Training the Trainers: The T3 Reading Tutors

Literacy is a pressing problem in America as underscored by the Leave No Child behind Act (2001). Tutors have been very successful in positively affecting the outcomes of struggling readers. However, tutor training is, at present, both costly to deliver and highly variable in quality. This proposal has two specific aims. Aim 1 - To enhance the cost-effectiveness, availability, and quality of literacy tutor training. The NeuronFarm, LLC will design and implement eight tutor training e-courses based on empirically verified principles of learning and the latest in literacy education. Aim 2 - Because e-learning theory is in its infancy, we are committed to discovering best practices in e-learning desing. To this end, we will embed experiments in three of eight e-courses to ask relevant questions regarding the efficacy of interactivity and pop quizzes. Thus, this proposal addresses two significant problems associated with learning in America: 1) child literacy and 2) effective methods associated with distance education.