Parent Survey of Tutoring

This researcher has been a tutor at Education Guidance Services (EGS), a private tutoring facility in the west-central Georgia region, for approximately two years. The writer's experiences led him to want to study the benefits of tutoring on the school population that is served there. Services are paid for by parents in most cases. A few students have worked for part of their tuition. Services for a sizeable number of students are paid for through No Child Left Behind funds and are called "Supplemental Educational Services." These students typically come from Title I schools .

Purpose and Rationale

The purpose of this study is to determine the benefits of tutoring for students at a tutoring facility who are under the age of 18 and have parents who will fill out the survey form. This researcher's experiences, as well as the review of the literature which is below in this paper, have shown that tutoring is a growing field which is producing benefits not only for many students, but for the entire educational process.

Research Question/Hypothesis

Question: What are the precise benefits of tutoring for students as perceived by parents taking their children to EGS?
Hypothesis: The survey will show a high magnitude of agreement by parents that there are several types of benefits of tutoring for all individuals involved in the tutoring process.

The Survey Instrument

The survey is designed with 25 questions on a Likert scale of 1 to 5: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neither Agree nor Disagree, Agree, and Strongly Agree.
Parents are asked to provide their feedback by marking one of the 5 answer choices for each question. They are also given space to write open-ended comments.

Definitions of Key Terms

One-to-One Tutoring: the collaborative study of a subject as a shared process between a person having knowledge of a subject area and a student taking a class at a school in that subject.
Small Group Tutoring: the collaborative study of a subject as a shared process
between a person having knowledge of a subject area and four to five students taking a class at a school in that subject.
Tutor: an instructor having knowledge of a subject area, who sits with and explains concepts to one or a few students at a time, following the student's pace of understanding.
Conduct: feelings and attitude toward the subject being learned and towards self and others, comportment.
Academics: mastery of the concepts of the subject being learned; also, grades earned in
school as assigned by the teacher; also, scores on standardized tests.
Survey respondent: a parent of a student served by EGS, who completes the 25-item survey and perhaps makes additional comments.

Classrooms are Curriculum-Centered

In his manual, Greenwood's Guide to Tutoring, Greenwood (2005) says: all tutoring sessions are different. Trained tutors refine their ideas about what works well. They also individualize according to the students' unique learning styles. Traditional classrooms teaching differs from tutoring. The classroom teacher is responsible for "covering" a set amount of material in a given amount of time. Students must pass one or more standardized tests on the subject.
If a student cannot keep up with the material, the teacher suggests a study group or a tutor outside of class. Many students report that they cannot keep up, but they do not speak up to say so, perhaps out of embarrassment.

Tutoring is Student-Centered

Classroom teaching is curriculum-centered. A classroom teacher does most of the talking, selects what material will be taught, and determines the pace at which and manner in which it will be taught. The public school teacher is subject to comprehensive testing and curriculum decisions outside of her choosing.
Conversely, tutoring is student-centered. In a tutoring environment, what is covered is determined organically by the student(s)' progress and ability to learn it, as well as by the student's curiosity.

Students Speak Up!

In tutoring, the student does about half, or more, of the talking. She gets to ask the questions, explain what she doesn't understand, say how she pictures the material, etc. A tutor will prompt the young student to take an active role in his learning. She will learn by speaking and acting rather than by sitting and receiving.

Plenty of Space for Learning

The arrangement also allows for sharing of materials and room to spread out with one or more books, perhaps a dictionary or graph paper, and perhaps scratch paper and a calculator. For group tutoring Greenwood suggests a large round table so that the tutor can work with one tutee or with the small group as she needs to. The tutor sets up the physical space to be neat and free of distractions so that the student is focused on learning. (10).

Tutoring Builds Confidence

Tutoring builds students' confidence. It gives them a clearer understanding of the subject. Many students in the classroom report a feeling of being lost and overwhelmed, coupled with a discomfort associated with voicing questions or concerns.
In tutoring, It is possible for the student to voice concerns in because it is done on a one-to-one basis or in a small group of learners with a larger workspace and closer access to the teacher.

Older Students Tutor Younger Peers

In the article "Getting Help by Giving Help," (1997) a similar definition of the tutor is given. This source states that a tutor is someone who "helps someone better understand a particular academic subject" (1). This article says a tutor usually has a deep knowledge of the area that he or she is tutoring. It also claims that a low-performing older student may gain confidence in a subject by becoming a tutor for younger children in that subject. "Older students reported feeling more self-confident, improved in their leadership skills, and more motivated in their own work" (1).

Many Benefits of Tutoring

Several professional articles discussed the benefits of tutoring. They included benefits for students, for tutors, and for the students' teachers and schools (Fager & NWREL, 2006; Staff, Baker University, 2005; Staff, Cowley College, 2005). Tutoring is a process which benefits all of those involved: tutee, tutor, school. Increased confidence and enjoyment of learning are felt by all parties involved. This feeling may ripple outward to affect the school as a whole as well.

Benefits to students

Reported benefits to students include one-on-one instruction and instruction tailored to the needs and learning pace of the student. There was an increased amount of praise, feedback, and encouragement. Companionship with a positive adult role model was cited. Preparation for tests and assignments was noted. There was clarification of the material being learned in class. Also listed were improved self-esteem, academic and personal growth, and an improved attitude toward the subject area (Staff, Cowley College, 2005).

Benefits to tutors

There were several benefits reported for tutors. These benefits include valuable career-related experience, increased self-esteem and confidence, an enhanced sense of contribution to their community, and increased academic mastery of the content. Some personal benefits were: meeting new people from all walks of life, participating in other students' successes, finding improvement in interpersonal skills, working as part of a team, and receiving peer support. Tutors improve their communication skills, they receive valuable teaching experience which may help with a choice of professions, and they earn some extra money (Staff, Baker University, 2005).

Benefits to classroom teachers

Cowley College staff gave specific benefits for teachers of students who are being tutored. Some of these benefits included: less classroom time spent on repetitive work, which gave teachers more time to focus on other tasks. Teachers were able to bring students up to grade level with the additional education students received at tutoring. There was increased mentoring of individual students by another concerned adult. Finally, there was the personal satisfaction of teachers seeing their students become more successful.

Benefits to schools

Cowley College staff saw benefits to schools. These benefits included the opportunity to reinforce instruction, an increase in positive student interaction, an improvement in the overall educational climate, and positive changes in attitudes towards teaching and learning for all students being tutored. In this researcher's experience, students at EGS are able to meet other individuals who attended their same school and make friends out of strangers.

Expense

Some concerns about the schools include "…too-often-changing curricula, over-crowded classrooms, and overstretched teachers" (2). Georg (2003) also addressed the cost issue. She states that a parent can expect to pay $30 to $50 an hour. At EGS the cost is $25 an hour.

Online Resources

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• Tutorsteach.com is an index of local tutors in any area and in any subject. People send requests to these tutors asking for the specific help they need. Other websites connect students with tutors who will come to their homes.
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• Club Z Tutoring is a network of tutors who will come to students' homes. This company sells local franchises to run as a business.
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• Acculive.com, offers online tutoring to students at their homes or libraries. The tutoring is done online, through use of a whiteboard system. Students can purchase a microphone and speak with their tutors.

  
  

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Asking Questions
Graesser and Person (1994) compared the frequency of question-asking in a classroom setting to question-asking in a
tutoring setting. Amazingly, they found that students asked questions 240 times more often in tutoring sessions than in a classroom setting! This researcher suggests students may feel more comfortable, less embarrassed, and less likely to be ridiculed or teased for asking questions in a tutoring environment.

Summary

In conclusion, tutoring appears to be in an exciting and pioneer state. Studies are starting to accumulate which show the benefits not only to students, but also to everyone involved in the process. Private tutoring agencies are appearing in every community and doing good business, whether by advertisement or word of mouth. As Greenwood emphasizes in his tutoring manual, tutoring bridges the gap and allows students a supplemental method for improving their understanding and confidence. The individual student is encouraged and enabled to ask more questions, go at her own pace, and get the personal attention that she needs and deserves.

References

Acculive.com. (Website) Retrieved March 25, 2006, from http://www.acculive.com and
from http://www.homeworkhelp.com.
Georg, A. (2003, October) Too much tutoring? Today's Parent, 20, (9), 57. Retrieved February 8, 2006,
from http://www.proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index
Getting help by giving help. Current Health. (1997, April), 23, (8), 2. Retrieved February 8, 2006,
from http://www.web11.epnet.com/
Graesser, A.C. & Person, N. K. (1994 Spring) Question Asking During Tutoring, American Educational
Research Journal, 31, (1), 104-137.
Greenwood, M. (2005). Greenwood's guide for tutors (2nd ed.). Seeds of Knowledge
Publishing.
Likert Scale. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 1, 2006, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likert_scale.
Math.com, The World of Math Online. (Website). Retrieved April 1, 2006, from
http://www.math.com/math-tutoring.html., http://www.mathforum.org./~sarah/Discussion.Sessions
Staff. (2005, February 23). The benefits of tutoring for students interested in becoming a
tutor? [Baker University Publication] Retrieved February 20, 2006, from http://www.bakeru.edu/lrc/benefits.htm/