Supervision and Site of Instruction as Factors in Tutorial Programs

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of tutoring location and teacher supervision on the efficacy of cross-age tutoring for learning disabled children. In Experiment I third grade children were randomly assigned to be tutored in a resource room where the resource teacher did not actively supervise the tutoring, or in back of their classroom where other classroom activities were also taking place No differences were observed in the students' learning that were related to the location of instruction. In Experiment II the treatment conditions were similar to those in Experiment I except that the resource teacher actively supervised the tutors. Third grade students learned significantly more in the resource room than in the classroom. The results of the studies suggest that the site of tutoring is less important than is the extent of supervision provided by the teacher.