S.P.A.R.K. Peer Tutoring Project

S.P.A.R.K. Peer Tutoring Project

The S.P.A.R.K. (Supportive Peers as Resources for Knowledge) program was developed from a successful peer tutoring program started at New Richmond High School in Wisconsin.  The curriculum incorporates the Search Institute's Developmental Assets, which the Search Institute considers to be the building blocks of healthy development.

The S.P.A.R.K. Peer Tutoring Handbook and Training Manual can be used as the script for a four-hour tutor-training program, and will accommodate a high school class of up to thirty students.

The S.P.A.R.K. manual includes five sections:  

1.  An introduction to S.P.A.R.K. and the Search Institute's forty Developmental Assets, which the program works on developing in young students in order to decrease the likelihood that they will participate in unhealthy behaviors such as alcohol and drug use, sexual activity and violent behavior.  In addition, instruction is included to help students to recognize non-academic issues a student may be facing and to identify situations when they may need to seek help from an adult.

2.  Training in effective communication skills.  Information about verbal and nonverbal messages is provided, as well as instruction about how to actively listen to a peer.

3.  Training on how peers can develop helping relationships.  Instruction is provided to help students recognize the importance of sensitivity and empathy in their peer relationships.  Students learn how powerful their positive influence can be within supportive peer-tutoring relationships. 

4.  Training in techniques to teach other students successful study skills.  S.P.A.R.K. members earn a "Bachelor of Study Skills" by teaching each other study skills from booklets included in the S.P.A.R.K. manual. 

5.  Discussion of roles, responsibilities and procedures, from the importance of maintaining confidentiality and keeping accurate logs and other records to methods for establishing S.P.A.R.K. contracts between tutors and the students being tutored. Suggestions are provided about how to maintain the tutoring relationship once it is established. 

Activities and discussions are outlined for each section, and corresponding materials are provided in the manual's appendix.  Transparencies and other materials needed for the training are included, as well as the forms necessary for training and for the tutoring program once it begins.  Suggestions are included regarding how to establish a S.P.A.R.K. Peer Tutoring program in a new school.

The S.P.A.R.K. Peer Tutoring Handbook and Training Manual® is published by Empowering Youth, Inc. To order this resource, call Empowering Youth, Inc. at (715) 268-9404, e-mail service@empowering-youth.com, or visit the Empowering Youth Web site.