Evaluating the Tall Buddies peer mentoring program for struggling readers

Promoting Self-Esteem Through Mentoring

Teachers are faced with several major challenges that place increasing stress on them. They are faced with a federal mandate to increase overall reading scores and to make certain that every child performs to at least minimal standards. Teachers are also plagued by behavioral problems the complicate their job of improving reading scores. The final product of this study will be a guide to help teachers institute a program to service 6th graders that are at-risk struggling readers due to emotional, social, or behavioral problems. It will assess the effectiveness and serve as a guide for implementing the "Tall Buddy" program in elementary schools.

Teachers struggle to find new methods to help at-risk students. Reading proficiency is closely tied to self-esteem and the absence of behavioral issues. The theory behind "tall buddies" is that students learn best from their peers because they can relate to them. Tall Buddies provides younger children with older mentors in hopes that it will encourage them to improve their self-esteem, resolve behavioral issues and improve their reading scores. This study will evaluate the effectiveness and issues surrounding the "Tall Buddies" program. I will discuss ways that teachers can implement this program into their classroom as another part of their arsenal in struggle to make certain that all students achieve the necessary reading standards.

Purpose of the Study:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and ease of implementation of the Tall Buddies program in an elementary school. It will evaluate the theoretical background of the program, the ease of implementation, and the effectiveness of the program in alleviating the difficulties experienced by struggling first grade readers.

Importance of the Study

Teachers face an overwhelming number of special challenges. Among these challenges are escalating numbers of students who are categorized as emotionally or behaviorally troubled. They are also facing heavier workloads to a need to fill a number of non-teaching roles in the children's personal lives. This study will support my belief that helping troubled 6th graders to feel capable, connected and as if they are contributing members of the school will result in a decrease in behavioral problems, as well as having the added effect of increasing their self-esteem. These two elements are necessary if we are to improve students' success in academics. Tall Buddies will help students behave more responsibly in all areas of their life, particularly academics. Tall buddies will improve the reading skills of both Tall Buddies and Small Buddies to ensure that all students become proficient readers.

First grade is a critical stage in any child's academic career. First graders that have difficulty reading quickly fall behind their classmates. First graders that have difficulty reading by the end of the school year will have challenges that last throughout their school career. In order to measure the success of the Tall Buddies program teachers should take a baseline before Tall Buddies begins and then re-evaluate through out the tutoring program.

Critical to the success of the program is that when a Tall Buddy is chosen, they have a choice to with draw at any time without fear of penalty. Tall Buddies cannot be used as a potential privilege that can be taken away to correct discipline problems. For instance, the student cannot be threatened by holding participation in the program over their head for problems such as not turning in homework or completing assignments. These habits have often been in place for many years and they cannot be broken instantaneously. Success of the program depends on the ability to avoid negative feelings towards it. The goals of the program should be to strive for progress towards the wanted behavior, not perfection.

Section 2: Literature Review

Theoretical support for the Tall Buddy program is based on the connection between academic success, behavioral problems and self-esteem. The Tall Buddy program will make 6th grade students feel connected with the school, capable of performing a task, and will raise their self-esteem. Self-esteem is the root of many behavioral issues and academic problems. Raising self-esteem will resolve many of these problems for students. This literature will review academic literature that supports the theoretical basis for the Tall Buddies program.

The Effects of Self-Esteem

Low self-esteem has been linked to reduced productivity and less than peak performance (Emler, 2002). In addition, those with low self-esteem are likely to cause problems in the world around them (Emler, 2002). There is a connection between low self-esteem and behavioral problems. This is true for both children and adults. Self-esteem drives people to strive for higher goals. They are not afraid of failure and are focused on the chance for success. Schools are not only there to impart facts of information, they are there to help them build strong social and interpersonal skills as well.

Damage to a child's self-esteem in the younger grades will carry over into the later grades as well (Emler, 2002). Not all students with low self-esteem will have behavior problems in school. There is a long-standing belief that low self-esteem is predictive of poor behavior in school. However, this correlation was not found to hold true in all cases (Emler, 2002). Low self-esteem has been found to be a risk in suicide, drug use, and educational underachievement (Emler, 2002).

Self-esteem is an important factor in the ability to cope with the challenges of life. Self-esteem leads to the belief that one has the capacity to achieve what they want to do and that they are deserving of happiness in life (Walz, 1991). School climate is an important factor in the development of self-esteem in students. Schools that target self-esteem as a major school-wide goal found that their students were more successful academically as well (California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem). Self-esteem prepares students to have the coping skills necessary to face the challenges of difficult tasks (Waltz and Bleuer, in press).

Research found that this attitude of effort and connectedness to the school and the academics drove American Asian students to perform more highly than their Anglo American counterparts even given cultural and language barriers that were presented (Hwang, 1995).

A recent study of American Asian students, compared to other students, showed that the attitude and belief that situations are in their control is the reason for differences between the performance of American Asian students and Asian students (Hwang, 1995). Students must be able to accomplish a task before they can become confident in their abilities it the future. Self-esteem is the key to success in any endeavor. High levels of self-esteem in combination with positive school, peer, and family connections are positive factors that reduce the risk of youth partaking in risky behavior (McClellan, 2002). High self-esteem helps students contribute to the school and community in which they live (McClellan, 2002).

Mentoring ahs been shown to have benefits for the mentor as well as the student. Peer-based mentoring programs for elementary aged children have been documented for a wide variety of demographic categories with similar results (Massey, 2000). Mentoring raises self-esteem according to academic sources (Massey, 2000). Mentoring challenges students to become leaders in an area in which they previously had difficulty.

Development/Approval of Project

Inspiration for this project stemmed from my experience as a Curriculum Support Teacher. I was inspired in 2005 by a very difficult group of 5th graders that would soon be going into the 6th grade. Teachers continually complained about low test scores due to discipline problems with this group of students. While reading the book. "Cooperative Discipline" by Linda Albert, I developed the idea that if we could focus on building relationships with this group of 5th graders, then the discipline problems might decrease. Albert's book presented the idea that if students feel capable, connected, and that they are contributing members of the school, then behavior problems disappear.

With this concept in mind, I began to develop a plan to help with six major behavior problems that teachers were experiencing. I wanted to develop a concrete plan to make the students feel capable, connected, and that they were contributing members of the school environment. Tall Buddies was the result of these efforts.

How was the project developed?

This project was developed through a need to improve behaviors in 6th graders and reading skills in 1st graders. The Tall Buddy program was developed in an attempt to accomplish both of these goals at once. It was inspired through the reading of "Cooperative Discipline" by Linda Albert. Development of this project relied on the idea the 6th graders were capable of helping 1st graders. They already have their reading skill set developed and helping other struggling students might help them to feel more at ease.

Who did you involve in the developmental process and why?

In order to make Tall Buddies a success, I needed to enlist the help of teachers to determine which students might benefit the most from the program. Collectively, we decided that students with low self-esteem could benefit from the program the most. I knew that I could maintain at least 10 students throughout the program, but I needed to enlist other non-behaviorally challenged students as well. Teachers aided in this decision and offered their support for the program.

Permission to implement the program had to be obtained from school principal, Marcie Nichols. This program would take approximately 30-40 minutes of time four days a week. Teachers were consulted to determine if they thought that Tall Buddies would be a good use of this additional time. They agreed with the principal that the Tall Buddies program would be time well spent. In order for the project to be a success, we had to take our time with the sixth graders. They had to feel that they were capable of doing the tasks required of them.

How will it be implemented in other schools.

The Tall Buddy program is highly adaptable to a number of school settings and situations. It was designed to be customized to the individual needs of the school systems. It is designed for elementary schools, first through sixth grade. Schools can exercise creativity in the design of their Tall Buddy tutoring program. The Tall Buddy program includes instructions to prepare for and begin a school-based tutoring program for reading. It includes instructions for how to select 6th graders and 1st graders that meet the criteria of the program. It also includes lessons and materials designed to help teach 6th graders how to tutor 1st graders.

Training of the 6th Graders is of utmost importance. Tutoring requires knowledge of proper technique. The goal of the program is to produce tutors that are effective at improving reading skills. Many 6th graders might have the skills to read themselves, but teaching someone else requires a certain skill set that they might not have. The training of 6th graders needs to be monitored carefully so that they know how to train the necessary skills to their small Buddy. This is an essential element to the success of the program. If the 6th graders do not know how to teach reading, their small buddies will never improve.

After the 6th graders successfully complete training, they will meet with their Small Buddy 3 days a week. One day a week the Tall Buddy trainer will meet with the Tall Buddies for debriefing, celebrations and further training. This meeting serves several purposes. First, is helps to build the relationship between the Tall Buddies and the trainer. Secondly, it allows the Tall Buddy time to bring up any questions or concerns that they might have in the training of their Small Buddy. This meeting will also build confidence and give the trainer an excellent chance to provide positive reinforcement and to offer encouragement. The weekly meeting will give the trainer a chance to monitor the program to assure that it is progressing smoothly.

Another aspect of training that is necessary is to assure that Small Buddies are treated respectfully by their Tall Buddies. It cannot be assumed that all Tall Buddies are aware of the basic rules of interaction, especially since they may have behavioral issues. Trainers need to make certain that Tall Buddies know how to behave appropriately around their Small Buddies. They need to learn appropriate behavior like how to pick up kids politely and respectfully to and from tutoring sessions. They need to learn how to use praise and simple, but effective intervention strategies, should problems with the Small Buddy occur. Tall Buddies need to be monitored to make certain that they understand the basic rules of interaction with Small Buddies. It is essential for everyone that this is a positive experience for everyone.

It is not enough to train Tall Buddies. They need to be able to demonstrate that they have mastered the fundamentals of working with their Small Buddy. There is quite a bit of room for creativity in this respect. Teachers can devise their own fun ways to get Tall Buddies to practices their skills under the watchful eye of the trainer. Some of the possible activities that will accomplish this goal are whole group response, paring off students to work on cooperative learning activities and role playing are only a few of the possible activities that can be used for this purpose.

Implementation

Preparation for implementation began before the target 5th grader group left for Summer Break that year. I visited each 5th grade classroom and gave them the details of the program. I passed around a sign-up sheet for students that were interested in participation. The response was overwhelming and almost every member of the 5th grade classed signed-up. This served two purposes. The first was that is provided a preliminary estimate of how well received the program might be for the student body. Keep in mind that the teachers chose who would participate in the program. The sign up sheet made participants feel special because they had been selected from the crowd for a very special task. They would help a 1st grader who was struggling in reading.

At the beginning of the following school year, the 6th graders had a two-week training programs, as outlined in detail in the project portion. This training session helped to build rapport between the students and trainer. It was the first step to facilitating a sense of "belonging" in the school system. This was seen as a bonding period for the students and trainer. The second goal that this training session accomplished was to teach students the important components of the reading tutoring program.

Once the Tall Buddies were trained, the Small Buddies were chosen, based on assessments by teachers. The two groups were introduced. The program ran for 8 weeks, at which time the first grade teachers revisited the assessments performed earlier. Many students were able to graduate from the program, while others remained in the program for an additional 8 weeks. At the end of the year, 6th grade teachers passed out certificates for many different reasons during 6th grade graduation. Students that participated in Tall Buddies received a certificate and public recognition for their efforts in making a difference in a first grader's life. This will serve as incentive for students to participate in subsequent years.

Section 4: Evaluation

Upon completion of the program, an evaluation was performed that asked both 1st and 6th grade teachers for their feedback. Feedback was analyzed qualitatively. Although quantitative methods would provide absolute benchmarks and a yes/no answer as to the performance of the program, it was felt that quantitative measures in this case would lack the helpful commentary and constructive criticism that would help to make improvements to the program. Qualitative feedback will not provide a definitive yes/no answer as to whether program benchmarks have been met. However, it will provide the most useful information regarding the effectiveness and improvement of the program. A summary of the information contained in these evaluations follows.

The following information was gleaned from the evaluations. The information was coded into categories and the number of teachers reporting this category were numerically tallied.

Number of Teachers Reporting

Increased connection between management and students

Taught 6th graders punctuality

Taught 6th graders Preparedness

Taught 6th graders responsibility

Taught 6th graders teamwork

Improved 1st grade reading skills

Improved image of troubled 6th graders

Reduced behavioral issues in 6th graders

Raised self-esteem of 6th graders

Indicated they would implement Tall Buddies in the future

Felt the program was an overall success

Was well received by the students

Connectedness to the school emerged as a key issue in controlling disruptive behavior. A feeling of connectedness to the school not only prevented behavioral problems, but also motivated students to work hard and get good grades. Tall Buddies helped disconnected 6th graders become connected. Teachers found that Tall Buddies taught 6th graders responsibility, teamwork, punctuality, and how to be prepared. It helped 6th graders that were seen in a bad light become recognized for a positive contribution. This gave them a sense of accomplishment and success. Sixth graders were found to put more effort into school, which had the effect of improving their grades. Tall buddies raised the self-esteem of 6 thgraders, taking them from being behavioral problems to becoming role models in many cases.

Teachers also felt that the program was well-written and easy to implement. The overall response of students and teachers was a positive one. Teachers felt the program was an overall success. Students that participated in the program enjoyed participating in the program. One teacher commented that unlike an intervention program, participation in this program did not carry a negative stigma. Students were proud to participate.

One of the key differences in implementation that was found among the schools that participated in the evaluation was that the group chosen to participate varied. One teacher said that the group was homogeneous, another teacher called the participation group heterogeneous, one that included a number of high and low achievers. The second teacher also indicated that it contained both well-behaved students and those with problem behavior.

The Tall Buddy program was aimed towards students that have behavioral problems. However, it became apparent through the evaluation process that some schools missed this key point and included students that were high achievers without behavioral problems. This reveals a potential improvement that could be made to the text of Tall Buddies in the future.

This response also brings up another point that was not considered during the development of the program. Tall Buddies was designed for students at-risk for behavioral problems. However, it might also have a dramatic effect on students that are high achievers. It could be expected that Tall Buddies would have the same effect on self-esteem and the development of leadership skills that it had on reducing behavior problems in the low achieving group. Further research might be able to compare the effects of Tall Buddies on low achieving groups in comparison with high achieving groups.

One of the key delimitations of the evaluation of the program is that teachers attributed success of the students with behavioral problems to the Tall Buddies program. However, there is no way to determine if this was indeed the case from an empirical standpoint. Tall Buddies may have been the single factor that caused changes in the students. However, before this determination can be made, one has to eliminate all other factors that could change student behavior. It may be that teachers treated the students with more respect and that this was the reason for the change. It is not known if any of the schools that participated instituted policy changes that may account for this apparent success.

Until a formal academic study is conducted regarding the success of the program in boosting student self-confidence and reducing behavioral problems, one cannot conclude that Tall Buddies was the single reason for these changes. However, the overwhelming positive results and opinions of the teachers stand as testimony that the Tall Buddies program does result in some positive change within the classroom. Tall Buddies represents a change in attitudes regarding how behavior problems are dealt with in the schools. Instead of using negative interventions based on punishment, Tall Buddies transforms the students through building self-esteem and positive reinforcement. It turns a negative into a positive. Tall Buddies attacks the root of behavioral and academic problems, rather than trying to treat the symptom of the malady rather than the cause. Tall Buddies changes the way schools deal with discipline problems.

There was an indication that Tall Buddies was not 100% effective in all cases. However, even if Tall Buddies did not have a dramatic effect on all students, it did have at least some effect on every student that participated. One of the key drawbacks mentioned was the time involved in the program. Schedules are demanding and it is difficult to work in time for the program. This was the only negative comment reported by any teacher in the program.

While it is important to read, write and do math, it is equally important to build a healthy self-esteem and self-concept so as the student advances, and the work becomes more self-directed and difficult the student has the tools in self-confidence to move into that level. A program in which students with low self-esteem are partnered with younger students to help them with their work and their general school existence will help the older student realize they are a vital and positive contributor to the school. Helping the student feel connected with the school will help that student develop a more healthy attitude towards academics as well.

Conclusion

Tall Buddies was developed to fill an apparent need in the school system. Schools need to increase reading scores and decrease bad school behavior. One of the key difficulties in setting up the program was finding the time in the busy schedule to implement the program. Intervention programs take significant time away from the classroom. However, teachers would have to take time away from the classroom for any intervention program. Therefore, this problem is not unique to the Tall Buddies program.

An evaluation of the Tall Buddies program indicated that it was an overwhelming success, both from the standpoint of the teachers and students. Teacher found that Tall Buddies improved academic scores and decreased behavior problems. Students were pleased with the program and eager to participate. Overall, this program was an overwhelming success and achieved the goals that it intended to accomplish when it was first conceived

In the future, more studies need to be conducted in order to establish that Tall Buddies was the reason for the positive changes that were seen by the schools. Studies need to be conducted that isolate the Tall Buddies and the independent variable in order to determine if Tall Buddies was the real reason behind the changes that were admitted during this course of this study.

Tall Buddies encompasses changes from the inside. It treats the root of the problem, rather than by attacking the individual symptoms. Tall Buddies is a sensible approach to be a growing problem in our schools. It represents a change from and antiquated punishment-based system to one that is more in line with modern philosophy. Positive reinforcement and encouragement go farther and produce better results than negative reinforcers. This is the key principle upon which Tall Buddies is based. Tall Buddies is an excellent resource for schools that wish to improve their reading scores, but that want to do it in a way that does not reduce self-esteem. Students get a sense of self-worth, while developing the ability to show self-control. Participating in Tall Buddies is an excellent way to build confidence, learn better organizational skills, and the social interactions needed to cope with everyday life.