The Development of a Tutorial Program for Kindergarten Reading Instruction

Abstract

The Southwest Regional Laboratory for Educational Research and Development developed an exportable tutorial program whereby school personnel can train older students or adult nonprofessionals to tutor kindergarten children in reading. The initial program was tried out in a middle-income suburban district near Los Angeles. Nine kindergarten teachers trained 75 fifth- and sixth-grade tutors. The tutorial program was used in four of eight nearby schools. In these schools, remedial instruction for low-performing students following each unit of the reading program was administered by trained tutors and the teacher; in the other four schools the same remedial instruction was conducted by the teacher only. Pupil performance for both groups was compared, a tutor observation scale was developed to observe behavioral differences between trained and untrained tutors, and responses to a tutor questionnaire were collected. This report presents the rationale used to formulate the tutorial program, describes the formative evaluation procedures used to develop the program, presents data related to the effectiveness of the initial program, and describes the revised tutorial program. Aspects of the development procedures which have general applicability for the preparation of tutorial programs for similar curriculums are also detailed. Tables, figures, and appendixes are included. (AW)