<a href="../97/10/peer.txt">Peer Tutoring / Homogeneous Grouping</a>
Make the advanced students help out the slower kids instead of
offering advanced classes

From:             sleeper@warwick.net
Date sent:        Fri, 19 Dec 1997 15:33:16 -0800
Send reply to:    sleeper@warwick.net
To:               Cheri Pierson Yecke <cyecke@pen.k12.va.us>
Copies to:        education-consumers@tricon.net
Subject:          Re: Quick response needed!!

Dear Cheri:

How is this for an anecdote:

First connect 'peer tutoring' with 'homogeneous groupings'.

(They usually go together anyways and accelerated classes go out the
door.  Remember you can not have one with the other.)  

Then tell how the child that excels at certain subjects is now required
to 'facilitate' children who exhibit 'slower' learning abilities. This,
instead of 'enriching' their own learning abilities.  

This has a dramatic effect on the 'peer totor's' abilities to learn more
indepth and complicated subject matter due to the fact that instead of
'enriching' their abilities they must now 'enhance' other's learning
abilities.

>From personal experience, I have seen what happenes to children that are
offered through their schools 'Accelerated Classes programs' in the
basic subjects, (Math, Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies) and
their rankings National Wide, they excel, usually in the top 10% nation
wide.  The schools also are usually rated better 'over all' then schools
that do not offer these programs

Now compare them to Children whose schools offer only a 'homogeneous'
learning environment coupeled with the 'group learning'/'peer tutoring'
stratagies. They do not have the access to and/or the 'school time' to a
more rigorous indepth study of the subject matters and hence they can
not score as high in the national tests, for no other fact than lack of
knowledge.  There schools on the other hand are usually rated near the
bottom or middle 'over all'.

I bet that if someone did a study(have they by the way? anyone know?) on
these two types of school based learning environments coupeled with
'academic achievment' on the SAT's and other National tests, they would
find out what we parents have found out:

That if your school offers a 'good' Accelerated Learning Program for all
the basic subjects at all grade levels, beginning at 1st grade all the
way upto and including 12th grade, and your child is in them, then they
will learn more, learn better and score higher; then the child in the
school that does not offer these same programs, yet, also expects your
child to help 'facilitate' the other students.

Think about it this way;
Kids are going to suffer academically wise right off the bat because
they are going to be put back in their 'regular grade' classes. 

Children that were learning 10th grade level subject matter but were in
9th grade last year, who are now in 10th grade, are going to have to sit
through the same 10th grade subject matter class and facilitate other
students learning abilities!  

So instead of 'advancing' to 11th grade subject matter they are inaffect
being held back a year 'academically wise'.  This is not a good thing.

It happened in our school.

Over a 6 year period they have removed EVERY single advanced class. 
Last year was the last class.  As of the beginning of the 1997 school
year our whole school is now a 'homogeneous learning environment
coupeled with group learning clusters'.  Only a few parents complained,
and they were labeled 'uncooperative' for not being willing to allow
their children to 'help' the less fortunate students. 

Sincerely yours,
Sleeper


  

It's only 'Common Sense'!
 
Unfortunately the Educational Establishment refuses to believe that
'Common Sense' exists!

For every action there is an equal and opposit reaction!





Cheri Pierson Yecke wrote:
> 
> A reporter from the Washington Post called me and asked about
> peer tutoring.
> 
>         Does anyone have a copy of the posting about peer tutoring,
> where a child was not getting her work done because all of the students
> in her class were lined up at her desk for help?  I recall seeing it on
> this list some time ago, and I thought this would be an excellent
> anecdote for why peer tutoring is NOT an appropriate fulltime activity
> for high ability children - they wind up taking care of other's academic
> needs while their own go unfulfilled.
> 
>         I will be happy to forward anything else you send which
> addresses this topic.  He has a deadline, so send ASAP, if you will.
> 
>                 Cheri Yecke
> EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE
EDUCATION CONSUMERS CLEARINGHOUSE