Running head: HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN

Assignment 2: HPT Solutions and Evaluation Plan for

ABC Schools Tutor Corps Program

Melissa Fruechte

Purdue University

EDCI 52800
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 2

Context and Performance Problem

Enrollment at ABC School has been fluctuating between 80-90 students in grades

K-8 over the past several years. A majority of students are second language learners

whose households qualify for free and reduced lunch and come from ethnically and

culturally diverse families. Fundraising efforts and individual, private donors largely

finance ABC School. Five full-time classroom teachers, two-part time specialists, an

administrator, family liaison, office administrator, financial director, development

director, cook and custodian make up the staff and faculty.

A decrease in enrollment over recent years has caused donors to question the

schools long-term sustainability. Benefactor hesitation has created a sense of urgency

among the Board of Directors and administration to prove the value of the school

through test scores. Donors want to see evidence of passing standardized test scores as

proof that the schools programming and curriculum is setting students up for success and

growth on yearly exams and that their donations are being used to support a flourishing

educational institution for under-privileged youth. The threat of closing the school looms

heavily over administration, staff and faculty if the students scores dont meet donor

expectations. The administration of ABC School decided to implement a tutor corps

program where students targeted as low-achieving on the Minnesota Comprehensive

Assessment (MCA) taken in reading and math each spring, would be pulled out of the

classroom 2-3 times each week for each subject to receive one-on-one help with a tutor

who has been recruited by an outside organization.

During the programs first year of implementation, the logistics, communication

and success of the tutor corps program was far from what administration hoped it would
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be. Teachers, tutors and students were all equally frustrated by the poor and rushed

deployment of the program. In an effort to identify the gaps in the program, a

performance consultant was called in to complete an analysis. Each performance gap

identified in the analysis of ABCs Tutor Corps program is outlined in Appendix A.

Desired and actual states; root cause and classification per Gilberts Behavior

Engineering Model are included in the table (Stolovitch & Keeps, 2004).

Interventions

Based on the initial analysis, a number of interventions were recommended to

ABC School in order to improve teacher, tutor and student experience with the process as

well as the success and overall mission of the tutor corps program.

Learning Intervention

Initial analysis identified that a significant knowledge gap existed in many of the

volunteers who were recruited for the tutor corps program in that they do not have the

necessary skills and/or knowledge about educational best practices in a tutoring setting.

Given that the goal of the tutor corps program is to assist students in closing gaps in their

own learning, the priority intervention for ABC School is to close the tutors gaps in their

knowledge by implementing a learning intervention. Tutors recruited to the program are

typically full-time working professionals, stay-at-home parents or elderly, retired

individuals who do not have a background in education or have never received any

training in best practices for working with students. It has been recommended that a self-

study program be implemented as a pre-requisite for those working with students to

level-set all tutors who will be working with students. While a more thorough, in-person

tutoring certification program for tutors would be ideal, time availability and logistics of
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 4

such program are not feasible at this time. Teachers and administration of ABC School

will create this self-study program so that the curriculum is tailored to the characteristics

and demographics of the student body that tutors will be working with.

Non-learning Interventions

Performance Aid

The analysis found that tutors would be exponentially more successful if they

were able to have a quick guide resource to refer to when they are working with students.

Given that tutors will not have access to the prerequisite modules when working one-on-

one with students, a How to Tutor job aid will be provided after the training modules

are completed to refer to during tutoring if they have a question regarding best practices

for student interaction. Tutors can print this performance support resource or download

and refer to it on their mobile device. The job aid will include step-by-step procedures for

the expectations of each tutoring session as well as a checklist to remind tutors of all

required pre-, during- and post-tutoring session expectations.

Environmental

During the analysis, it was also uncovered that in addition to the learning

intervention proposed above, there was one significant environmental constraint that was

negatively impacting the overall success of the tutor corps program: a lack of resources.

Teachers were expected to create tutoring resources from scratch for each of the sessions

based on individual student need. This lack of resources created hours of additional work

for teachers each week and often, did not match the exact standards that students needed

additional practice with. The provision of a purchased tutoring curriculum designed to

align with Minnesota state standards at each grade level would provide tutors with the
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 5

ownership and ability to identify activities and practice work most useful for students by

the results of their practice test scores.

Emotional

Several emotional considerations will need to be addressed in order for these

interventions to be successful. An overarching threat at ABC School is the ever-

impending fear that the school will have to close its doors. Over the last ten years, the

school has been on the verge of closing on three occasions known to currently employed

staff. Administration has called all-staff meetings in these scenarios and stressed the

importance of raising funds and test scores within a certain amount of time to prove

effort that the school is worthy of external donations. This constant fear and pressure

has strained staff and faculty emotionally causing high turnover of employees. While all

teachers want their students to be successful in the tutor corps program, this threat has

impacted motivation of faculty by increasing stress about performance, increasing the

toxicity and negativity in the workplace and decreasing value placed on the program,

which in turn leads to less focus placed on assisting and preparing the tutors for their

sessions with students.

Intervention Development

While the tutors have generously donated their time in order to serve students

who need additional help, the learning, performance, environmental and emotional gaps

identified in the analysis have created several opportunities for improvement in the

preparation, execution and deployment of the tutor corps program.

Learning: Self-Study Modules

HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 6

As the priority intervention, in order to address the lack of training/education of

volunteer tutors, a self-study curriculum in the form of online modules will be created

and required as a pre-requisite to working with students one-on-one. Modules included in

the self-study curriculum would include: (1) Motivation and Relationship Building, (2)

Discipline and Behavior Modification, (3) MCA Standards: Knowing the Standards and

Selecting Appropriate Learning Interventions; and (4) Safety and Security when Working

with Students. Each module would require approximately one hour of study and would

include practice activities and scenarios for tutor review. The modules will be deployed

via a learning management system (LMS) and send to learners upon their recruitment

into the program. Modules will include scenarios and situations in which tutors will have

to identify appropriate steps or actions taken as taught in the course. Data will be

collected to capture length of time spent on each module, completion date and answers to

scenario-based questions.

Performance Aid: How to Tutor Quick Reference Guide (QRG) and Checklist

While the name sounds simple, the How to Tutor QRG will serve as a

performance aid/support resource based on the content from the pre-requisite self-study

modules. Key points from each module of the self-study materials will be highlighted on

the document as reference for the tutor. The checklist portion of the QRG will serve as a

reminder for what tutors should be during before, during and after each tutoring session

to prepare, best utilize each session and reporting expectations for classroom teachers.

The QRG will be one page and will be available and easily accessible to tutors in

both electronic and paper form. If tutors are using the electronic version of the form and
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 7

checklist, a completed copy will be delivered electronically to the classroom teacher for

his/her records.

Environmental: MCA Supplemental Tutor Curriculum

Current procedure identifies that classroom teachers design, create and prepare

supplemental curriculum to each individual students time with the tutors (often up to

four separate sessions). In order to alleviate this added stress and preparation time, a

MCA Supplemental Tutor Curriculum will be created by an outside organization or

purchased so that tutors can take ownership over selecting tutoring lessons for the

students that they work on by identifying areas of necessary skill practice based on

formative and practice MCA test scores. Provision of this information will provide tutors

with the necessary and grade-level appropriate curriculum to achieve desired

accomplishments.

Emotional: Culture Change to Remove Pressure of Test Scores

An overarching theme discovered in the analysis was the threat and pressure to

raise student test scores. Staff and faculty are under constant pressure to do more with

less and the negative energy in the environment is evident. A discussion with

administration around changing the interactions with faculty and staff to be more

positive, encouraging and appreciative will greatly improve employee motivation and

incentivize teachers to support the tutor corps program. Additionally, with the

implementation of the aforementioned interventions, much of the current pressure on

teachers will be minimized.

Intervention Evaluation
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 8

Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick (2006)s four levels of evaluation will be used to evaluate the

proposed interventions to identify if they have been successful in closing the performance

gaps of the tutor corps program or if they are in need of iteration and improvement.

Kirkpatrick Level Learning Performance Aid Environmental

Intervention Intervention Intervention
Level 1: Reaction A survey will be used to evaluate all interventions at Level 1.
Questions/prompts asked are identified below. A Likert rating
scale (1 Strong Disagree to 5 Strongly Agree) will be used
unless an open-ended response is requested (noted below).
I understood the The How to Tutor The tutoring
objectives outlined QRG and checklist curriculum has been
in the course. were easy to follow. aligned with MN
state standards.
The learning I will utilize the
modules provided How to Tutor The tutoring
substantial QRG and checklist curriculum was easy
information to in the future. to navigate.
prepare me for
tutoring at ABC The How to Tutor The tutoring
School. QRG and checklist curriculum was
engaging for
I feel more prepared Do you have any students.
to tutor after comments or
completing the suggestions to Do you have any
learning modules. improve the QRG? comments or
(open-ended) suggestions to
I think that the improve the selected
modules were tutoring curriculum?
professionally (open-ended)
created and had a
kept my attention.

Do you have any

comments or
suggestions to
improve the
modules? (open-
ended)
Level 2: Learning 1 week to 1 month 1 week to 1 month after completion of
after completion of training, program administrator will
training, tutor corps observe tutors for the following
program information.
administrator will Are tutors using the Are tutors using the
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 9

complete a QRG? curriculum?

comparison of pre-
and assessment- Are there certain Are tutors
tests scores of aspects of the QRG successfully
learning modules to that are being more identifying
identify if learning utilized or less appropriate lessons?
occurred from the utilized?
pre-requisite Are there any
training and observe Are there any barriers to tutors
tutors with students barriers to tutors using the prescribed
to validate that they using the QRG? curriculum?
are using best
practices. Have tutors had
easy access to the
curriculum and
know how to use it
to find appropriate
lessons?
Level 3: Behavior An impact survey Observations by tutor corps coordinator
will be distributed and ABC School administration will focus
2-3 months into the in on the key items listed below.
tutor corps
programs
implementation.
This survey will
measure each
interventions
impact in changing
behavior.
Were the learning Are tutors using the Are tutors using the
modules helpful to QRG on a consistent tutoring curriculum
you? [Yes/No; basis? on a consistent
Explain.] basis?
Are tutors using the
Do you need to use before-, during- and Are there obstacles
the QRG as after- session to tutors using the
performance support checklists curriculum?
consistently? consistently?
[Yes/No; Explain.] Are students
Does it appear that engaged in each
Please provide any tutors are tutoring sessions
comments or confidently working lesson?
suggestions you with students?
have to improve the
content or format of Are students
the modules. (open- engaged in each
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 10

ended) tutoring session?

Level 4: Results The program coordinator and ABC School administration will
perform a comparison of each students (who has received
tutoring) previous year MCA scores to scores after one year of
tutoring will be evaluated to determine if the interventions were
successful in preparing tutors to be better equipped and successful
on the standardized exam. This review will take place at the end
of May after MCA results have been distributed. If the goals were
not met, further analysis will be suggested.
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 11

References

Kirkpatrick, D.L., & Kirkpatrick, J.D. (2006). Evaluating training programs: The four

levels (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Barrett-Koehler Publishers.

Stolovitch, H.D. & Keeps, E.J. (2004). Training aint performance. Alexandria, VA:

ASTD Press.
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 12

Appendix A: Performance Gaps

Type: Gilberts
Performance Gap: Probable Root
Desired State Actual State Behavior Engineering
Description Cause(s)
Model
Untrained/ Tutors would have a Tutors are not trained in Program coordinators Knowledge and skills
unqualified tutors thorough understanding pedagogy or best are not aware of the Capacity
and trained certification practices for how necessity and benefit of
in educational pedagogy students learn. pedagogical
for the age group that Tutors are typically understanding.
they will be tutoring. businesspeople or Program coordinators
Tutors would have a elderly individuals who and administration may
thorough understanding want to help the mission have rushed to
of state standards and of the school but are not implement program
MCA structure so that trained in education. without thinking through
they know how to best all aspects and elements
help students prepare that would be potential
and succeed on the areas areas of struggle for
of opportunity for tutors and teachers.
students.

Resources/support An outside organization Teachers are expected to Program coordinators Information

materials for faculty and would provide create and/or cull focused solely on the Resources
tutors non-existent structured, supplemental supplemental materials recruitment of
curriculum for the tutor for tutors to use when volunteers rather than
to work with each students are pulled from the program structure
student on his/her areas the classroom for and implementation as a
of opportunity based off tutoring; there is no whole.
of formative assessment curriculum or
results and/or teacher structured/provided
recommendation. materials that meet the
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 13

Teachers would not objectives of the

spend an additional 3-5 program (success would
hours each week look like is unclear).
preparing materials for Forms to capture tutor
tutors. feedback and teacher
instruction were not
intuitive, variation was
high among what each
teacher included for the
tutors.
Lack of buy-in from Teachers would be on- Teachers do not believe Teachers were not Information
faculty board and supportive of in the program and are consulted about the Motivation
a program that is meant expected to spend program specifics or
to help students receive additional time to needs of the students
supplemental support in prepare materials for before being told that
order to be successful. tutors time with the program would be
students as well as implemented.
complete extensive Classroom teachers
paperwork documenting know their students best
the activities and and can foresee potential
directions for tutors to downfalls and benefits
be able to complete of certain interactions.
desired tasks with Teachers did not believe
students that the proposed tutor
corps program in its
implemented state was
the most effective way
to provide additional
support to students who
have the most room for
growth on MCAs.
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 14

Appendix B: Introduction to Tutoring Self-Study Curriculum

The Introduction to Tutoring curriculum will be designed and created into four

modules. It will be available to tutors via an Learning Management System (LMS)

platform. The interface below shows the title and structure of the curriculum. Each

module will be built out with an introduction to the topic, examples/content, practice

scenarios for tutors to review and will conclude with a short assessment to validate that

they have successfully learned the information in the module. Additionally, the Tutoring

Checklist is available for tutor review via the course. All data (date of completion,

response to prompts, assessment results) will be captured and recorded for administration

and the tutor corps program directors records.

Introduc on to Tutoring@
ABCSchool

Module 1: Module 2: Module 3: Module4:

Mo va on and Discipline and MCA Standards: Safetyand

Building Behavior Knowingthe Standards Securitywhen
Rela onships Modifica on and Selec ng Workingwith
Appropriate Learning
Students
Interven ons

TutoringChecklist
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 15

Appendix C: How to Tutor Quick Resource Guide (QRG) and Checklist

HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 16

Appendix D: MCA Tutoring Curriculum

A supplemental tutoring curriculum is being advised as a critical intervention for the

identified performance gaps. It is advised that such advised program is based off of the

grade level MCA practice tests available on PearsonAccess website.

Additional resources as inspiration for development include the National Center for

Quality Afterschools ABC Literacy tutoring format or Study Island and IXL programs.
HPT SOLUTIONS AND EVALUATION PLAN 17