I sit down at the dining table with papers laid out in front of me. I can’t figure out practice problem six for my quiz in two days. I call out my older brother’s name. He sits down beside me to explain which formula I should use and why.
Though I don’t live with my brother, having family members help me through any schoolwork is a daily occurrence. My parents have taken the courses I’m currently enrolled in. They also have the time and patience to walk me through any roadblocks I encounter. Similarly, I am at hand to assist my sister.
This is far from the case for everyone.
Not everyone has support from home when completing schoolwork. 23.1% of high school students do not receive any help from their parents, found by a 2007 NCES survey, for several reasons. “For [the parents], school experiences, economic and time constraints, and linguistic and cultural practices have produced a body of knowledge about school settings that frequently goes unacknowledged,” voice Margaret Finders and Cynthia Lewis on ascd.org.
There may not be a direct relationship, but a tutor can help a lot.
Peer tutoring is a well-established practice and has shown much success at many institutions. Help hours are common for many college classes, and universities might have more direct peer tutoring systems. ““I think part of the reason peer tutoring is so effective is that peer tutors are students and know what it is like to grope with their writing,” said Sheila M. Reindl, director of the Harvard University Writing Center.” Holding office or help hours and having a system of peer review in writing centers is common in colleges and the effective peer tutoring ideology should be brought into more high schools.
A Tennessee peer-tutoring program, Peer Power, is helping to pave the path. In 2005, Charlie McVean started a Peer Power group at his Memphis alma mater, East High School. Peer Power, which pays students to tutor and help students who are ‘left in the dark,’ proved to be very successful and increased the school’s algebra scores by 16 percentage points.
Some believe helping their peers isn’t a role for students, believing it is the teacher’s role or maybe ‘the blind leading the blind.’ “Mr. Kail and others said peer tutoring provided opportunities not always available in a traditional classroom setting. Students with similar backgrounds can sometimes explain concepts to one another more easily than an instructor. Additionally, they often ask their peer tutors questions they might not otherwise raise for fear of appearing ignorant,” states Jillian Mincer in the New York Times.
Given the benefits to both tutor and student, along with the positive impact on schools themselves, school districts should implement peer-tutoring programs and systems.
