Promoting Equity for Disadvantaged Students through One-to-One Tutoring

• In Event: Critcal Perspectives on Grading, Tutoring, and Justice in Schools

Abstract

This mixed-methods study investigates the One-to-One Tutoring Project, a university-school partnership integrating pre-service teacher preparation into sustained, field-based tutoring for underserved K–12 students. Grounded in the “University Within School” model and theories of transformative learning and social justice, the project engages 124 volunteer tutors in reciprocal relationships that foster academic equity and professional identity development. Data from tutors, 73 students, and 84 parents reveal high satisfaction, improved student motivation and achievement, and transformative tutor growth in pedagogical confidence, empathy, and agency. Parents noted aspirational and behavioral gains. By embedding learning in authentic community contexts, this model reimagines teacher education as equity-driven and relational. Findings support field-embedded, justice-oriented fieldwork as central to meaningful educator preparation.

Authors

• Mustafa Ozcan, MEF University

• Sude Sozen, MEF University

• Servet Altan, MEF University