Gender Effects of Tutoring on Reading and Math Skills in a Randomized Controlled Trial with Foster Children of Primary-School Age

Robyn A. Marquis & Robert J. Flynn - Education in Out-of-Home Care

Abstract

The present study investigated the gender effects of tutoring, using the sample and data from a previously conducted randomized controlled trial (RCT) that had been based on a sample of 64 foster children (36 girls and 28 boys) of primary-school age in Ontario, Canada (Flynn, Marquis, Paquet, Peeke, & Aubry, 2012). The intervention had consisted of Direct-Instruction, one-to-one tutoring, delivered by the children’s caregivers (foster parents). The RCT had found that the tutoring program was relatively effective in improving reading and math skills in the sample as a whole, without addressing the issue of whether the girls and boys had made average gains in reading and math of similar or different size. The present research from the book Education in Out-of-Home Care examined this question of possible gender effects as well as several other questions of a practice-related nature, including the impact of implementation fidelity on the effectiveness of the tutoring program and the children’s and caregivers’ perception of the tutoring.