OF PASSING AND FAILING: THE INTERPLAY OF CLASSROOM TEACHING AND TUTORING IN HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

As asserted by Bowers and Sprott (2012) and confirmed by Hart (2019) and Vatterott (2019), academic success can be achieved by students when given proper assistance and guidance during the learning process. Students at Carolina High School (CHS) were given the opportunity to attend tutoring activities during the school day, called PowerHour, to eliminate barriers students can face with attending after-school tutoring. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Power Hour on improving student academic achievement. The results of this study were used to further refine the PowerHour program to provide the greatest benefit to the students attending CHS. This research focus motivated three research questions: (1) How have teachers’ perceptions of tutoring changed? (2) How have students’ perceptions of tutoring changed? (3) How have students’ academic outcomes changed? To address the research questions, I gathered student engagement data both before and after my intervention to discern if there were any changes in the level of student engagement in the courses the students were studying. I also collected data on teacher and student perceptions using open-ended surveys followed by focus group discussions with the participants. I used student achievement data to gauge any change in students’ academic outcomes. I analyzed and theorized the data I collected to help improve the overall PowerHour program so that it would provide students with a high-quality tutoring program that has the potential to positively impact their learning outcomes and ultimately set them on a path to future success.