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ABSTRACT
We evaluated the effects of TutorBright tutoring on the reading and mathematics skills of children in family foster care, examined several potential moderators of the impact of tutoring, and explored possible ‘spill-over’ effects on the children’s executive functioning and behavioural difficulties and on their caregivers’ level of involvement in schoolwork in the home. The sample consisted of 70 children in care in Ontario, Canada. At the pre-test, the children were aged 5–16 years (M = 10.41, SD = 2.94) and enrolled in school grades 1–11 (M = 5.53, SD = 2.90). Thirty-four children were randomly assigned to tutoring and 36 to a waiting list control condition. Seven subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) achievement test served as outcome measures. The tutored children made statistically greater gains than those in the control group on the WJ-III subtests of Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension, and Mathematics Calculation, but not on Word Reading, Spelling, Math Fluency, or Applied Math Problems. Age, executive functioning, caregiver controlling involvement in schoolwork, and self-reported post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms were found to moderate the effectiveness of tutoring. There were no spill-over effects of tutoring. The implications of the results for improving foster children’s reading and mathematics skills were discussed.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the families who participated in the study as well as the collaborating staff at the participating Children’s Aid Society and TutorBright.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Andrea J. Hickey
Andrea J. Hickey, PhD, C. Psych is a psychologist in supervised practice in Ottawa, Ontario. She recently completed her PhD thesis under the supervision of Dr. Robert J. Flynn at the University of Ottawa. Her thesis assessed the effectiveness of three academic interventions for children in care. She is interested in the evaluation of interventions that try to improve academic outcomes for children in care as well as research that examines the factors that predict academic outcomes for children at risk of academic difficulties.
Robert J. Flynn
Robert J. Flynn is an emeritus professor in the School of Psychology and a senior researcher at the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services at the University of Ottawa (Ontario, Canada). Each year, he and his research team evaluate the service needs and psychological, social, educational, and health outcomes of some 5,000 children, adolescents, and young adults residing in foster, kinship, customary, or group care in Ontario. Annual feedback is provided to the province and local Children’s Aid Societies. He and his students have also carried out several randomised trials of academic tutoring that have shown that tutoring produces gains in reading and mathematics in children in care.