Primary prevention of reading failure: Effect of universal peer tutoring in the early grades

ABSTRACT

Reading is typically considered a survival skill in our technology- and literacy-bound culture. Individuals who struggle with learning to read are at significantly elevated risk for a number of negative outcomes, including school failure, under- and unemployment, and special education placement. Thus, those who do not learn to read fluently will likely be a greater drain on society's resources. The authors examined the effects of a universal (school district-wide) implementation of a well-validated peer-tutoring reading intervention as a system-wide prevention measure in kindergarten through Grade 3 in a small metropolitan area in Canada. Results suggest that nearly all children demonstrated improved reading fluency over time. Yet those at highest-risk for poor outcomes, including those living in poverty and those who face learning challenges due to English as a second-language status or special education enrollment, did not make parallel gains to same-age peers in more affluent schools. Implications for educational policy are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Peer tutoring
• prevention
• reading acquisition

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments on the original draft of this manuscript. Additionally, Dr. Doug Fuchs at Vanderbilt University provided some very helpful comments several years ago, which informed our analytic plan.