Tutor-assisted intensive learning strategies in kindergarten: How much is enough?

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of a tutoring intervention provided by community tutors to kindergarten students at risk for reading difficulties. The 73 students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: (a) tutoring 4 days a week, (b) tutoring 2 days a week, or (c) a control condition that provided small-group storybook reading 2 days a week. Children were administered reading and phonemic awareness pre- and posttreatment tests. Analyses revealed that students in the 4-day condition outperformed students in either the 2-day or control conditions on 3 reading measures. Effect sizes were .79, .90, and .83 on word identification, passage comprehension, and basic reading skills, respectively. Challenges and implications for managing community tutoring programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)