Teaching math skills to at-risk students using home-based peer tutoring

Abstract

Home-based peer tutoring was used to teach math skills to 4 girls with deficits in mathematics and histories of abuse or neglect. Girls living in the same home formed tutoring dyads, and each participant served as both the peer tutor and the tutee during the course of the study. At the initiation of the tutoring intervention, an expert tutor provided multiple 3-min tutoring sessions to the designated peer tutor on three or four mathematics skills. The peer tutor concurrently provided 3-min tutoring sessions on the same skills to the tutee using a multiple baseline design. Results showed that participants improved their performance on all target skills. Additional interventions were implemented for some skills to improve accuracy further. Maintenance tests were also administered after 3 to 5 months of no practice on the skills. Results showed that tutors and tutees maintained their accuracy on 7 of the 12 skills assessed.

Figure 1

Pair 1's accuracy on the math skills across baseline, tutoring, additional interventions, and maintenance. The five sessions prior to the tutee achieving the mastery criterion are displayed in the additional interventions phase. The filled squares represent the tutor's performance, and the open circles represent the tutee's performance.

Figure 2

Pair 2's accuracy on the math skills across baseline, tutoring, additional interventions, and maintenance. The five sessions prior to the tutee achieving the mastery criterion are displayed in the additional interventions phase. The filled squares represent the tutor's performance, and the open circles represent the tutee's performance.

Figure 3

Pair 3's accuracy on the math skills across baseline, tutoring, additional interventions, and maintenance. The filled squares represent the tutor's performance, and the open circles represent the tutee's performance.

Figure 4

Pair 4's accuracy on the math skills across baseline, tutoring, additional interventions, and maintenance. The five sessions prior to the tutee achieving the mastery criterion are displayed in the additional interventions phase. The filled squares represent the tutor's performance, and the open circles represent the tutee's performance.