Student Tutors Program Enlists Upperclassmen To Help Other Students With Reading

Thu., Jan. 27, 2000

By Carlos Acevedo carlosa@spokesman.com

CORRECTION: 2-3-2000; S3 Shadle Park teacher Sue Stookey created the Project PALS program. A story in last week’s South Voice incorrectly credited someone else.

Cheney High School is the latest in a growing number of schools adopting Project PALS - a course that grants college credit for peer tutoring.

Now, the city of Tacoma and even other states are looking to start the program as well.

Juniors and seniors are paired for one trimester with students who are at least two years behind in reading. Working one-on-one, a tutor guides a student through reading exercises.

Currently, Cheney’s course has 20 tutors and 20 readers.

“But we’re hoping to enlarge this class because it has really been beneficial,” said teacher Lilia Ko. The class helps kids read better and improves ninth-grade attendance, Ko said. Students who skipped school because they were frustrated are sticking around, she said.

The class, called the corrective reading program, covers all areas of language arts - spelling, vocabulary, reading and writing. Students can take it in lieu of a regular language arts class.

Lesly Rowland, 15, says she felt stupid until she saw marked improvement in her reading.

“I don’t feel that way now. In this class, I actually have a chance to pass,” she said.

Her tutor, Jacqi Towsley, says she took the class because she likes the idea of helping people.

“It’s not really that hard to do. You just have to pay attention and listen,” she said.

Towsley and the other juniors and seniors received tutoring instruction during the first week of the course.

Eastern Washington University accredits Project PALS at 13 area schools, including Lewis and Clark, Deer Park and Shadle Park. The program was created by Shadle teacher Dawn Manfred. Program Director Tara Ebey said other schools are picking the program up because it works.

“Students typically work better with a peer than with an adult,” she noted. The program tries to match tutors and students with similar personalities, which also helps.

Tacoma is ready to implement the program, and the Pennsylvania Department of Education just received Project PALS training this week from Nancy Marchand-Martella, the EWU professor who wrote the grant for the project.

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