Hedriksen, S.I., & Yang, L. (2005). Assessing academic support: The effects of tutoring on student learning outcomes. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 35(2), 56-65.

This article describes the developments in the assessment journey of a tutoring academic support program in a community college. The goal of our study was to determine if the Learning Center was doing what it said it was doing and what it could do to improve its services. Traditionally, the center had been evaluated on such accomplishments as serving a growing number of students. In this study, the Learning Center made a significant shift to assessment in terms of student learning outcomes. This initial process was not without reversals and constraints, as the center reexamined its goals and searched for measures of student learning. While the results confirmed the center was meeting its student learning outcomes, the data and process also stimulated many questions.

Stewart. T.C. (2005). From the inside: The developmental student and the tutoring experience. The Learning Assistance Review, 10(1), 5-14.

This research involves an examination of the experience a developmental student had as an informal tutor and how that role became a form of cultural capital and identity for her. When the experience ended, the student lost one of the few forms of capital she had in an academic setting. Through phenomenological interviewing, this study examines this student's experience. This study also theorizes on the role tutoring plays as a form of cultural capital and identity and how developmental programs can foster this kind of tutoring, ensuring that developmental students have an opportunity to gain confidence in the college setting by serving--even in limited ways--as tutors.

Chadwick, S.A., & McGuire, S.P. (2004). Effects of relational communication training for tutors on tutee course grades. The Learning Assistance Review, 9(2), 29-40.

Tutor-tutee communication matters and can have an effect on academic performance. In this study, college student tutors were assigned to one of three training conditions: no training, learning styles training, and learning styles and relational communication training. Their tutees' grades were analyzed, showing a significant difference in academic performance between the no training and relational communication training conditions. Through focus groups and individuals interviews, tutees' observations of their tutors' relational communication behaviors were analyzed. Substantial differences in dominance, trust, and composure were observed.

Tessier, J. (2004). Using peer teaching to promote learning in biology. Journal of College Science Teaching, 36(6), 16-19.

A study examined whether peer teaching helps students perform better on exams than attending traditional lectures. Participants were 61 students at Central Connecticut State University who were enrolled in an introductory biology class for students preparing to become elementary teachers. The results revealed that students performed best on exam questions based on the material they taught, that student test averages increased significantly after their teaching experience, and that this improvement was most pronounced for struggling students.

Tincani, M. (2004). Improving outcomes for college students with disabilities. College Teaching, 52(4), 128-132.

Federal legislation has increased the participation of students with disabilities in higher education, but they are less likely to attain a postsecondary degree than students without disabilities. In this paper, I discuss reasons for academic failure and illustrate ten strategies that instructors can implement to increase the academic success of students with disabilities. The ten strategies are an accessible syllabus, study objectives, study guides, frequent tests, remedial activities, guided notes, responses cards, peer tutoring, fluency building, and feedback.

Good, J.M., and Ley, T.C. (2002). Ideas in practice: When older readers and younger readers meet. Journal of Developmental Education, 26(1), 20-28.

To encourage older students (high-needs, college-level students involved in developmental education) to develop their own literacy skills while also providing an opportunity for them to interact with youth from the surrounding community, a program model entitled "Community Days" was designed for university freshmen enrolled in a developmental studies course. The program model includes the following components: (a) the older students are taught a variety of prereading, during reading, and postreading strategies which they apply to their own reading processes in order to help them construct meaning; (b) the older students spend an introductory session at the library learning various search methods; (c) the older students search for a selection of children's literature that would be appropriate for a specified age group; (d) the older students plan and explain the use of specific prepreading, during reading, and postreading activities in order to engage an audience in their chosen text; (e) the older students visit a local public school where they read the books to kindergarten and elementary school-aged children, engaging the students in the predetermined reading activities; (f) the older students reflect in writing on their own reading process and the reading processes of others. The theoretical underpinnings of this model are discussed, and responses from the older students illustrate their perceptions of the experience.

Bean, J., & Eaton, S.B. (2001). The psychology underlying successful retention practices. Journal of College Student Retention Research, Theory & Practice, 3(1), 73-89.

This article describes the psychological processes that lead to academic and social integration based on a retention model proposed by the authors (Bean & Eaton, 2000). It also describes how successful retention programs such as learning communities, freshman interest groups, tutoring, and orientation rely on psychological processes. Four psychological theories form the basis for our recommendations: attitude-behavior theory which provides the overall structure of the theoretical model, and coping behavioral (approach-avoidance) theory, self-efficacy theory, and attribution (locus of control) theory that lead to academic and social integration.

Lally, C.G. (2001). Service/Community learning and foreign language teaching methods: An application. Active Learning in Higher Education, 2(1), 53-63.

A service learning component was included in a foreign language teaching methods course at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The component required the teacher education students to tutor or teach local elementary, middle and high school students. The component benefited the university students by allowing them to witness and engage in foreign language education, use their own materials, better prepare for their student teacher and teacher roles, legitimize their position as educators, and gain first-hand experience in service learning pedagogy; benefited the community by providing linguistic instruction to students and staffing for schools; and benefited the university by increasing its presence in the community and renewing and authenticating the course. All stakeholders felt that the activity resulted in social and academic gains. The undertaking also showed that service learning does not have to be an artificial element or a sole consideration of a course, embrace a political agenda, or be expensive and cumbersome.

Yonhong, X., Hartman, S. Uribe, G., & Mencke, R. (2001). The effects of peer tutoring on undergraduate students' final examination scores in mathematics. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 32(1), 22-31.

This article demonstrates that tutorial assistance, independent of variables of gender, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score, math placement level, and high school grade point average (GPA), has a significant effect on students' final examination scores in a mathematics course. It finds that math performance of the selected sample had a positive relationship to students' SAT score, high school GPA, and math placement level.

Karides, M. & Misra, J. (1999). The mass class and teaching assistants: A case for discussion exercises. American Sociologist, 30(4), 72-90.

In this article we discuss some of the structural limitations confronting teaching assistants and professors of mass classrooms. We bridge research that explains and describes the teaching conditions created by mass education with exercises that help teaching assistants provoke discussion and attain teaching skills, and provide professors a means of coordinating uniformity in teaching assistant instruction. We propose that instructors equipped with a well-thought-out series of teaching exercises before the beginning of a semester may help in the training of their teaching assistants and provide a cohesive manner to guide course development. Structured classroom exercises that focus on sociological concepts can help teaching assistants create an engaging learning experience for the undergraduate students in mass classes. We present a number of classroom exercises that teaching assistants can use to provoke discussion in a number of sociological areas typically covered by introductory courses.

Tucker, J.E. (1999). Tinto's model and successful college transitions. College Student Retention Research, Theory & Practice, 1(2), 163-162.

This article compares the themes of academic integration and social integration in Tinto's model (1987) with the themes of vision and sense of community as described in a recent ethnographic study (Tucker, 1998). Tinto's model has been used in a variety of college settings to develop Freshman Interest Groups as a method of improving student persistence (Upcraft & Gardiner, 1989). However, Tinto himself notes that while " ...retention programs have helped some students complete their college education, their long-term impact on retention has been surprisingly limited" (1996). I argue that vision and sense of community contain more useful theoretical considerations to help us address the issue of student retention programs at colleges. Tinto (1987) has developed a theoretical model, which may need to be reconsidered.

Tinto, V. (1998). Colleges as communities: Taking research on student persistence seriously. The Review of Higher Education, 21(2), 167-177.

What would our colleges and universities look like if we took seriously the research on student persistence? What reforms in organization and pedagogy would we pursue if we used the findings on the impacts on college on students; persistence as a guide for our thinking? This paper argues that colleges and universities would be best served by reorganizing themselves in ways that promote greater educational community among students, faculty, and staff.

Kuh, G.D., & Vesper, N. (1997). A comparison of student experiences with good practices in undergraduate education between 1990 and 1994. The Review of Higher Education, 21(1), 43-61.

Good practices in undergraduate education consist of faculty and student behaviors associated with desired outcomes from attending college. This study compares the experiences of two groups of lower-division undergraduates with good practices at baccalaureate institutions and doctoral-granting universities between 1990 and 1994. During this period, the frequency of student-faculty interaction increased at baccalaureate institutions. However, at doctoral-granting universities faculty-student interaction and active learning decreased.

Warren, B. Z. & Tonsetic, R. (1997-1998). Supporting large classes with supplemental instruction (SI). Journal of Staff, Program & Organizational Development, 15(2), 47-54.

This article describes a study that compares the performance of students enrolled in supplemental instruction (SI) with those who were not, during four undergraduate courses at the University of Central Florida. It indicates that there were significant differences in grades between SI and non-SI students in biology and chemistry, but not in calculus and American government.