Mentoring for Success: Self-Regulated Learning Strategies Use Links Mentor Support and Educational Attainment

• In Event: Self-Regulated Learning: Applications Across Domains

Abstract

We tested the mediating role of students’ reported strategy use in explaining why mentoring support predicts academic achievement, as measured by highest degree attained. At recruitment, participants (n=1,094) were undergraduates from historically under-represented groups pursuing a STEM degree at one of 38 U.S. universities. Primary variables were tracked using surveys and institutional data over 12 years. Parallel processes latent growth-curve analysis indicated students’ reported strategy use (deep processing, persistence, & effort) was stable over time and mediated the relationship between students’ mentoring support and academic achievement. Higher mentor support predicted higher strategy use, which then predicted higher achievement. This study is one of the first to empirically demonstrate one process (strategy use) by which mentoring leads to greater academic achievement.

Authors

• Joseph C. Tise, Institute for Advancing Computing Education
  Presenting Author

• Paul R. Hernandez, Texas A&M University
  Non-Presenting Author

• P. Wesley Schultz, California State University - San Marcos
  Non-Presenting Author