Content area
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a combination of instructional strategies that teachers could utilize to increase the academic performance of students on curriculum-based probes in reading, spelling, and math. The combination of strategies included (1) classwide peer tutoring, where all students in the class acted as both tutor and tutee during tutoring sessions; (2) precision teaching; and (3) the use of the AC$\cdot$CEL instructional decision-making computer program by students. Probes were based on end-of year objectives for both the students' ability level and grade level, to monitor academic performance throughout the course of the study. Also, the California Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) was given at the beginning of the study and again at the end to examine the effects of the combined strategies on students' performance on a standardized achievement test. While the entire class participated in the study, students were selected based on participation in special education programs and baseline performance on 10-day probes.
Results indicate that the combination of strategies, classwide peer tutoring, precision teaching, and the use of the AC$\cdot$CEL decision-making computer program by students was effective in increasing performance on curriculum-based probes for both grade-level and ability-level probes for all students involved in this study.
A multiple baseline achievement test design across curriculum areas was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention procedures. An increase in correct performance, as well as a decrease in incorrect performance was shown for all students across all curriculum areas on ability-level probes. On grade-level probes, performance for all students increased in reading but not for spelling. Results on the CTBS indicate that performance increased by one year or more for the total battery for 10 of the 11 students involved in this study.