The Impact of a Peer-tutoring Model on the Academic Performance of Secondary Student

The Impact of A Peer-Tutoring Model on the Academic Performance of Secondary Students describes the impact of a peer-tutoring model in a secondary introductory computer science classroom, Information Technology Foundations (ITF), at a Midlands High School (MHS) (pseudonym), a suburban high school located in the Midlands region of South Carolina. The course is required for graduation and student-participants in the study were diverse in their ages and learning abilities. Matching one peer-tutor with five or six peer-tutees enabled student-participants to work through a Google Drive unit that was designed by the teacher-researcher. The research question: What is the impact of a peer-tutoring model on a group of heterogeneous multi-aged high school students with diverse learning abilities? drove the study. Action research methods were used to collect data with 17 students over a seven-week period in the Fall 2017 semester. Quantitative data in the form of a pre and post test and qualitative data in the form of semi-structured interviews, journals, and classroom observations were used to answer the research question. An action plan was designed to enable other teachers with heterogeneous, multi-aged groupings of students in their courses, to implement a peer-tutoring model for greater academic gains and student relationship building.