This review of the literature on peer and cross-age tutoring emphasizes programs in mathematics and suggests that such programs
have positive academic outcomes for African American and otherminority students as well as for White students who participate
as tutors, as tutees, or both. Such programs also appear to have a positive impact on a variety of attitudinal and socioemotional
outcomes, such as students' attitudes towards school, their self-concepts, and their sense of academic efficacy. This review
also explores whether specific features of the tutoring programs (e.g., tutor training and amount of tutoring) or characteristics
of the students (e.g., academic level prior to tutoring and gender composition of tutor-tutee pairs) affect various outcomes.
Role theory is used as a theoretical framework to explain some intriguing and surprising findings (e.g., why tutors show academic
gains even when they do not receive additional subject matter instruction, whylonger and/or more substantial tutoring programs
may not foster greater immediate academic gains than shorter programs, and why mixed-sex pairs do not consistently reap benefits
equal to those of same-sex pairs). Finally, implications of the review for the development of peer and cross-age tutoring
programs are discussed.
Key Words peer tutoring - cross-age tutoring - review - mathematics - minority