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Summary
The purpose of this study was to document the training and resulting
efforts of the initial cohort of trainees in the Seventh-day Adventist
North American Division Tutoring and Mentoring initiative during
the first year of implementation. It is a descriptive, qualitative
study that also serves as a formative evaluation instrument for
project coordinators. I used tools typical of qualitative research
work to gather pertinent data, tools such as observation, interviews,
questionnaires, audio and video recording, and written correspondence.
Results were presented in various forms which included descriptive
writing, tables, case study reports, and narrative stories.
A Discussion of the Findings and Conclusions of the Study
Based on the Original Research Questions
In this final chapter, I summarize initial findings that have already been reported in the previous chapters. Returning to the original research questions provides a framework for this summary.
Question 1
Question 1asked: How were these volunteers recruited and trained
for this project? The volunteers in this study heard about the
Tutoring and Mentoring initiative through several related ways.
Those participants who work as full-time or volunteer community
service personnel and/or educators were informed about the initiative
through mailings send out by the North American Division (NAD)
of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, or by others (such as their
pastors) who had received these mailings (Data File, pp. 1-8).
Others heard about it directly from individuals close to the initiative.
This is true with both Arnold and Nydia whose stories appear in
chapters 5 and 6. Arnold said that Pastor Jose Rojas, one of the
project coordinators, "twisted my arm" and convinced
him to attend the training (Data File, p. 83). Nydia was told
about the opportunity by Dr. Shirley Freed, the primary author
of the SMILIES curriculum, who is also her doctoral advisor (Data
File, p. 172).
As I reported in chapter four, the volunteers received their training
at one session held at the NAD Headquarters in Silver Spring,
Maryland, during the week of August 24 through 28, 1997. The first
3 days of training were facilitated by NAD personnel. Covered
topics included the scope of the initiative, understanding at-risk
children, community organizing, project development, public relations,
leadership development, and fund-raising. Information was delivered
primarily through lecture and question/answer sessions.
Dr. Shirley Freed from Andrews University and I provided 2 day's
training in the SMILIES tutoring curriculum developed specifically
for this project. We covered topics having to do with the Seven
Pathways to learning, the nature of the tutoring relationship,
reading-level diagnosis, making books and using related materials,
and lesson planning. We used lecture, demonstrations, small-group
work, and discussions to deliver the information.
For reference during and following the August session, the trainees
received the Handbook for Community-based Tutoring & Mentoring
Projects (Sahlin, 1997) and numerous related handouts from the
NAD facilitators. We provided them with the SMILIES: Helping Children
Read (Freed et al., 1997) tutoring manual, the related videotape
which provided demonstrations of techniques, one complete set
of little readers, magnetic letters, scissors, and markers. Even
though most trainees said the initial training was too short to
fully equip them to become trainers themselves, these materials
were adequate to provide ample opportunity for home reference
and study.
Question 2
Question 2 asked: What initial concerns did they have about
their abilities to fulfill their commitment to tutor children
and to train other volunteers? The trainees responded to this
question by completing the Open-Ended Statement of Concern About
an Innovation assessment (Newlove & Hall, 1976) at the end
of the training session (see Appendix A). Fuller (1969) suggested
that teachers are initially concerned about "self" issues,
then concerns arise about the "task," and finally issues
relating to the "impact" they are having on their students
take precedence. Hall et al., (1977) further dissected these concerns
of teachers into seven stages as they are learning about an innovation:
from "awareness," "informational," and "personal"
concerns, to issues around "management"and "consequence,"
and finally to concerns about "collaboration" and "refocusing."
The trainees responded to the question, "When you think about
the SMILIES Reading Tutoring project, what are you concerned about?"
I coded and evaluated their responses, and discovered that half
of their concerns had to do with self/personal issues, reflected
in statements such as "I feel so inadequate to be a trainer,"
and "Is this book (program) practical for someone who is
not an educator?" The other half of the concerns expressed
were around task/management issues borne out by comments such
as "I am concerned about finding enough people, if any at
all, willing to be tutors," and "Money for transportation
is one of my biggest concernsto and from the program."
These responses indicate that the trainees were lacking in confidence
as they left the seminarconfidence that they had the skills
personally to implement the program, and confidence that the details
of management could be adequately addressed. The fact that only
2 of the original 25 trainees were able to initiate projects by
the end of the first school year indicates that these concerns
were valid. Hall (1976), after stating that "self concerns
are a fully legitimate part of change," has recommendations
for project coordinators:
Rather than indicting people for having self concerns, the role
of the adoption agents and policy/decision-makers should be to
aid in the resolution of self concerns and to facilitate movement
toward task- and impact-related concerns. When planning for innovation
implementation, managers of change need to anticipate self concerns
and initiate actions to accommodate and resolve them at the outset
of the innovative effort. The crime is not in having self concerns,
but in others not accepting their legitimacy and constructively
addressing their resolution. (pp. 22-23)
I was able to reach 18 of the first cohort trainees (21, if
couples are accounted for) to solicit further comment during the
months following the August session. Even though they believed
that the training offered to them was of high quality, 16 of these
participants said that they needed more training in order to feel
competent in the innovation. Many of them wondered why there was
so little follow-up from the project organizers.
Hall et al., (1977) do not lay total responsibility for a lack
of change (or innovation/project implementation) at the feet of
the coordinators. They state that "personalized interventions
can facilitate change, but, in the end, each individual determines
for herself or himself whether or not change will occur"
(p. 17). A toll-free telephone line was installed in my home to
facilitate contact with me in case any trainees needed advice
or support. The telephone did not ring one time through the school
year with any requests for help. Several people did mention that
they thought about calling me, but for one reason or another they
never did.
Even so, the NAD project organizers must take into account and
actively address the self and task concerns of the trainees if
they expect for project implementation to take place, as Hall
(1976) makes clear above. According to the statements of the trainees,
their obvious lack of implementation, and my observations, their
concerns still exist and have even intensified over the months
since their training.
Question 3
Question 3asked: What happened after they left the training
session? Two of the participants, Arnold and Nydia, were almost
immediately successful in establishing tutoring programs in two
very different situations. Their stories are told in chapters
5 and 6. It became obvious to me as I visited them, worked on
their transcripts, coded their data, and wrote their stories that
both of these dynamic individuals were already well-prepared for
the challenge of setting up programs prior to attending the Tutoring
and Mentoring seminar. Key characteristics in the vision, skills,
and resources categories of the matrix of critical components
(Table 2, Chapter Two) were already established because of their
diligent and thorough work beforehand. Arnold and Nydia both had
functional vision statements that were guiding their individual
efforts before adopting the Adventist initiative. They each are
successful educators who have proven their competence in countless
ways. Because of their current responsibilities in their spheres
of operation, the necessary resources were available to them without
having to expend large amounts of time, effort, or finances.
Both Arnold and Nydia were and are well-respected by all who work
with and for them. They were prepared to offer the appropriate
tangible and emotional support to their volunteers. And their
volunteers are responding in ways that reveal the respect and
loyalty that they feel for their leaders.
The research on school effectiveness, although not directly related
to tutoring programs, does shed some light on the success or lack
of success in establishing a project. Even though the factors
leading to school effectiveness vary slightly from report to report,
several components are consistent across the studies. The key
factors of strong instructional leadership by the principal coupled
with a clear instructional focus seem to be present in every effective
school (Steller, 1988). Arnold and Nydia demonstrated these components
in establishing their projects, which apparently contributed to
their initial success.
As I conversed with the other trainees on the telephone and listened
to their stories of frustration, I realized that key components
were not as accessible to them as they were to Arnold and Nydia.
The most important of these were in the skills category of the
matrix. Most of the trainees indicated that they needed more training
in order to feel competent to tutor a child and especially to
train others to tutor. Several trainees inquired about the availability
of Dr. Freed or myself to come to their area and train prospective
tutor volunteers. I indicated that we could arrange, one way or
another, to work with them, but I never got a return call.
Table 1 (Chapter Two titled, "Managing Complex Change")
by Ambrose (cited in Tucker, 1993), warrants another examination
in this context. Ambrose indicates that when the "skills"
component is missing from a change scenario, anxiety is the result.
I believe "anxiety" is a good term to describe what
most trainees were feeling as they thought about or made the first
attempts in establishing a tutoring project. The trainees indicated
their anxiety on the Stages of Concern questionnaire I administered
at the end of their training session (Appendix A), and their anxiety
was obvious as I talked with them later on in statements such
as "I need for someone to do this for me" (Terry, Data
File, p. 297), and "How do you just dive in and start a tutoring
project?" (Carla, Data File, p. 307).
The other component that was missing for many of the trainees
had to do with resources. Lee said that "work and time"
(Data File, p. 307) were the reasons why he has not been able
to get a program going. Many other trainees also indicated that
lack of time was the biggest obstacle they have not been able
to overcome. Ambrose (cited in Tucker, 1993) indicates that when
resources are lacking, frustration is the result. Frustration
is the key word that I have used to describe the feelings of these
trainees. Because of this frustration, "interest is leaving.
Things are kind of fizziling out" (Dawn, Data File, p. 306),
or in Ella's words, "Not much is happening with me. . . .
We all want it, but we didn't realize the magnitude" (Data
File, pp. 305-306).
An interesting observation can be made regarding the anxiety and
frustration these trainees were feeling because of the lack of
skills or resources. These possibly are the very same feelings
that the children whom they are supposed to be helping are experiencing.
These children lack the skills and possibly the resources necessary
in order to become proficient readers. They may feel inadequate
or paralyzed when approaching the reading task. If children in
this predicament need more intense, directed help in the form
of tutoring, so these frustrated trainees need more direct help
in becoming confident tutors and trainers of tutors!
Question 4
Question 4: What adaptations did they make in the implementation
of the tutoring program? Since most participants were unsuccessful
in establishing projects, the adaptations that I discuss below
are those made in Nydia's and Arnold's projects exclusively. My
original reason for including this question was because I anticipated
that many more people would be successful as project organizers.
The compilation of adaptations that they might have made would
have helped the NAD coordinators to confirm or modify their training
and support model accordingly.
At the time of my visit, both Arnold's and Nydia's projects were
just getting started. They had held training sessions only weeks
or a few months before. In the training they provided, the SMILIES
curriculum was the exclusive source of instruction in techniques.
Arnold and his teaching assistants did adapt the manual for their
trainees, cutting and pasting various portions of the manual to
make it more manageable. Their trainees received a substantially
smaller version of the manual. In Nydia's case, the only adaptation
they made in the manual was to remove the plastic binding off
of each trainee's copy, punch holes in the pages, and place it
in a three-ring binder. They felt this made the rather massive
volume easier to manage.
Arnold had established three projects in the Los Angeles area
at the time of my visit. The coordinators at each project were
using other curriculum materials in addition to the SMILIES manual.
Another curriculum was being used as the primary course of study
at one of the projects. In Nydia's case, the volunteers were striving
to follow what Nydia had taught them, but the classroom teachers
with whom they worked asked the tutors to use other materials
as well. The tutors, the teachers, and Nydia were all very comfortable
with this arrangement.
No doubt the coordinators at each project will continue to adapt
their operating parameters to each of their unique situations.
Scheduling, curriculum modifications, training options, and recruiting
policies are areas that each project coordinator will continue
to adjust to make their programs the best they can be.
Other Findings
Several other themes emerged as I reviewed transcriptions and notes from my interviews. I review these below, then I adapt them to the critical components framework that I developed as a result of the literature review in chapter 2.
Marketing/Public Relations
Arnold's projects are housed and sponsored by local churches in
the Los Angeles area. Because their projects are designed to serve
children outside of the school day setting, the volunteers need
to make the public aware of the opportunity to enroll their children
in a local tutoring program. This was accomplished in several
waysby word-of-mouth, church newsletters, advertising in
local papers, announcements at church meetings, and by the distribution
of door-to-door flyers.
This characteristic was not mentioned in any of the literature
I reviewed, probably because most tutoring programs in these reviews
were operated from public schools. Including a public awareness
thrust may not be seen as a necessity in these situations because
the children are selected for service by the educators in the
school. But with the Adventist initiative, one of the major reasons
for establishing a local project is to extend the message of Christianity
to a needy world. Sahlin (1997), in discussing the question "Why
should Adventists get involved?" explains:
As we get involved in meeting the needs of at-risk children in
our communities, we will meet people we would otherwise never
touch. This includes not just children and their families, but
also administrators and teachers in the public schools, staff
workers in community organizations, civic leaders in the neighborhoods
and downtown at city hall, and news media employees. Not only
are each of these contacts a witness to the grace and power of
Christ in our lives, but we will make friends with some of these
individuals. In the context of those friendships opportunities
will arise for you to share your faith. . . . (pp. 11-12)
An active marketing and public relations thrust is important, therefore, to enable this mission to occur. Because of the central place it has in the Adventist initiative, I believe "an active marketing/public relations strategy" characteristic needs to be added to the matrix of critical components under the "Action Plan" heading.
Emotional Needs
Both Arnold and Nydia offered much encouragement to their volunteers,
the kind of encouragement intended to move these people to a deeper
level of self-esteem and leadership capability. Many of the volunteers
indicated that this is the reason why they maintain their commitment
and expend so much time and energy to the tutoring project. To
repeat Angie's words, who works in Nydia's project, "I have
a lot of satisfaction out of this. I'm beaming about it. . . .
If my work wasn't a payback, if I didn't see improvement, I wouldn't
know how to work" (Data File, p. 209). As a result of this
"payback," the tutors themselves had an increased capacity
to extend friendship and
TABLE 6
Vision | Skills | Incentives | Resources | Action Plan |
A clear mission and goals ex-pressed for everyone
involved Clear expecta-tions of volunteers |
Ongoing training and supervision of volunteers Training for leaders on recruitment and retention of volunteers |
Practical Support from the administrative level Offering emotional support to tutors and children |
Committed tutors Qualified faculty to provide support A sound, simple training guide Quality materials Parents are informed and involved Community support |
Sound organi-zation and management An active mar-keting/public relations strategy Close coopera-tion between volunteers and people in the school Careful selec-tion of students to be tutored A regular, fre-quent tutoring schedule Monitoring of student progress Lessons include plenty of read-ing and writing; few "meaning-less drills" |
emotional support to the children whom they serve. All of this
combines to add to the success of the project.
Included in the matrix, under the "Incentives" component,
is a characteristic called "support from the administrative
level." (See Table 6.) In order to emphasize that this means
support in practical things such as providing a place for tutoring,
awarding certificates or other verification that training was
completed, offering a stipend, and providing the necessary tutoring
materials, I wish to rename this characteristic "practical
support from the administrative level." Then I suggest adding
another characteristic under this category titled "offering
emotional support to volunteers and children." I believe
the importance of this new characteristic should not be underestimated.
Recommendations
Recommendations for the North American Division
Tutoring and Mentoring Project
Based on the findings and conclusions of this study, I offer
several recommendations for those involved in the implementation
of this initiative.
1. Provide more time for training. A majority of the trainees
said that 5 days of training was not enough for them to develop
competence and confidence in the demands of the project. Several
recommended at least 2 days more, and others suggested and extended
initial training session of up to2 weeks.
2. Include opportunities for practice with feedback. Many of the
trainees said that role-playing as a tutor and a student would
have helped to prepare them better. Others suggested that work
with "real" children would be an even better way to
gain the necessary skills. Feedback and coaching from trainers
would be an expected and valuable part of this practice. These
suggestions do reflect the recommendations of the Joyce-Showers
Model for Staff Development (1995; Showers et al., 1987; Joyce
& Showers, 1988).
3. Provide regular opportunities for further training and support.
One participant suggested that follow-up within 3 months after
the initial training session would enable him to stay in touch
with the demands of the project. Many trainees were surprised
that there was not more follow-up contact from the NAD coordinators.
They expected updates in the form of newsletters, and more teleconference
opportunities like the one held by NAD project coordinator Sandra
Brown in January, 1998. Others expressed interest in extended
training opportunities which could be offered at an Adventist
university or at other easily accessed locations.
4. Address directly the "self" concerns expressed by
trainees, and work to help their concerns evolve into "task"
concerns, as determined by measures such as the Stages of Concern
(SoC) evaluation instrument (Fuller, 1969: Hall et al., 1977;
Newlove & Hall, 1976). Those who have studied the concerns
of teachers as they are learning a new innovation have discussed
the need for "managers of change" to "anticipate
self concerns and initiate actions to accommodate and resolve
them at the outset of the innovative effort" (Hall, 1976,
pp. 22-23). These "self" concerns are probably magnified
for those who do not have a background in education or experience
in working with young children.
5. Press forward with plans to hire and extensively train regional
coordinators for the Tutoring and Mentoring effort. Those knowledgeable
in the field of volunteer tutoring programs have discussed the
value of having highly trained coordinators and of reimbursing
them financially for their efforts (Morrow & Walker, 1997a;
Pinnell & Fountas, 1997a; Wasik, 1997, 1998). Most people
who are otherwise full-time employed will struggle with trying
to balance the demands of a tutoring project with their other
responsibilities. In order for more localized training to continue,
the coordinators should be experienced educators or at least highly
trained people who have the skills to provide ongoing training.
6. Consider shifting the responsibility for implementation of
the Tutoring and Mentoring initiative away from an Adventist Community
Service sphere toward more of a local church sphere or even toward
another Adventist agency such as the Latino Educational Advancement
and Research Now (L.E.A.R.N.) organization organized by Arnold
Trujillo. I agree with Arnold's assessment that "community
service centers (ACS) are not perceived by the rank-and-file of
Seventh-day Adventists as either being a youth-oriented program
or a deliverer of educational services" (Data File, p. 84).
Many times in my interviewing of people associated with the initiative,
this bias was discussed as a debilitating factor in trying to
garner resources or volunteer support. Perhaps shifting the responsibility
toward another agency would give the initiative a fresh infusion
of understanding, enthusiasm, and support.
Recommendations for Further Study
1. Follow the thrust of this study through the 1998-1999 school
year in order to investigate how the program adapts and evolves.
1998-1999 is viewed by project organizers at the first full implementation
year. This current study is a report of the intermediate status
of the Adventist Tutoring and Mentoring initiative.
This study was a formative evaluation of a recently established
tutoring and mentoring initiative by a major church denomination.
Its focus was thereby limited and not intended to necessarily
verify the value or potential success of volunteer literacy tutoring
programs in general. Yet, most of the findings I discussed above
are applicable to any similar program. If the focus of a related
study is expanded, the following recommendations would be worth
considering.
2. Expand the study to include evaluations of several programs
using a variety of tutoring curricula. This would not necessarily
be to determine the effectiveness of a given program, but rather
to explore common and unique approaches to the task.
3. Investigate several other projects launched by other organizations
in response to the America Reads Initiative. Once again, the focus
would not necessarily be to compare the success of these programs,
but rather to determine whether nationwide initiatives such as
this one do have the desired effects within organizations that
choose to become involved.
4. Investigate the adaptability of various personality types to
the task of tutoring young children or of actually becoming tutor
trainers in a volunteer setting. A tool such as the Keirsey Temperament
Sorter (Kiersey & Bates, 1984) could be administered to volunteers
as they begin their work in a literacy tutoring project. Their
eventual adaptability/success as judged by a variety of measures
would be compared to their temperament type. This might prove
to be useful when recruiting personnel for their work in a tutoring
project.
Reflections
The Tutoring and Mentoring initiative of the North American
Division of the Seventh-day Adventist church is an extraordinary
effort by a major church denomination to make a difference in
the lives of thousands of children across the United States. False
starts and struggles are to be expected along with stories of
success and of the positive differences made in families in this
country. I am impresseded by the willingness of so many people
in the Seventh-day Adventist church to put their own time and
financial resources on the line in order to become involved in
this endeavor. However, unless the training and support offered
to volunteer leaders are greatly expanded upon, the organizers
of the effort will encounter only isolated incidences of success.
Trainees from the August 1997 seminar were expected to establish
sites on their own as a result of this single training event.
The only 2 people of the 25 who were successful were already equipped
and already had the foundations in place to establish projects.
The August seminar acted as a catalyst to get them moving, but
it alone did not prepare them to implement tutoring programs.
It is my belief that the church will be successful and will achieve
the goals outlined at the Philadelphia Summit in April 1997, but
only if the needs of the trainees are more adequately addressed.
I hope that this study contributes toward the achievement of all
these goals.