This study attempted to determine whether giving lower-performing tutors preferential treatment over their higher-performing tutees before they engaged in peer tutoring sessions may help increase the reading achievement for these lower-performing tutors. The preferential treatment consisted of giving teacher-delivered instruction in a targeted text only to the tutors and verbally announcing this fact to both the tutors and tutees as a status treatment. A comparison group of lower-performing tutors was created in which both the tutors and their tutees received similar instruction in the targeted text, thereby eliminating the preferential treatment for the lower performing tutors. Tutor achievement was assessed after the instruction phase--to investigate a possible teaching expectancy effect--and after the peer tutoring phase. Tutors were assessed in reading fluency accuracy and fluency rate. Qualitative analysis, employing video data, was used to examine tutor behaviors which might indicate the tutors' interest and engagement in the activities. Eighty second grade students (40 lower performing tutors and 40 higher performing tutees) from two urban public schools participated in the study. Results indicated that the experimental tutors significantly outperformed the comparison tutors on both fluency accuracy and fluency rate after participating in the peer tutoring sessions. The experimental tutors, in contrast with the comparison tutors, also provided more assistance to their tutees. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en- US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]