ontests during teacher-led instruction. Pre- to posttest gains for Thomaswere minimal under teacher-led instruction, but improved substantiallyduring CWPT and CWPT plus lottery. Mean percent correct on weekly tests for Cathy (middle panel) was28%, 65%, 69%, and 87% during pretest, baseline, CWPT, and CWPT pluslottery, respectively. Responding during baseline was unstable unstable,adj 1. not firm or fixed in one place; likely to move.2. capable of undergoing spontaneous change. A nuclide in an unstable state is calledradioactive. An atom in an unstable state is calledexcited. for thisstudent, and percent correct on weekly tests during CWPT only slightlyexceeded baseline performance. The CWPT plus lottery interventionproduced more stable, correct responding on weekly tests when comparedwith both teacher-led instruction and CWPT. Mean percent correct on weekly tests for Michelle (lower panel)equaled 27%, 59%, 72%, and 82% during pretest, baseline, CWPT, and CWPTplus lottery, respectively. Performance on weekly tests during baselineand CWPT was variable; however, implementation of CWPT plus lotteryresulted in more stable, consistently higher correct responding onweekly tests. Although the discrepancy DISCREPANCY. A difference between one thing and another, between one writing and another; a variance. (q.v.) 2. Discrepancies are material and immaterial. between means may seem small, itshould be noted that these numbers, when associated with letter gradestypically given by teachers, indicate substantial changes in studentachievement. For instance, for Thomas, a mean of 33% during teacher-ledinstruction equals "F" in letter grades, but 61% equals"D", a difference of one letter grade (every 10 percentagepoints equals one letter grade from 60% up). Further, the mean score of72% obtained by Thomas during CWPT plus lottery equals "C" inletter grades, a difference of two letter grades from baselineperformance. Letter grade equivalents for Cathy were equal to"D" for both baseline and CWPT and "B" for CWPT pluslottery. Similarly, letter grade equivalents for Michelle equaled"F" during baseline, "C" during CWPT, and"B" during CWPT plus lottery. Changes in student engagement as a function of instructionalmethod. Figure 3 displays the distribution of student responding acrossthe four most frequently recorded codes: writing, reading aloud, readingsilently, and attending to task. These four codes comprised between 76%and 93% of all responding during both baseline and tutoring. The mostsubstantial change in academic responding for all three target studentswas the marked increase in reading aloud during tutoring when comparedwith baseline levels. As a direct function of increased reading aloud,reading silently decreased for Thomas and Cathy and remained the samefor Michelle. Overall, academic responding remained fairly consistent acrossbaseline and CWPT respectively for both Thomas (67%, 70%) and Cathy(76%, 75%), but increased for Michelle (54%, 66%). Task managementincreased during CWPT for Thomas (15%, 28%) and Cathy (16%, 23%), butdecreased for Michelle (42%, 30%). Further, competing responsesdecreased for all three students, with the most substantial differenceevidenced by data obtained from Thomas (17%, 1%). Oral reading rates of "low-achieving" students. Asdisplayed in Figure 4, the number of words read correctly per minute byThomas during baseline ranged from 43 to 59.5, with corresponding rangesfrom 61-78.5 during CWPT. The data for Cathy were more variable and less conclusive Determinative; beyond dispute or question. That which is conclusive is manifest, clear, or obvious. It is a legal inference made so peremptorily that it cannot be overthrown or contradicted. thanthose obtained from Thomas. The number of correctly read words perminute ranged from 86 to 120 during baseline and from 87.5 to 132 duringCWPT. Similarly, Michelle's number of correctly read words perminute ranged from 79 to 106.5 during baseline, and 87 to 114 duringCWPT. Error rates for all three students decreased from baseline to CWPT.Thomas's error words per minute ranged from 3.5 to 6 (86%-93%accuracy) during baseline and 2 to 5 (93%-97% accuracy) during CWPT.Error rates for Cathy ranged from 1.5 to 5 (95%-99% accuracy) duringbaseline and 0 to 3 (97%-100% accuracy) during tutoring. Similarly,Michelle's error rates ranged from 1 to 6.5 (92%-99% accuracy)during baseline and .5 to 2 (98%-99% accuracy) during CWPT. Data fromstudent responses to comprehension questions revealed no differencesacross conditions, with ranges of 60% to 100%. [FIGURE 4 OMITTED] Social Validation Student satisfaction with the CWPT procedures. Sixty one of theseventy one participating students responded to the consumersatisfaction questionnaire. Overall, students rated CWPT positively.When asked, "How much do you like CWPT?" the majority ofstudents (59%) responded "quite a bit" (n=22) or "verymuch" (n=14). Forty-five students responded that CWPT helped themlearn "quite a bit" (n=26) or "very much" (n=19),and most of the students (n=49) replied that they would like to do peertutoring next year. With regard to individual components of the program,the majority of students responded that they enjoyed doing flashcards(n=40), earning points (n=51), and reading from the book (n=34).Fifty-six students replied that they liked getting prizes in the lottery"a lot". Replies to whether or not students liked being thetutee were the least positive, with a total of 32 student responses of"not at all" or "very little." Teacher satisfaction with CWPT. Satisfaction data obtained from theteacher indicated that the teacher "strongly agreed" that CWPTwas beneficial to students of all ability levels, easy to implement, andan enhancement to traditional teaching approaches. Only two questions,both of which related to student cooperative and supportive behaviors,received responses of "3" (i.e., not sure), and all otherquestions were rated "agree" or "strongly agree" bythe teacher. In response to "What did you like most?" theteacher wrote, "I didn't have to pull teeth to get them toread. My discipline problems were greatly decreased because the studentswere always on task. Easy program to implement." Discussion Findings from this study of CWPT in urban middle-school readingclasses were quite favorable fa��vor��a��ble?adj.1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds.2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis.3. . The data from weekly tests indicate that,overall, method of instruction was functionally related to studentperformance on tests. In all three classrooms, CWPT was more effectivethan teacher-led instruction for improving student test scores,including scores of lower ability students. In addition, implementationof CWPT plus lottery resulted in further improvement in student testscores. Means for Classes A and B improved from 62% and 58% respectivelyduring baseline to 81% and 74% respectively during CWPT plus lottery.Mean performance for Class C improved from 58% during baseline to 74%during CWPT plus lottery. In terms of letter grades, Class A as a wholeimproved from "D" performance during baseline to "B"levels under CWPT plus lottery conditions. Class B's scoresincreased from "F" levels under baseline conditions to"C" when CWPT plus lottery was in effect, a gain of two lettergrades. Because Class B convened during the first hour of the day (7:50A.M.), students often arrived late to class or missed it altogether ifthey missed the bus. According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. the teacher, this may have contributedto Class B's lower performance on weekly tests. Class C'sperformance, as a whole, was similar to that of Class A, with"D" performance under baseline condition that improved to"B" when CWPT plus lottery was in place. As mentionedpreviously, letter grade improvements for each of the three targetstudents were also substantial. These findings are similar to results obtained by Trovato andBucher (1980) who found that elementary school students in a readingpeer tutoring program outperformed students receiving traditionalinstruction on several dependent measures, but students who receivedpeer tutoring plus back-up reinforcement made the greatest gains. In thepresent study, students earned points for correct responding in both theCWPT and the CWPT plus lottery conditions, however, changing the teacherbonus points to a lottery system in which students could "win"small tangible items had a more profound effect on academic outcomes.The lottery system seemed to solve some of the motivation challengespresented by the prohibition prohibition,legal prevention of the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages, the extreme of the regulatory liquor laws. The modern movement for prohibition had its main growth in the United States and developed largely as a result of the of student competition imposed by thedistrict. Although the lottery was not directly tied to academicperformance on weekly tests, it apparently had enough strength as amotivation system to improve that performance. These findings contributeto the research base on the effectiveness of CWPT with middle schoolreading and the addition of a cost-effective individual contingency(i.e., lottery), however, further research with more participants shouldbe conducted to confirm these results. This extends prior research(e.g., Fuchs et al., 1999; Fuchs et al., 2001) that found improvementsin student academic performance when tutoring plus a lottery was tieddirectly to desired terminal performance. Other findings, consistent with those of CWPT in elementarysettings (Greenwood et al., 1984), suggest that student academicengagement is functionally related to method of instruction. Forexample, Thomas's competing behaviors (e.g., looking around,talking inappropriately) decreased markedly from a baseline occurrenceof 17% of intervals to just 1% of intervals during CWPT. This translatesto a decrease from approximately 7.5 min off-task during baseline,compared with less than 1 min during CWPT. Hypothetically hy��po��thet��i��cal? also hy��po��thet��icadj.1. Of, relating to, or based on a hypothesis: a hypothetical situation.See Synonyms at theoretical.2. a. Suppositional; uncertain. , this studentgained 5.5 min of reading instruction per day during CWPT, potentiallytranslating to more than 16 min per week and almost 12 hours per schoolyear for just one class. If these changes could be affected across allacademic periods of the day (e.g., reading, social studies, science,language, math), the potential exists to increase the time this studentspends making active academic responses an additional 60 hours perschool year (cf. Greenwood, 1991). Although the target students' academic responding was highacross both baseline and CWPT, the types of responses differed. Thedifference between reading silently and reading aloud from baseline toCWPT was the most substantial change noted in student academicresponding. Reading aloud for all three students ranged from 0% to 4% (0to approximately 2 min) of intervals during baseline, with increasesranging from 27% to 29% (approximately 12 min) of intervals during CWPT.Reading silently ranged from 31% to 62% (approximately 13 to 27 min) ofintervals during baseline, and 28% to 40% (approximately 12 to 17 min)during CWPT. Although both of these behaviors are desirable in that theyare academic responses, it can be argued that these are qualitativelydifferent responses. First, when coding student behavior "readingsilently", the observer assumes that the student is actuallyreading silently. This is a judgment call based on other observablebehaviors, such as eyes oriented o��ri��ent?n.1. Orient The countries of Asia, especially of eastern Asia.2. a. The luster characteristic of a pearl of high quality.b. A pearl having exceptional luster.3. to the book and eye movement indicativeof scanning. Reading aloud leaves no such margin for error; when astudent is reading aloud, the actual behavior is observable. Inaddition, reading aloud is a well-documented strategy for improvingfluency, while reading silently has not been shown to do so (Fuchs,Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001; National Reading Panel, 2000) Second, reading aloud allows opportunities for error correction andconsequences for correct responding that are unavailable when thebehavior of interest is not directly observable. As noted by Skinner Skin��ner, B(urrhus) F(rederick) 1904-1990.American psychologist. A leading behaviorist, Skinner influenced the fields of psychology and education with his theories of stimulus-response behavior. (1989), students' academic achievement is improved whenopportunities for immediate consequences are available. It is likelythat the changes in academic responding, particularly reading aloud,produced by CWPT were functionally related to students' readingachievement, as evidenced by improved test scores under CWPT conditions.These findings support the research (e.g., Hall et al., 1982; Kamps etal., 1995) claiming that students gain academically when they haveopportunities to respond actively to academic material. Another benefit of CWPT was improved reading fluency for two targetstudents. For Thomas and Michelle, correctly read words per minute andaccuracy increased during CWPT conditions. For Thomas, this was true forall three novels. This is perhaps due to the fact that reading rates forthis student were so low to begin with, and the practice provided duringCWPT was enough to significantly improve fluency. For Michelle, actualcorrect words per minute were higher for two of the three novels (i.e.,The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963 and Freak the Mighty) andaccuracy was higher for all three novels during CWPT. While oral readingrates did not reach the benchmark rate of 125 words per minute (Fuchs,Fuchs, Hamlett, Walz, & Germann, 1993), these data support previousresearch findings that increased opportunities to respond to academicmaterial result in improved performance. It is probable that the changein student responding from reading silently to reading aloud contributedto the change in oral reading rates, because students had moreopportunities for practice, error correction, and consequences forcorrect responding when reading aloud. It is unclear why oral readingrates for Cathy were so variable. It could be speculated that becausethis student's reading rates were approaching the benchmark ratesfor sixth-grade students, somewhat of a ceiling effect occurred. Social validation measures indicated that both the students and theteacher were satisfied with the results of CWPT. Students enjoyedparticipating and often complained that they did not like baseline weeksbecause they "did not do as well on the tests." Further, theteacher was reluctant to remain in baseline conditions for longer thanone week at a time It's now officially Saturday and on 1116SEN it's time for 'One Week At A Time' with your hosts Mark Franklin and Luke Mather.Currently airing every Saturday evening (7pm til Midnight) 'One Week At A Time' is a revolutionary and fun sports talkback show on SEN 1116 Sports Radio in after the initial baseline period, because studentscores were so greatly improved with tutoring. These anecdotal anecdotal/an��ec��do��tal/ (an?ek-do��t'l) based on case histories rather than on controlled clinical trials. anecdotaladjective Unsubstantiated; occurring as single or isolated event. reportsare consistent with the data obtained from questionnaires, suggestingthat CWPT was preferred over the teacher's traditional instructionby both the students and the teacher. Although performance on the IRI was not a dependent measure in thisstudy, it should be noted that all three target students' scores onthe IRI improved beyond the normally expected one grade level per schoolyear gains. Thomas's performance on the IRI improved from asecond-grade level on the fall administration to a fourth-grade level onthe spring administration. Cathy's score improved from a second-tothird-grade performance to sixth-grade performance. Similarly,Michelle's score increased from second- to third-grade performance,to fourth-grade performance. While it is not clear that theseimprovements resulted from the students' participation in CWPT, itis unlikely that students who were performing well below their gradelevel would have made such substantial gains without intervention. Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research Because there is still sparse evidence of the efficacy of CWPT witholder students, much more research is warranted on peer tutoring as anintervention to improve combinations of skills, such as vocabulary, oralreading fluency, and comprehension. While the data demonstrate that CWPT conditions were more effectivethan teacher-led instruction for improving students' readingachievement, there are limitations of this study. First, because thelottery was implemented to enhance a particular aspect of the CWPTpackage (i.e., teacher bonus points), examining its effects separatelywas not possible. While it is unlikely that the lottery system combinedwith teacher-led instruction would have produced results like thoseobtained from CWPT with lottery, further systematic investigation isnecessary to make such a statement definitively. Another limitation isthe failure to return to CWPT once CWPT plus lottery was implemented. Asis typical in applied research, the teacher and experimenter chose tokeep the "best procedure" in place, in order to provide thebest intervention to the students. Pragmatically, this was the propercourse to pursue, however, in terms of demonstrating experimentalcontrol further comparison of CWPT to CWPT plus lottery would have beenmore desirable. While it is unlikely, it is certainly possible that thesame outcome may have resulted had the CWPT plus lottery condition beenrun prior to the CWPT condition. The limited number of academic engagement observations leaves someroom for speculation about the adequacy of those data. In addition,these data were collected only twice during baseline and twice over theentire CWPT condition (both B and C). Even though there were cleardifferences across conditions, there is potential confounding confoundingwhen the effects of two, or more, processes on results cannot be separated, the results are said to be confounded, a cause of bias in disease studies.confounding factor of thedata that merits investigation in future research. Although the CWPT conditions overall improved student testperformance, long-term maintenance of skills was not assessed. Thus,conclusions about the long-term effects of this intervention cannot bedrawn. Research by Greenwood and colleagues (1989; 1993; 1995)demonstrated long-term gains for students who received intensive CWPTintervention in the primary grades (i.e., first- through fourth-grade),however no such evidence exists to suggest that the same long-term gainsare possible when intervening with older students who already suffercumulative deficits. Such evidence would substantially improve the casefor structured tutoring programs as effective reading interventions. Another shortcoming of this study was the failure to assessgeneralization gen��er��al��i��za��tionn.1. The act or an instance of generalizing.2. A principle, a statement, or an idea having general application. . It would have been interesting to examine if studentsshowed collateral gains in other classes as a result of the increasedreading practice, or if changes in oral reading fluency would haveresulted in other novels or content areas. Future research should focuson specifically programming for generalization of such skills so thatstudents can be maximally max��i��mal?adj.1. Of, relating to, or consisting of a maximum.2. Being the greatest or highest possible.n. MathematicsAn element in an ordered set that is followed by no other. effective when working independently (seeHock hock:see wine. , Deschler, & Schumaker, 2000). Other issues that may have affected outcomes include materialdifficulty and content coverage. It is possible that some vocabularywords, tests, or reading passages may have been more difficult thanothers. Further, the number of pages read varied from week to week,although the number of vocabulary words, comprehension questions, andtest questions remained constant. These problems are, perhaps, inherentwhen teachers must attempt to deliver instruction to students performingat varying instructional levels. Thus, no attempt was made to matchmaterials to students' instructional levels. However, because thisstudy was conducted using the curriculum already in place, the resultsprovide a more realistic view of how this program might fare in otherclassrooms with similar curricula. The use of a comparison group may have provided additionalinformation about how the participating students measured up againstpeers attending the same school but not receiving the intervention.Although the reversal design provided a clear picture of studentperformance across conditions, a comparison group might have allowed formore conclusive statements about the effects of CWPT on readingoutcomes. Finally, research specifically addressing adoption of effectiveprograms needs to be conducted. Although programs exist whicheffectively improve students' reading skills, the fact remains thatmany students continue to fall below basic proficiency levels inreading. Without determining how to get educators to implement effectiveprograms, the best research results will go unused. Ultimately, studentachievement will not be affected if research continues to ignore how toget educators to adopt effective strategies (Abbott, Walton, Tapia,& Greenwood, 1999). Summary and Conclusions In summary, the results of this study contributed positive findingsregarding the use of CWPT as a method for improving the reading skillsof middle school students. Further, the addition of a lotterycontingency to CWPT for on-task and good tutoring behavior extendedprevious research findings that demonstrated improvements in studentachievement when the lottery was directly related to academicperformance (Fuchs et al., 1999). In addition, findings indicated that CWPT dramatically increasedstudents' reading aloud. Both reading aloud and reading silentlyare desirable in that they are academic responses; however, readingaloud appears to be functionally related to improved test performanceand oral reading rates. This is likely a result of increased practice,opportunity for error correction, and increased consequences for correctresponding that are not available when reading silently. Thesestrategies are generally necessary to ensure the success of lowperforming students (Hall et al., 1982; Skinner, 1984). Finally, consumer satisfaction data indicated that students andteacher found the program acceptable with respect to workload andacademic effects. Further, anecdotal data suggested that studentspreferred CWPT conditions to teacher-led instruction with respect tooutcomes on their weekly tests. The teacher also seemed to prefer CWPTto her own traditional instruction as evidenced by written comments onthe satisfaction questionnaire and her reluctance to keep the studentsin baseline conditions after seeing improvement in test scores duringCWPT. Future research should continue to address the efficacy of peertutoring as a reading intervention for secondary school students.Further, investigation of the lottery component, separate from tutoring,is also warranted. It is possible, though unlikely, that the addition ofa simple contingency such as the lottery could result in improvements inacademic performance commensurate com��men��su��rate?adj.1. Of the same size, extent, or duration as another.2. Corresponding in size or degree; proportionate: a salary commensurate with my performance.3. with those obtained in this study.Investigation of long-term effects and generalization of skills learnedwhile tutoring would provide valuable information about the feasibilityof tutoring as a reading intervention. Finally, research focused onadoption of effective strategies is needed so that the knowledge gainedfrom empirical research Noun 1. empirical research - an empirical search for knowledgeinquiry, research, enquiry - a search for knowledge; "their pottery deserves more research than it has received" can be put to practical use. References Abbott, M., Walton, C., Tapia, Y., & Greenwood, C. (1999).Research to practice: A "blueprint blueprint,white-on-blue photographic print, commonly of a working drawing used during building or manufacturing. The plan is first drawn to scale on a special paper or tracing cloth through which light can penetrate. " for closing the gap inlocal schools. Exceptional Children, 65, 339-352. Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1968). Some currentdimensions of applied behavior analysis Some of the information in this article may not be verified by . It should be checked for inaccuracies and modified to cite reliable sources.Applied behavior analysis (ABA) . Journal of Applied BehaviorAnalysis The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) was established in 1968 as a The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis is a peer-reviewed, psychology journal, that publishes research about applications of the experimental analysis of behavior to problems of social importance. , 1, 91-97. Barbetta, P. M., Miller, A. D., Peters, M. T., Heron, T. E., &Cochran, L. L. (1991). Tugmate: A cross-age tutoring program to teachsight vocabulary. Education and Treatment of Children, 14, 19-37. Burns, P., & Roe, B. (1999). Informal reading inventory.Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin. Butler, F. M. (1999). Reading partners: Students can help eachother learn to read! Education and Treatment of Children, 22, 415-426. Byers, B. (1977). The pinballs. New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Harper Collins. Chiang, B., Thorpe, H. W., & Darch, C. B. (1980). Effects ofcross-age tutoring on word-recognition performance of learning disabledstudents. Learning Disability Quarterly, 3(4), 11-19. Cochran, L., Feng, H., Cartledge, G., & Hamilton, S. (1993).The effects of cross-age tutoring on the academic achievement, socialbehaviors, and self-perceptions of low-achieving African-American maleswith behavioral disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 18, 292-302. Curtis, C. P. (1995). The Watson's go to Birmingham-1963. NewYork: Dell Laurel-Leaf. Delquadri, J., Greenwood, C. R., Stretton, K., & Hall, R. V.(1983). The peer tutoring spelling game: A classroom procedure forincreasing opportunity to respond and spelling performance. Educationand Treatment of Children, 6, 225-239. Delquadri, J., Greenwood, C. R., Whorton, D., Carta, J. J., andHall, R. V. (1986). Classwide peer tutoring. Exceptional Children, 52,535-542. Duvall, S. F., Delquadri, J. C., Elliott, M., & Hall, R. V.(1992). Parent-tutoring procedures: Experimental analysis and validationof generalization in oral reading across passages, settings, and time.Journal of Behavioral Education, 2, 281-303. Engelmann, S., Hanner, S., & Johnson, G. (1989). Correctivereading series guide. New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. Ezell, H. K., Kohler, F. W., & Strain, P. S. (1994). A programdescription and evaluation of academic peer tutoring for reading skillsof children with special needs. Education and Treatment of Children, 17,52-67. Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Hamlett, C. L., Walz, L., & Germann,G. (1993). Formative evaluation Formative evaluation is a type of evaluation which has the purpose of improving programmes. It goes under other names such as developmental evaluation and implementation evaluation. of academic progress: How much growthcan we expect? School Psychology Review, 22, 27-48. Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Hosp, M. K., & Jenkins, J. R. (2001).Oral reading fluency as an indicator of reading competence: Atheoretical, empirical, and historical analysis. Scientific Studies ofReading, 5, 239-256. Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., & Kazdan, S. (1999). Effects ofpeer-assisted learning strategies on high school students with seriousreading problems. Remedial and Special Education, 20, 309-318. Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Mathes, P. G., & Simmons, D. C.(1997). Peer-assisted learning strategies: Making classrooms moreresponsive to diversity. American Educational Research Journal, 34,174-206. Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Thompson, A., Svenson, E., Yen, L.,Otaiba, S. A., Yang yang(yang) [Chinese] in Chinese philosophy, the active, positive, masculine principle that is complementary to yin; see yin, under principle. , N., McMaster, K. N., Prentice, K., Kazdan, S.,& Saenz, L. (2001). Peer-assisted learning strategies in reading:Extensions for kindergarten kindergarten[Ger.,=garden of children], system of preschool education. Friedrich Froebel designed (1837) the kindergarten to provide an educational situation less formal than that of the elementary school but one in which children's creative play instincts would be , first grade, and high school. Remedial andSpecial Education, 22, 15-21. Giesecke, D., Cartledge, G., & Gardner III, R. (1993).Low-achieving students as successful cross-age tutors. Preventing SchoolFailure, 37(3), 34-43. Greenwood, C. R. (1991). Classwide peer tutoring: Longitudinal lon��gi��tu��di��naladj.Running in the direction of the long axis of the body or any of its parts. effects on the reading, language, and mathematics achievement of at-riskstudents. Reading, Writing, and Learning Disabilities, 7, 105-123. Greenwood, C. R., Carta, J. J., Kamps, D., & Delquadri, J.(1997). Ecobehavioral assessment systems software (EBASS EBASS Effects Based Assessment Support System ):Practioner's manual (Version 3.0). Kansas City Kansas City,two adjacent cities of the same name, one (1990 pop. 149,767), seat of Wyandotte co., NE Kansas (inc. 1859), the other (1990 pop. 435,146), Clay, Jackson, and Platte counties, NW Mo. (inc. 1850). , KS: Juniper juniper,any tree or shrub of the genus Juniperus, aromatic evergreens of the family Cupressaceae (cypress family), widely distributed over the north temperate zone. Many are valuable as a source of lumber and oil. GardensChildren's Project. Greenwood, C. R., & Delquadri, J. (1995). Classwide peertutoring and the prevention of school failure. Preventing SchoolFailure, 39(4), 21-25. Greenwood, C. R., Delquadri, J. C., & Carta, J. J. (1997).Together we can! Longmont, CO: Sopris-West. Greenwood, C. R., Delquadri, J. C., & Hall, R. V. (1984).Opportunity to respond and student academic performance. In W. L.Heward, T.E. Heron, D. S. Hill, & J. Trap-Porter (Eds.), Focus onbehavior analysis in education (pp. 58-88). Columbus, OH: Merrill. Greenwood, C. R., Delquadri, J. C., & Hall, R. V. (1989).Longitudinal effects of classwide peer tutoring. Journal of EducationalPsychology, 81, 371-383. Greenwood, C. R., Terry, B., Utley, C. A., Montagna, D., &Walker, D. (1993). Achievement, placement, and services: Middle schoolbenefits of classwide peer tutoring used at the elementary school.School Psychology Review, 22, 497-516. Hall, R. V., Delquadri, J., Greenwood, C. R., & Thurston, L.(1982). The importance of opportunity to respond in children'sacademic success. In E. B. Edgar, N. C. Haring Haring is an English surname of Austrian origin.Notable individuals with this surname: Keith Haring, American street artist and social activist John Haring, American lawyer and delegate to the Continental Congress , J. R. Jenkins, & C.G. Pious pi��ous?adj.1. Having or exhibiting religious reverence; earnestly compliant in the observance of religion; devout. See Synonyms at religious.2. a. (Eds.), Mentally handicapped children: Education and training(pp. 107-140). Baltimore, MD: University Park Press. Harris, R. E., Marchaund-Martella, N., & Martella, R. C.(2000). Effects of a peer-delivered corrective reading program. Journalof Behavioral Education, 10, 21-36. Heron, T. E., Heward, W. L., Cooke, N. L., & Hill, D. S.(1983). Evaluation of a classwide peer tutoring system: First gradersteach each other sight words. Education and Treatment of Children, 6,137-152. Hock, M. F., Deschler, D. D., & Schumaker, J. B. (2000).Strategic tutoring. Lawrence, KS: Edge Enterprises. Jenkins, J. R., Mayhall, W. F., Peschka, C. M., & Jenkins, L.M. (1974). Comparing small group and tutorial An instructional book or program that takes the user through a prescribed sequence of steps in order to learn a product. Contrast with documentation, which, although instructional, tends to group features and functions by category. See tutorials in this publication. instruction in resourcerooms. Exceptional Children, 40, 245-250. Kamps, D. M., Barbetta, P. M., Leonard, B. R., & Delquadri, J.(1994). Classwide peer tutoring: An integration strategy to improvereading skills and promote peer interactions among students with autism autism(ô`tĭzəm), developmental disability resulting from a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain. It is characterized by the abnormal development of communication skills, social skills, and reasoning. and general education peers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 27,49-61. Kamps, D. M., Carta, J. J., Delquadri, J. C., Arreaga-Mayer, C.,Terry, B., & Greenwood, C. R. (1989). School-based research andintervention. Education and Treatment of Children, 12, 359-390. Kamps, D. M., Leonard, B., Potucek, J., & Garrison-Harrell, L.(1995). Cooperative learning cooperative learningEducation theory A student-centered teaching strategy in which heterogeneous groups of students work to achieve a common academic goal–eg, completing a case study or a evaluating a QC problem. See Problem-based learning, Socratic method. groups in reading: An integration strategyfor students with autism and general education peers. BehavioralDisorders, 21, 89-109. Lancaster, J. (1805). Improvements in education as it respects theIndustrious Classes. London: Darton & Harvey. Mastropieri, M. A., Scruggs, T., Mohler, L., Beranek, M., Spencer,V., Boon BoonA general term that refers to a benefit or improvement for investors. This can include such things as increased dividends, a stock market rally and stock buybacks.Notes: , R. T., & Talbott, E. (2001). Can middle school studentswith serious reading difficulties help each other and learn anything?Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 16(1), 18-27. Mathes, P. G., Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Henley, A. M., &Sanders, A. (1994). Increasing strategic reading practice with Peabodyclasswide peer tutoring. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 9(1), 44-48. National Center for Educational Statistics. U. S. Department ofEducation. (1999). National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)1998 reading report card for the nation (NCES NCES National Center for Education StatisticsNCES Net-Centric Enterprise Services (US DoD)NCES Network Centric Enterprise ServicesNCES Net Condition Event Systems 1999-500). Washington, DC:Author. National Reading Panel (2000). Report of the subgroups: NationalReading Panel. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health andDevelopment. Novel Units (2001-2002). Grades K-8 2001-2002 catalog catalog,descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. . San Antonio San Antonio(săn ăntō`nēō, əntōn`), city (1990 pop. 935,933), seat of Bexar co., S central Tex., at the source of the San Antonio River; inc. 1837. ,TX: ECS See eComStation. Learning. Philbrick, R. (1993). Freak the mighty. New York: Scholastic. Salend, S. J., & Nowak, M. R. (1988). Effects ofpeer-previewing on LD students' oral reading skills. LearningDisability Quarterly, 11, 47-53. Schwartz, I. S., & Baer, D. M. (1991). Social validityassessments: Is current practice state of the art? Journal of AppliedBehavior Analysis, 24, 189-204. Simmons, D. C., Fuchs, D., Fuchs, L. S., Hodge, J. P., &Mathes, P. G. (1994). Importance of instructional complexity and rolereciprocity reciprocityIn international trade, the granting of mutual concessions on tariffs, quotas, or other commercial restrictions. Reciprocity implies that these concessions are neither intended nor expected to be generalized to other countries with which the contracting parties to classwide peer tutoring. Learning Disabilities Researchand Practice, 9(4), 203-212. Simmons, D. C., Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., Mathes, P., & Hodge,J. P. (1995). Effects of explicit teaching and peer tutoring on thereading achievement of learning-disabled and low-performing students inregular classrooms. The Elementary School Journal Published by the University of Chicago Press, The Elementary School Journal is an academic journal which has served researchers, teacher educators, and practitioners in elementary and middle school education for over one hundred years. , 95, 387-408. Sindelar, P. T. (1982). The effects of cross-aged tutoring on thecomprehension skills of remedial reading students. Journal of SpecialEducation, 16(2), 199-206. Skinner, B. F. (1984). The shame of American education. AmericanPsychologist psy��chol��o��gistn.A person trained and educated to perform psychological research, testing, and therapy.psychologist, 39, 947-954. Skinner, B. F. (1989). The school of the future. In B. F. Skinner(Ed.), Recent issues in the analysis of behavior (pp. 85-96). Columbus,OH: Merrill. Smith, R. C., & Lincoln, C. A. (1988). America's shame,America's hope, twelve million youth at risk. Chapel Hill, NC: MDC (1) (Mobile Daughter Card) See riser card.(2) See Meta Data Coalition. ,Inc. Stoddard, K., Valcante, G., Sindelar, P., O'Shea, L., &Algozzine, B. (1993). Increasing reading rate and comprehension: Theeffects of repeated readings, sentence segmentation, and intonation intonationIn phonetics, the melodic pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice (see tone), but in languages such as English, stress and rhythm are also involved. training. Reading Research and Instruction, 34(4), 53-65. Trovato, J., & Bucher, B. (1980). Peer tutoring with or withouthome-based reinforcement for reading remediation. Journal of AppliedBehavior Analysis, 13, 129-141. Vaughn, S., Chard, D., Bryant, D. P., Coleman, M., Tyler, B.,Linan-Thompson, S., & Kouzekanani, K. (2000). Fluency andcomprehension interventions for third-grade students. Remedial andSpecial Education, 21, 325-335. Wagner, L. (1982). Peer teaching. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Wolf, M. M. (1978). Social validity: The case for subjectivemeasurement. How applied behavior analysis is finding its heart. Journalof Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 203-214. Mary Baldwin Veerkamp and Debra M. Kamps Juniper Gardens Children's Project Lori Cooper Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Wyandotte County (WyCo); it is part of the "Unified Government"[2] which also includes the cities of Bonner Springs and Edwardsville. Public Schools Correspondence to Debra Kamps, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, JuniperGardens Children's Project, University of Kansas The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. The main campus resides atop Mount Oread. , 650 MinnesotaAvenue, 2nd Floor, Kansas City, KS 66101; e-mail: dkamps@ku.edu.Table 1 Novels, Content Coverage, and Experimental ConditionsThe Watsons Go To Birmingham--1963Test Chapters Pages Condition 1 5 64-74 A 2 6 75-85 A 3 7 86-99 A 4 8 100-120 B 5 10,11 138-161 B 6 12,13 162-179 B 7 14,15 180-206 BThe Pinballs 8 1-6 3-31 A 9 7-9 33-47 B10 10-12 49-62 C11 13-18 63-97 A12 19-21 99-111 C13 22-24 113-127 C14 25,26 129-136 CFreak the Mighty15 6-8 28-47 A16 9-12 48-79 C17 13-16 80-107 C18 17-20 108-134 C19 21-25 135-160 ANote. Condition: A = Baseline (Teacher-led instruction); B = ClasswidePeer Tutoring (CWPT); C = CWPT plus LotteryPercentage of Intervals Thomas Cathy Michelle Baseline CWPT Baseline CWPT Baseline CWPTWriting 15 6 11 1 23 0Read Aloud 4 28 4 29 0 27Read Silently 48 28 62 40 31 31Attend to Task 9 25 13 23 36 29Figure 3. Percentage of intervals coded writing, reading aloud, readingSilently and attending to task for each target student during baselineand CWPT conditions.Note: Table made from bar graph.