We're excited to announce that this winter the Peer Review Journal, Online Learning Consortium Online Learning Journal Volume 19, Issue 5 - December 2015, included a third party efficacy study on FEV's Virtual Tutoring Services written by Shanan Chappell, Pamela Arnold, John Nunnery, and Melva Grant of Old Dominion University!
This was a special issue of Online Learning which focused on bringing additional rigor and research in K-12 Online Learning to examine both what is not working in K-12 online settings and to "investigate and report instances of effective policy and practice in K-12 Online and surrounding settings such as K-12 blended classrooms or online learning for non K-12 students (Lokey-Vega & Barbour)."
According to the Journal's guest editors Anissa Lokey-Vega and Michael K. Barbour, An Examination of an Online Tutoring Program's Impact on Low-Achieving Middle School Students' Mathematics Achievement was included in the Journal "[to] further inform best practice in serving K-12 learners who need additional interventions."
The study conducted by Chappell, Arnold, Nunnery, and Grant of Old Dominion University examined the effects of FEV's live, 1-to-1 online tutoring services on struggling middle school math students' achievement. Tutoring was provided during school day programming to a total of 120 students as a response to intervention (RTI) Tier 3 support at two school sites implementing a school-wide math program funded under the U.S. Department of Education's Investing in Innovation scale-up initiative.
The research suggests that FEV's tutoring contributed to statistically significant gains in student achievement at both school sites. Students at both school sites had no students with passing averages on the program administered pretest assessments and students at "School 1" had no students with passing scaled scores on the prior year's Virginia Math SOL. After FEV's intervention, 61.2% of students at School 1 had passing scaled scores on the Mathematics SOL with student's average score rising by 22.88 points from the 2013 Virginia SOL to the 2014 Virginia SOL.
Below is the Abstract from the study prepared by Chappell, Arnold, Nunnery, and Grant of Old Dominion University. To read the entire journal article, please download the study from the OLC Online Learning Journal's website: http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/read/online-learning-journal/
Abstract
The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the impact of synchronous online tutoring services on struggling middle school students’ mathematics achievement. The online tutoring was provided as a response to intervention (RTI) Tier 3 support (intensive, individualized intervention) in schools implementing a school-wide mathematics program that addresses Tier 1 (high-quality classroom instruction) and Tier 2 (small group interventions). We employed quasi-experimental, within- and between-group designs to examine impacts for 119 students in two schools to measure the tutoring’s impact on mathematics assessment scores. We also conducted qualitative analyses of student and tutor postsession commentary. The findings suggest that the tutoring contributed to statistically significant gains in student assessment scores postintervention. Online tutors’ descriptions of their practice centered on ongoing progress monitoring of student learning, delivery of guided practice to students, the use of multiple explanations and representations of target concepts. Student perceptions of the online tutoring were predominately positive in nature.
For more information on the Online Learning Journal please visit: http:/onlinelearningconsortium.org/publicastions/olj_main.
For inqiuiries please contact:
olj@onlinelearning-c.org
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