Youth Perceptions of a School-Based Mentoring Program

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-437
Author(s):  
Samantha Weiss ◽  
Jeanette Harder ◽  
Christiana Bratiotis ◽  
Emily Nguyen

Academic mentoring programs promote high school completion for at-risk youth. The purpose of this study was to hear the voice of youth in order to inform program services and develop best practices for meeting their academic needs. Using a grounded theory approach, we conducted 14 focus groups to examine high school students’ perceptions and experiences in the Avenue Scholars Foundation program. This study supported previous findings: students’ comments reflected on the importance of the relationships built in the program, the knowledge they gained, and their experiences regarding higher education and careers. The students shared that these experiences were increasingly meaningful because of the relationship built with their Talent Advisor and classmates. These relationships instilled hope for the future, created a pathway to college and career, and confirmed a belief that the students could accomplish their goals.

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 2156759X0801200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Karcher

In cross-age peer mentoring programs, high school students mentor younger students. Prior research demonstrates the positive effects for mentees as well as for mentors. This context-based, strengths-promoting intervention is designed to help school counselors foster high school students’ leadership and collaboration skills while simultaneously promoting elementary and middle school mentees’ connectedness, self-esteem, and academic achievement. Using a tiered set of students as intervention agents, cross-age peer mentoring programs provide a unique strengths-based intervention for school counselors at any grade level. Consistent with the ASCA National Model®, but unlike most approaches to youth mentoring, cross-age mentoring programs can be structured by a calendar of connectedness themes that informs school counselors’ action and accountability plans and can utilize a connectedness curriculum to guide the delivery of guidance lessons by students to students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-168
Author(s):  
Desmond Ang

Abstract Nearly 1,000 officer-involved killings occur each year in the United States. This article documents the large, racially disparate effects of these events on the educational and psychological well-being of Los Angeles public high school students. Exploiting hyperlocal variation in how close students live to a killing, I find that exposure to police violence leads to persistent decreases in GPA, increased incidence of emotional disturbance, and lower rates of high school completion and college enrollment. These effects are driven entirely by black and Hispanic students in response to police killings of other minorities and are largest for incidents involving unarmed individuals.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (7) ◽  
pp. 934-960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dávid Laco ◽  
Wendy Johnson

Despite their growing popularity, quantitative studies of school-based mentoring (SBM) programs for youth have showed considerable variation in mentoring benefits, including negative effects of mentoring. We investigated the initial 3 months of one school’s SBM program, delivered by teachers and compulsory for all first- and second-year high school students ( N = 103). Students who reported higher quality of mentoring environment (QME) tended to report greater school engagement. No such association was found for grades. In addition, higher QME was associated with greater perceived benefits of discussing personal themes but not of academic themes. Evidence of personal benefit, but absence of evidence for academic benefit, was consistent with reported effects in other SBM programs. Protégé expectations, but not gender or initial school engagement, were associated with QME, suggesting self-fulfilling prophecy as a mediator of effects. We discuss the implications of this for managing SBM programs and future research.


Author(s):  
Natasha F. Veltri ◽  
Harold W. Webb ◽  
Raymond Papp

This chapter reports on the development a formal social mechanism for interaction among female IT role models, such as industry executives and recent college graduates, higher education IT academicians, and female middle school and high school students. The GETSMART (Getting Everyone To Study Math and Related Technologies) program is designed to address the national issue of low female participation in the computer science and information systems fields. The goal of this initiative is to create an innovative educational and mentoring program that encourages women to pursue studies and careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The comments of the GETSMART participants serve as a feedback loop to the program executive and academic leaders and indicate the importance of teachers, parents, role models and early STEM experiences in formation of interest in STEM.


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica B. Heppen ◽  
Kristina Zeiser ◽  
Deborah J. Holtzman ◽  
Mindee O'Cummings ◽  
Sandra Christenson ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 2156759X0901200
Author(s):  
Michael Karcher

Cross-age mentoring programs are peer helping programs in which high school students serve as mentors to younger children. The study in this article compared fall-to-spring changes on connectedness, attachment, and self-esteem between 46 teen mentors and 45 comparison classmates. Results revealed an association between serving as a cross-age peer mentor and improvements on academic self-esteem and connectedness. The American School Counselor Association regards coordinating a peer helping program as an appropriate activity for school counselors; this study supports this position.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 1220-1237
Author(s):  
Wing Yi Chan ◽  
Gabriel P. Kuperminc ◽  
Scot Seitz ◽  
Christyl Wilson ◽  
Nadim Khatib

This study examined the association between participation in a school-based group-mentoring program (Project Arrive) and academic outcomes in a group of ninth-grade students who had been identified as at high risk of high-school dropout ( n = 239). Comparison participants were ninth-grade students with similar levels of risk ( n = 980). Using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) with a propensity score to reduce selection bias, and a partially clustered model to account for nonindependence of data in program students, we found that Project Arrive students earned more credits by the end of 9th grade and 10th grade; and reported increased instructional time by the end of 9th grade, than comparison students.


2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 526-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao-Ting Sung ◽  
Yun-Tim Yvonne Chang ◽  
Tzu-Ying Cheng ◽  
Hsiu-Lan Shelly Tien

Abstract. Assessing work values with high school students is a critical component of career counseling practice, however it remains a relatively understudied area of research. The purpose of this study was to develop and provide psychometric evaluation of a Work Values Assembly (WVA) scale for assessing high school students. This study employed a mixed methodology to gather research data and conduct data analyses. In the first study, 30 participants were involved in focus-group interviews about their work values. The interview data were analyzed through a grounded theory approach and a framework of seven-dimension work values was derived. In the second study, the WVA scale was constructed based on the descriptions and dimensions of the first study. Seven hundred fifty three high school students participated in the pilot study. The revised scale was then administered to 896 high school students in a formal test. The exploratory- and confirmatory factor analyses re-verified the quality of the items and the construct validity of the WVA scale. The scale also demonstrated good test-retest reliability and criterion-related validity. Finally, 896 and 592 participants from high schools and colleges, respectively, participated in a test of measurement invariance between the two groups. Implications for counseling as well as suggestions for future research were discussed.


Author(s):  
Kim Stevens Barker

Lagging high school graduation rates for English Learners remains a priority concern for states across the nation, and educators under pressure from federal and state accountability measures and tight local budgets are struggling to find solutions for strengthening academic achievement for English Learners and ultimately improving their chances of achieving high school graduation and moving on to postsecondary levels. Educators can look to their own communities for sustainable, low-cost tutoring and mentoring. This chapter describes a community collaboration between a high school and its feeder elementary school that facilitates high school students’ volunteering as tutors and mentors to elementary English learners in a suburban school district in the Southeast. The background for the benefits of tutoring and mentoring for English Learners, a description of the program benefits for the various stakeholders, detailed steps for creating a multi-age, community tutoring and mentoring program, and resources for educators are included.


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