Chen-Lin C. Kulik

Educational Outcomes of Tutoring: A Meta-analysis of Findings

A meta-analysis of findings from 65 independent evaluations of school tutoring programs showed that these programs have positive effects on the academic performance and attitudes of those who receive tutoring. Tutored students outperformed control students on examinations, and they also developed positive attitudes toward the subject matter covered in the tutorial programs. The meta-analysis also showed that tutoring programs have positive effects on children who serve as tutors. Like the children they helped, the tutors gained a better understanding of and developed more positive attitudes toward the subject matter covered in the tutorial program. Participation in tutoring programs had little or no effect, however, on the self-esteem of tutors and tutees.

Effectiveness of computer-based instruction: An updated analysis

A meta-analysis of findings from 254 controlled evaluation studies showed that computer-based instruction (CBI) usually produces positive effects on students. The studies covered learners of all age levels -- from kindergarten pupils to adult students. CBI programs raised student examination scores by 0.30 standard deviations in the average study, a moderate but significant effect. Size of effect varied, however, as a function of study feature. Effects were larger in published rather than unpublished studies, in studies in which different teachers taught experimental and control classes, and in studies of short duration. CBI also produced small but positive changes in student attitudes toward teaching and computers, and it reduced substantially the amount of time needed for instruction.

The Instructional Effect of Feedback in Test-Like Events

Feedback is an essential construct for many theories of learning and instruction, and an understanding of the conditions for effective feedback should facilitate both theoretical development and instructional practice. In an early review of feedback effects in written instruction, Kulhavy (1977) proposed that feedback’s chief instructional significance is to correct errors. This error-correcting action was thought to be a function of presentation timing, response certainty, and whether students could merely copy answers from feedback without having to generate their own. The present meta-analysis reviewed 58 effect sizes from 40 reports. Feedback effects were found to vary with control for presearch availability, type of feedback, use of pretests, and type of instruction and could be quite large under optimal conditions. Mediated intentional feedback for retrieval and application of specific knowledge appears to stimulate the correction of erroneous responses in situations where its mindful (Salomon & Globerson, 1987) reception is encouraged.

Effectiveness of Computer-based College Teaching: A Meta-analysis of Findings

This review used Glass’ (1976) meta-analytic techniques to integrate findings from 59 independent evaluations of computer-based college teaching. The meta-analysis showed that computer-based instruction made small but significant contributions to the course achievement of college students and also produced positive, but again small, effects on the attitudes of students toward instruction and toward the subject matter they were studying. Computer-assisted instruction also reduced substantially the amount of time needed for instruction. In general, the meta-analysis found little relationship between study findings and design features of the experiments, settings for the studies, or manner and date of publication of the findings.

Timing of Feedback and Verbal Learning

A meta-analysis of findings on feedback timing and human verbal learning showed that a variety of results have been obtained in 53 separate studies of the topic. Applied studies using actual classroom quizzes and real learning materials have usually found immediate feedback to be more effective than delayed. Experimental studies of acquisition of test content have usually produced the opposite result. Laboratory studies of list learning have produced a variety of results, but the variation in results seems to be related systematically to features of the studies.

Effects of Ability Grouping on Secondary School Students: A Meta-analysis of Evaluation Findings

This article reports results from a meta-analysis of findings from 52 studies of ability grouping carried out in secondary schools. In the typical study the benefits from grouping were small but significant on achievement examinations—an average increase of one-tenth standard deviations on examination scores, or an increase from the 50th to the 54th percentile for the typical student in a grouped class. The size of achievement effect differed in different types of studies of grouping, however. Studies in which high-ability students received enriched instruction in honors classes produced especially clear effects, for example, while studies of average and below average students produced near-zero effects. The benefits of grouping were also clear in the area of student attitudes. Students in grouped classes developed more positive attitudes toward the subjects they were studying than did students in ungrouped classes.

Effectiveness of Mastery Learning Programs: A Meta-Analysis

A meta-analysis of findings from 108 controlled evaluations showed that mastery learning programs have positive effects on the examination performance of students in colleges, high schools, and the upper grades in elementary schools. The effects appear to be stronger on the weaker students in a class, and they also vary as a function of mastery procedures used, experimental designs of studies, and course content. Mastery programs have positive effects on student attitudes toward course content and instruction but may increase student time on instructional tasks. In addition, self-paced mastery programs often reduce the completion rates in college classes.

Meta-analytic Findings on Grouping Programs

Meta-analytic reviews have focused on five distinct instructional programs that separate students by ability: multilevel dasses, cross-grade programs, within-class grouping, enriched classes for the gifted and talented, and accelerated classes. The reviews show that effects are a function of program type. Multilevel classes, which entail only minor adjustment of course content for ability groups, usually have little or no effect on student achievement. Programs that entail more substantial adjustment of curriculum to ability, such as cross-grade and within-class programs, produce clear positive effects. Programs of enrichment and acceleration, which usually involve the greatest amount of curricular adjustment, have the largest effects on student learning. These results doe not support recent claims that no one benefits from grouping or that students in the lower groups are harmed academically and emotionally by grouping.

Effects of Accelerated Instruction on Students

This article presents results from a meta-analysis of findings on the effects of accelerated instruction on elementary and secondary school students. The data for the meta-analysis came from 26 controlled studies. The analysis showed that examination performance of accelerates surpassed by nearly one grade level the performance of nonaccelerates of equivalent age and intelligence. Examination scores of accelerates were equivalent to those of same-grade but older, talented nonaccelerates. Nonintellective outcomes were investigated relatively infrequently in the 26 studies and were not consistent from study to study.

Effects of Frequent Classroom Testing.

ABSTRACT The educational effects of frequent classroom testing have been studied and discussed since the early part of this century. Testing advocates have suggested that more frequent classroom testing stimulates practice and review, gives students more opportunities for feedback on their work, and has a positive influence on student study time. Reviewers of relevant research and evaluation literature, however, have expressed uncertainty about whether such benefits are actually realized in classrooms. The present review distinguishes research on frequent classroom testing from research in two related areas, research on adjunct questions and research on mastery testing, and provides results from a meta-analysis of findings on frequency of classroom testing. The meta-analysis showed that students who took at least one test during a 15-week term scored about one half of a standard deviation higher on criterion examinations than did students who took no tests. Better criterion performance was associated with...