The effects of role modeling and peer tutoring on ninth grade basic mathematics students' achievement, self concept and attrition

Northwest High School has a dropout rate of 50 percent and a Basic Mathematics failure rate of 42 percent. A random selection of 25 ninth grade students received peer tutoring; another 25 received role modeling, in addition to the regular Basic Mathematics program. A control group of 25 randomly selected ninth grade students was used. A total of 75 students were involved for spring quarter which is 60 teaching days in length. The three groups were used to compare mathematics achievement, self concept, and dropout rate. The testing instruments were both locally made. The role models received some training but the peer tutors received no training. A pretest-posttest design was used to test the hypotheses concerning mathematic achievement and self concept. No significant differences were found between the groups on any question except between the groups' dropout rates.