USING CLASSWIDE PEER TUTORING TO TEACH BEGINNING ALGEBRA PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS IN HETEROGENEOUS CLASSROOMS

THIS STUDY EXAMINED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING CLASSWIDE PEER TUTORING (CWPT) IN HETEROGENEOUS MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH CLASSROOMS TO TEACH STUDEN TS IN BEGINNING ALGEBRA PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS. THE LITERATURE ON CWPT DEMONSTRATES ITS EFFECTIVENESS WITH BASIC ACADEMIC SKILLS, BUT LITTLE RESEARCH ADDRESSES WHETHER CWPT CAN BE EFFECTIVE FOR TEACHING HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS. THIS STUDY COMPARED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CWPT W ITH TRADITIONAL INDEPENDENT STUDENT PRACTICE. ADDITIONALLY, THE PERFOR MANCE OF STUDENTS AT RISK OF MATH FAILURE (STUDENTS WHOSE GRADE IN MAT H WAS A D OR AN F AND/OR WHO SCORED A STANINE OF 3 OR LOWER IN THE MAT H SECTION ON A STANDARDIZED ASSESSMENT) WAS COMPARED WITH THE PERFORMA NCE OF STUDENTS NOT AT RISK OF MATH FAILURE. AN ANALYSIS OF THE DATA I NDICATES THAT BOTH CWPT AND INDEPENDENT STUDENT PRACTICE WERE EFFECTIV E STRATEGIES FOR HELPING STUDENTS TO LEARN BEGINNING ALGEBRA PROBLEM-S OLVING SKILLS. NEITHER STRATEGY WAS SIGNIFICANTLY MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THE OTHER. STUDENTS AT RISK OF MATH FAILURE DEMONSTRATED SLIGHTLY GREA TER PERFORMANCE GAINS THAN DID STUDENTS NOT AT RISK OF MATH FAILURE. R ELATED FINDINGS INDICATE THAT CWPT WAS MOST EFFECTIVE WITH 14- AND 15- YEAR-OLD STUDENTS. IMPLICATIONS FOR USING CWPT FOR INCREASING STUDENTS ' HIGHER ORDER THINKING SKILLS IS DISCUSSED AS WELL AS ITS USE IN HETE ROGENEOUS CLASSROOMS AND WITH MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS.