Prof writing & proposal Devel(DSRT 837)

5 SOLVING THE INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT BUDGET CRISES. A QUANTITATIVE

STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORS IN IMPROVING MIDDLE GRADES READING COMPREHENSION.

Introduction, Purpose of the Study,

and Review Of Literature Introduction

Statement of the Problem

Research has consistently proven that budget cuts are the norm for Kentucky public

school finance in the era beginning with the turn of the millennium (Bailey, 2013).

Moreover, with this new norm, districts and individual schools have grown accustomed to

finding new solutions to the problems that arise as a result of budget cuts (Kornbluh, 2012).

Budget cuts often leave programs under-funded or unfunded altogether, reduce the amount of

instructional support staff available, lead to larger class sizes, and reduce interventions for

at-risk populations (Bailey, 2013). However, amidst the continued budget cuts, state level

legislatures have continued to reform Kentucky education and ratchet up the expectations and

standards for performance (Bryant, 2017).

Rationale for Research

As previously mentioned, consistent school budget cuts have caused school and

district leaders to become creative in replacing services and personnel they are accustomed to

having. Some services, in particular, are alternative education schools and at-risk student

interventions; additionally, having an instructional assistant available has proven to be an

education saving role for at-risk students. However, when schools are impacted by regular

budget cuts, these are the first programs to go. One recent solution has been to use other

students to engage in peer teaching and peer tutoring as a way to replace the missing services

and instructional assistants previously used to enhance the learning of at-risk students. While

6 SOLVING THE INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT BUDGET CRISES. A QUANTITATIVE

STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORS IN IMPROVING MIDDLE GRADES READING COMPREHENSION.

significant research has been conducted before the 2000s era on the effectiveness of peer

teaching, little research is available to determine the effectiveness of peer tutoring on student

performance on the standardized assessment.

Audience and Stakeholders that Could Benefit from this Research

All research seeks to reach a targeted audience. In this project, the potential audience

that will be impacted by this research is school building level leaders, district-level leaders,

site-based councils, school boards, and teacher leaders. District-level leaders are constantly

being hammered with budget cuts that require them to make tough decisions about how

funding will be allocated; therefore, the information presented in this research will aid them

in making financial decisions that will impact instruction. Building level leaders are problem

solvers, and many are faced with the same problem researched in this study. The results of

this could prove beneficial in planning for personnel. School councils, school boards, and

teacher leader will also benefit from this research as a way to change the paradigm of what

21st-century at-risk intervention could appear to be.

Limitations and Assumptions

One school has been selected for research in this project. This school was selected

based on convenience. In one school year, 127 peer tutors will be used in some capacity to

improve the learning of the students and classrooms they are assigned to. Therefore, this

study is limited to studying pre and post standardized assessment of the students directly

affected by small group or 1:1 peer tutors. Moreover, this study is limited to assessing the

growth of students in the subject area of reading only. The study assumes the participants will

7 SOLVING THE INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT BUDGET CRISES. A QUANTITATIVE

STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PEER TUTORS IN IMPROVING MIDDLE GRADES READING COMPREHENSION.

have given their best effort to answer questions to the best of their knowledge on the pre and

post standardized assessment.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to determine if the use of peer tutoring is effective in

improving a struggling student’s performance from fall to spring reading NWEA MAP

assessment. In order to determine effectiveness of peer tutors, students impacted by peer

tutoring instruction will have their fall and spring NWEA MAP scores analyzed for expected

growth. In an effort to focus the researcher, the following research question was developed:

RQ: Does the use of peer tutors improve reading NWEA MAP growth of at-risk

students?

Definition of Terms

Peer tutor- The concept of one student providing instruction with other student(s) in a school

learning situation which is planned and directed by a teacher (Wagner, 1980).

Peer tutee- A student(s) that receive instruction from another student in a learning instruction

under the direction of the teacher (Wagner, 1980).