A descriptive study was used to investigate the relationship of in-class tutoring using focused reading strategies and the reading comprehension scores of 28 struggling readers in grades 3 and 4. Struggling readers were defined as those who failed the reading comprehension section of their spring 2006 Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), and that there was a need for additional support for meeting grade level reading standards. The 12-week in-class tutoring included 6000 minutes of small group tutoring focusing on reading strategies taught by four certified Early Intervention Program (EIP) teachers. All groups' reading scores were measured for growth before and after the intervention with the CRCT test and the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). There was a statistically significant gain between the pre and posttest CRCT and DRA scores. At the end of the 12-weeks, tutors responded to four questions, designed to provide insight into the in-class tutors' perceptions of the relationship between instruction in focused reading strategies and assessment outcomes for struggling readers. Results indicated that the in-class tutors spent the majority of their instruction on fluency because they felt that this was the greatest weakness of the students. Results indicated that when the tutors measured the students' reading ability on the EIP checklist the in-class tutors' perceptions of the students' reading ability matched the students' actual performance on the DRA and CRCT test 50% of the time. Overall, this study supports the results of other studies that early identification of struggling readers and the use of focused reading strategies in a tutoring intervention are keys to improving the reading comprehension.