Multi-Content Class Wide Peer Tutoring and Self-Management
Interventions: Research Improving Teaching Practice and Literacy
Outcomes for Middle School Students with Disabilities
in Urban Poverty and Suburban Schools
Debra M. Kamps, Cheryl A. Utley, and Charles R. Greenwood
ABSTRACT
A controversial issue in the education of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students (i.e., African-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American, and Asian-American), is the identification and sustained use of effective interventions in teaching content-area subjects. This is particularly critical in urban environments as illiteracy and academic failure are higher in certain populations of children (the poor, CLD, and the disabled), compared to their Euro-American counterparts. Evidence includes (a) lower standardized achievement test scores, (b) higher retention in same grade levels, (c) higher absenteeism, (d) over-representation in special education, and (e) higher dropout rates (U.S. Dept. of Education, 1997--the 19th Annual Report to Congress). Given higher expectations for academic achievement and standards for student conduct at the forefront of educational reform movements, general and special education teachers must be able to systematically apply principles of effective instruction and management across diverse student groups. It is imperative that curriculum programs and instructional solutions be documented as effective across CLD groups and for students with and without disabilities.
A program of research designed to improve the literacy of disadvantaged children in urban poverty schools has been validated by the Juniper Gardens Children's Project investigative team (e.g., Greenwood, 1996). Emerging from this work has been computerized assessment and data-based support for the use of ClassWide peer tutoring (CWPT) for elementary-aged students at-risk and with mild disabilities. Research has shown that students enrolled in CWPT in multiple subject areas (i.e., reading and math) acquire literacy skills faster, retain more of what they learn, and make greater advances in academic achievement when compared to traditional instructional methods. While CWPT has been experimentally validated, few studies have addressed (a) middle school populations, (b) multiple content areas demanding literacy skills (i.e., narrative and expository text), (c) CWPT combined with a behavioral component such as ClassWide Self-Management (CWSM), and (d) differences and similarities across urban and suburban schools.
The proposed project will conduct middle school studies in CWPT and CWSM. Group statistical and multiple baseline designs across classrooms will be used to investigate CWPT as an instructional procedure for accelerating reading, social studies, and science literacy in CLD students with and without disabilities, and CWPT in conjunction with CWSM to maximize student academic and behavioral outcomes. Project objectives address CFDA 84.324D Directed Research Priority Focus 2 -- to advance the knowledge base and effective educational practice via studies of (a) instructional interventions in core subjects, (b) contextual classroom variables supportive to effective instruction, and (c) accommodations for students with disabilities.
One hundred and eighty children with disabilities, and 900 peer classmates will directly benefit from these interventions. Other benefits include: (a) experimental-control group studies of CWPT and CWSM in middle school settings with documented effects for CLD students with and without disabilities, (b) school staff trained as site-based experts in program use, and (c) a procedural training manual for use of CWPT in middle school curriculum areas. Dissemination will include local/national training (e.g., CEC), and product disbursement (publications, CWPT manual/materials, interactive CD, and web-based materials).
