Date of Degree

5-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Program

Education

Advisor

Alfredo Ortiz

Abstract

Seeking Sustainable Tutoring Programs: A Case for Supplemental Instruction for the Success of Middle School Students at the SJ Davis Campus in San Antonio, Texas

Charles Andrew Mazuca

University of the Incarnate Word, 2025

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to implement a pilot tutoring program on the campus of a public middle school in San Antonio, Texas, that supports improved math performance of under-performing students on the state mandated standardized test known as the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) exam; broadly speaking, the study posed the question “How might a school community create a sustainable service program model that improves the STAAR test scores for middle school students in high need communities?” This action research contributes to sustainable social change by demonstrating the public value of a collaborative, multi-actor tutoring program.

Action research methodology provided me the opportunity for data generation through direct participation in active settings, in-person observations, meetings, workshops, phone calls and emails, directed at three levels of examination: the general methodological application of a tutoring program and its assessment, data collection, and verification techniques. My methodology consisted of two types of activities: action research activities (e.g., design workshops, reflective sessions, tutoring) from the tutoring program itself and interviews with a principal, teachers, organizational administrators, elected officials, and community members.

The study findings showed that all participants expanded and elevated their performance into a worldview of collaboration, sharing of resources, and work efforts that disrupted the traditional allocation of resources and interrupted the fragmented tapestry of misapplied funding and talent that often leads to underperforming educational outcomes and sometimes failure. My action research process supported what I call the Targeted Resources and Enhancement Theory; meaning that tutoring emerges as the shared value of the stakeholders enhance one another’s work contributions and is sustained by the themes of Aspiring, Tutoring, Assessing, Sharing, and Recognizing. The theoretical recipe explains that tutoring programs require the understanding of resource allocation and its determinants; the intentional, instructional, and reinforcing strength of teaching; alternate means of resource procurement; sustaining the public’s confidence of teachers/tutors; decisions based on an organization’s principles and values and finally that public value is the very idea that should guide educational policy processes.

In conclusion, the discovery of my main themes of sharing, recognizing, aspiring, assessing and tutoring serve as the foundation of a sustainable tutoring program and the power of personal life story telling, through vignettes, opens the channels for educators to develop practical network and resource building that inspires one another to elevate their work contributions and exceed status quo expectations. Finally, my efforts in connecting both human and financial resources for the execution of a service that supports young students in need, is not a specific job task in city government or in the public school system; therefore, it is a service gap. I came across five people who saw the need to fill the same service gap that I saw, and they put effort toward the creation and execution of the tutoring program; those persons were the Councilman, the middle school principal, and three core teachers. These collaborators looked to me to connect the dots in both funding and program development while the teachers were performing the actual tutoring, all efforts as part of a sustainable tutoring project.

Comments by Administrator

This dissertation was not done in APA style and had to be returned to the candidate.

CMazuca_3rdRev_3-31-25.pdf (896 kB)
Third review - F.Lucille (Sia) Achica

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