“Research has shown that well-designed tutoring programs that use volunteers and other nonprofessionals as tutors can be effective.”

“Studies around the world show one-on-one peer tutoring to be extremely effective for learning not just for the learner, but also for the tutor.”

“In a recently circulated working paper examining dozens of experimental studies, a team of economists has found that tutoring offers the potential for transformative academic impacts. While teachers and paraprofessionals [those who assist professionals] were shown to be the strongest instructors, even lightly trained volunteers or family members have the potential to help children realize important learning gains.”

One-to-one and small group tutoring are “by far the most effective things we have that are practical to use in schools that scale…We compared tutoring to summer school, after school, extended day, technology, and other things. And it’s [a] night and day difference.”

“Teachers in one-room rural schools often called upon their older students to help the younger ones. They did so in the hope that younger children would benefit from the extra attention and help they got from their tutors and that the older children, proud to be cast as assistant teachers, would be motivated to improve their own schoolwork.”

“As any teacher can report, there is nothing like learning through teaching. By having to explain something to someone else, one’s attention is focused more sharply.”

“Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one’s own ideas and responding to others’ reactions improves thinking and deepens understanding.”

“One could easily imagine a campus where all students are learners and teachers at different times and in different subjects, thus facilitating social interaction and enhancing learning.“