Mentoring Students Back on Track to Graduation: Program Results From Five Communities

• In Event: 73.028 - Early-Warning Indicators and Indicators of Success

Abstract

This quasi-experimental study examines the impact of a mentoring program for high poverty and minority middle and high school students displaying early warning indicators of dropping out on attendance, behavior, and course passing. The study was conducted over three years in five districts throughout the country and used a comparison group identified through propensity score matching. Though students reported positive experiences with mentoring in surveys, significant program effects on student attendance, behavior, and course passing were not found. This could be related to program implementation features, such as the dosage of mentoring and turnover in the mentoring staff.

Authors

• Martha Abele Mac Iver, Johns Hopkins University

• Steven B. Sheldon, Johns Hopkins University

• Sarah Naeger, Johns Hopkins University

• Emily Clark