Back in 1983/84, we used a program called "structured tutoring" for developmental courses. Tutors would work with students in the classroom and in the tutorial labs. When I came to my current place of employ, SI was in place but called "Peer Mentoring." This followed the same paradigm of the SI model with a few local modifications. To make sure that the program was working and that the "hype" about SI was relatively true, I did a small research project on the efficiency and effectiveness of the program. I found a number of interesting indications: students would attended five or more study sessions earned a course GPA of .583 higher than students who did not; the students who never attended fell into essentially two groupings -- students who were doing poorly in all of their classes and didn't see the value of the study group and students who were doing exceedingly well in most of their classes and did not see the value of the study group; the cost of the endeavor was roughly $4.83 per hour when contact hours were divided by the cost of the program. For us, the program works. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Jim Valkenburg [log in to unmask] Delta College University Center, MI 48710-0002 (517) 686-9034 FAX (517) 686-8736