Webinar re: School-Based Mentoring; July 8, 2009; featuring Michael Karcher, Ed.D., Ph.D., University of Texas at San Antonio and Carla Herrera, Ph.D., Public/Private Ventures

1. RESEARCH IN
ACTION
ISSUE 6
School-Based Mentoring
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2. Research In Action:
Overview of Series
Last year, MENTOR released the National Agenda for Action: How to Close
America’s Mentoring Gap. Representing the collective wisdom of the
mentoring field, the Agenda articulates five key strategies and action items
necessary to move the field forward and truly close the mentoring gap. In an
effort to address one of these critical strategies—elevating the role of
research—MENTOR created the Research and Policy Council, an
advisory group composed of the nation’s leading mentoring researchers,
policymakers, and practitioners.
In September 2006, MENTOR convened the first meeting of the Research
and Policy Council with the goal of increasing the connection and exchange
of ideas among practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to strengthen
the practice of youth mentoring. The Research in Action series is the first
product to evolve from the work of the Council—taking current mentoring
research and translating it into useful, user-friendly materials for mentoring
practitioners.
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3. Research In Action Issues:
Issue 1: Mentoring: A Key Resource for Promoting PYD
Issue 2: Effectiveness of Mentoring Program Practices
Issue 3: Program Staff in Youth Mentoring Programs
Issue 4: Fostering Close and Effective Relationships
Issue 5: Why Youth Mentoring Relationships End
Issue 6: School-Based Mentoring
Issue 7: Cross-Age Peer Mentoring
Issue 8: Mentoring Across Generations: Engaging Age 50+ Adults
Issue 9: Youth Mentoring: Do Race and Ethnicity Really Matter?
Issue 10: Mentoring: A Promising Intervention for Children of Prisoners
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4. Using the Research In Action Series
• Research: a peer-reviewed article, written by a
leading researcher, summarizing the latest
research available on the topic and its
implications for the field;
• Action: a tool, activity, template, or resource,
created by MENTOR, with concrete
suggestions on how practitioners can
incorporate the research findings into
mentoring programs; and
• Resources: a list of additional resources on the
topic for further research.
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5. MPM Webinar Series
• Review RESEARCH presented in peer-
reviewed article
• ACTION dialogue – how can you
incorporate the research findings into
your program?
• Share RESOURCES with others in the
field
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6. Issue 6 – School-Based
Mentoring
• Michael Karcher, Ed.D., Ph.D.,
University of Texas at San Antonio
• Carla Herrera, Ph.D.,
Public/Private Ventures
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7. Issue 6 - Overview
• Introduction
• SB & CB Approaches to Mentoring
• SBM Outcomes
• Characteristics of Effective Programs
• Discussion
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8. Introduction
School-based mentoring
is now the most common
form of formal mentoring
in the U.S.
Close to 870,000 adults
are mentoring children in
schools.
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9. SB v. CB Approaches to Mentoring
Strengths of SBM Challenges of SBM
Supervised matches Limited time
Reach underserved Duration/pauses in
children relationship
Opportunities to Types of activities
influence school available
outcomes
Often occur in Often occur in
presence of peers presence of peers
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10. Costs for SBM & CBM
• Costs are similar – about
$1,000 per match per
year.
When determining program’s potential value,
costs must be weighed with type of services
being provided and population being served.
Considering outcomes yielded for a given price
is likely a better strategy.
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11. SBM Outcomes
• 2002 meta-analysis found
similarly “small” effects for
SBM, CBM, and other
mentoring programs
• Results from several studies
since then suggest that SBM
does provide benefits that are
comparable in size to those
achieved in CBM
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12. Big Brothers Big Sisters SBM
Impact Study (Herrera et al., 2007)
• Involved 10 BBBS • Mentored youth improved
agencies & 1139 youth in more than non-mentored
grades 4-9 peers in aspects of
• 80% free or reduced school performance and
lunch; single parent home behavior
• 77% having difficulties in • More confident in
1 of 4 risk areas scholastic abilities
• Average of 5 months • Size of benefits same as
weekly mentoring BBBS CBM program –
but only in school-related
outcomes
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13. CIS SMILE Impact Study (Karcher,
2007b)
• 516 predominantly • Self-reported
Latino(a) students in connectedness to
grades 5-12 peers & self-esteem
• Randomly assigned improved
to supportive services • Did not find impacts in
plus SBM other areas, including
• Duration of grades & attendance
relationships was • Size of program
brief effects small
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14. Impact Evaluation of the U.S. Dept.
of Ed. Student Mentoring Program
• 32 SBM programs • The Student
with 2,573 students in Mentoring Program
grades 4-8 did not lead to
• Randomly assigned statistically significant
to treatment or control impacts on students
group in any of the three
• Average length of outcome domains*
• (1) academic achievement and
relationship was 5.8 engagement; (2) interpersonal
months relationships and personal
responsibility; (3) high-risk or
delinquent behavior
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15. SBM – Who Benefits the Most?
• Age of mentees
• Gender of mentees
• Characteristics of
mentees
• Not all youth benefit in
Sitting at a table in a high same way – does not
school cafeteria and
talking with a boy about
imply that SBM should
his problems in front of stop serving youth with
his peers is just not a
good way to go.
smallest benefits
--Dr. Michael Karcher
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16. Developmental variation in effects of SBM on
connectedness to school for Latino/a youth
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17. Outcomes: Mentoring improved self-
esteem, connectedness, & social skills
Elementary Middle High School
School School
Girls (only Some No Change,
female mentors)
change change equivocal
Boys Greatly No Some got
improved change worse
Sex of Boys’ Male & Female Male & Same Sex
mentors Mentors Female Mentors
Mentors
However, some groups benefited more
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18. Characteristics of Effective SBM
Programs
• Mentor Support
• Types of Activities
• Increasing Longevity
• Terminating Effectively
• Summer Contact
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19. Conclusions
• SBM programs must adjust to
the structure of the school
• New mentor training, staff
support and match maintenance
efforts, such as summer
contacts, will be necessary for
SBM to reach its potential
• Important to adapt SBM to better
suit specific needs of boys and
girls of specific ages
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20. ACTION Dialogue
• Questions for Dr. Herrera and Dr. Karcher?
• What benefits/constraints do you see in
SBM?
• Where does the recent US Department of
Education study of SBM fit in?
• Have you taken the “Is Your SBM Program
Effective?” quiz?
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21. Share RESOURCES
• MPM Training
www.mentoringworks.org/traininginstitute
• Web sites & PDFs
www.delicious.com/traininginstitute
• This presentation & others
www.slideshare.net/traininginstitute
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22. Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) is a
national leader in creating and
strengthening programs that improve lives
in low-income communities.
– School-Based Mentoring resources
– Recent mentoring publications
– Major mentoring initiatives
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23. The Mentor Consulting Group
Consulting firm led by Dr. Susan
Weinberger, founder of the nation’s first
school-based mentoring program
–
Two Decades of Learned Lessons from School-Ba
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24. MENTOR/National Mentoring
The leader in expanding the power of
mentoring to millions of young Americans
who want and need adult mentors.
– High School Mentor Activity Report
– How to Build a Successful Mentoring Program Usi
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25. National organization that provides
training and technical assistance to
youth mentoring programs.
– ABC’s of School-Based Mentoring,
Technical Assistance Packet
– Keeping Mentoring Relationships Going during the
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26. Federal government agency that provides
funding, resources, and guidelines for
schools and mentoring efforts throughout
the country.
– Impact Evaluation of Student Mentoring Program
– Yes, You Can: A Guide for Establishing Mentoring
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27. THANK YOU!
• Next webinar is Wednesday, August 5;
12-1pm CST
• Issue 7: Cross-Age Peer Mentoring
featuring Michael Karcher, Ph.D.
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