Research Proposal

Effectiveness of Tutoring Third to Fifth Grade Students with Different Learning Disabilities in Improving Reading Achievement

Statement of the Problem

A report by the National Institutes of Health (2003 ) provides that children diagnosed to have learning disabilities increased in the last 25 years by 22 percent . In the previous decade alone , school aged children with specific learning disabilities comprised 38 percent of the student population . This means that there is a significant portion of schoolchildren with diagnosed learning disability . Moreover , a significant number of children also have undiagnosed specific learning

disabilities that they carried on to adulthood , which explains the need to develop learning programs for adults with learning disabilities Having specific learning disabilities have wide-ranging impact on children . Self-esteem suffers by not being able to learn in the same manner and speed as other students . Peer group relations could also be affected when one is perceived as different (Nowicki , 2003 ) One of the means adopted by the government to address this problem is the establishment of the `No Child Left Behind ' program that provides support for schoolchildren (Department of Education , 2007 , especially children with learning disabilities . Tutoring is one of the activities under this program . Early studies have shown that thoroughly designed tutoring programs could improve the reading skills of children with specific learning disabilities . However , current tutoring practices targeting the improvement of the reading achievement of children with learning disabilities remain unstructured and informal . There is need to investigate the effectiveness of tutoring in improving the reading achievement of children with different learning disabilities , determine problems or issues that emerge in tutoring programs , derive considerations in improving tutoring programs , and recommend possible ways of using tutoring to improve reading achievements as contribution to the development of effective and more structured tutoring programs

Statement of Purpose

The study seeks to contribute in filling the knowledge gap on the effectiveness of tutoring in improving the reading achievement of children with different learning disabilities . Although previous researches have already established the positive effect of tutoring on reading achievement , there is limited information on the effect to different learning disabilities , long-term effects , the possible intervening factors , issues and problems , and sound solutions . This could be the reason for the lack of certain degrees of structure and formality in tutoring programs that recognize learning disability differences . There is need to develop best practices . The current study does not assume to provide all the solutions to these issues but to contribute to efforts on this endeavor . Data gathered can contribute to the pool of information needed to develop sound learning policies for children with different learning disabilities

Statement of Hypotheses

Tutoring has a positive impact on the reading achievement of students with learning disabilities . Children with learning disabilities placed under tutoring programs receive customized learning support resulting to higher levels of performance or productivity . Through tutoring , the specific needs of children with different learning disabilities are recognized by the tutor so that effective learning strategies are implemented

The impact of tutoring is to the...