Jean Rattigan-Rohr, associate professor and director of the Center of Access and Success, Ye He, an associate professor from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Michele Meredith, from the East Queen Street Baptist Evening Institute, presented research at the Mixed Methods Research Caribbean Conference at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica March 13.
<p>MARCH 9, 2010 – 3. Education professor Jean Rattigan-Rohr poses with "Jamaica Labrish" for her library poster. (Photo by Kim Walker)</p>
[/caption]The study is titled, “It Takes a Village: A Mixed Methods Study of a Multi-Site Tutoring Project.”
The “It Takes a Village” project is a multi-site university-community collaborative tutoring project designed to engage K-12 struggling readers and their families. Different from traditional tutoring projects, the Village project prepares teacher candidates to not only work with students directly through reading activities, but also to extend reading instruction through the mandatory involvement of parents and guardians. The purpose of the research study is to examine the impact of the Village project on the development of teacher candidates, K-12 struggling readers, and their families at multiple Village project sites.
Findings indicated positive impact of the Village project on teacher development, students’ reading achievement and parents’ involvement. Teacher candidates not only developed positive attitude toward parental involvement, but also felt better prepared to interact with families from diverse backgrounds. Further, participating K-12 students demonstrated growth in reading and enhanced motivation to read.