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Mentoring: A School-University Partnership That Is Making a Difference
Abstract
Mentoring is being embraced by many schools as a way to fill gaps in the lives of children classified as "at-risk." Several lines of research indicate that mentoring programs encouraging positive adult relationships with these students provide the support needed to help these children reach their full potential. Through a collaborative effort between Rodriguez Elementary School, located in inner city San Antonio (Texas), and Our Lady of the Lake University, also in San Antonio, a very successful mentoring program involving college students and elementary school students is underway. As part of a state grant, a research program accompanied the mentoring program. By 1993-94, the program had grown to include over 130 college students, providing mentors for many of the school's 370 students. Using a one-group pretest-posttest design, the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale was administered to elementary students involved in the mentoring program. While the results were not statistically significant, the data indicate a positive trend in students' self-concept and also indicate that the collaborative mentoring program is having a positive effect on students' self-esteem. (Contains one table and four references.) (Author/SLD)
... As these relationships are built, Coleman (1990) proposes that simultaneously social capital is built. For instance, adults assist youths with access to otherwise unavailable resources (Flaxman, Ascher, & Harrington, 1989); support youths in their social, career, and personal goals (McPartland & Nettles, 1991); help youths with academic success (Blechman, 1992;McPartland & Nettles, 1991;Staudt, 1995); counsel youths in relation to family and life conflicts (Halpern et al., 2000); and enhance youths' self-esteem and pro-social attitudes (Staudt, 1995). In essence, various adults leaders and program staff at youth development organizations accept the responsibility to support, shape, and guide younger, less skilled, and/or less experienced youths by transmitting knowledge (Blechman, 1992), teaching new or challenging tasks (Flaxman et al., 1988), and helping them mature, develop social competencies, and reach age-appropriate specific goals (Einolf, 1995). ...
... As these relationships are built, Coleman (1990) proposes that simultaneously social capital is built. For instance, adults assist youths with access to otherwise unavailable resources (Flaxman, Ascher, & Harrington, 1989); support youths in their social, career, and personal goals (McPartland & Nettles, 1991); help youths with academic success (Blechman, 1992;McPartland & Nettles, 1991;Staudt, 1995); counsel youths in relation to family and life conflicts (Halpern et al., 2000); and enhance youths' self-esteem and pro-social attitudes (Staudt, 1995). In essence, various adults leaders and program staff at youth development organizations accept the responsibility to support, shape, and guide younger, less skilled, and/or less experienced youths by transmitting knowledge (Blechman, 1992), teaching new or challenging tasks (Flaxman et al., 1988), and helping them mature, develop social competencies, and reach age-appropriate specific goals (Einolf, 1995). ...
... These results corroborate the findings on the benefits of incorporating caring, mentoring relationships within youth development programs. Others have suggested that adult mentors, staff, and volunteers within these programs are vital in helping youths access resources generally unavailable to them (Flaxman, Ascher, & Harrington, 1989), supporting personal and career goals among youths (McPartland & Nettles, 1991), providing academic support leading to experiences of academic success (Blechman, 1992;McPartland & Nettles, 1991) and strengthening prosocial skills and attitudes (Staudt, 1995). ...
Youth development organizations are key institutions that contribute to healthy outcomes for youths. The development of caring staff-youth relationships is one key youth development program strategy. Using structural equation modeling, the present study examined the importance of these relationships on impacting school-related attitudes and behaviors among 149 youth participants in a Boys & Girls Club program. Results indicate that staff-youth relationships are positively related to the development of pro-social school behaviors, and negatively associated with the display of anti-social school behaviors. Findings point to the importance of supportive staff-youth relationships within institutions serving youths.
... Our Lady of the Lake University in Texas has been involved in a mentoring initiative with an innercity elementary school. Staudt (1995) explains that "this very successful mentoring program involves the matching of college students and at-risk elementary students in order to improve the elementary students' attitudes, behavior and self-esteem" (p.5). Mentors and mentees engage in a variety of activities "such as reading to their students, taking them to the university, playing games. ...
This article reports on a study of volunteer mentorship programs intended to support literacy development in early elementary grades. To provide a context for the study and its questions, it reviews issues related to the importance of early literacy development, various forms of early intervention, mentorship programs, and evaluation issues for both literacy programs and mentorship programs. In this first phase of the research program, the researchers sought to learn children's, mentors', and teachers' perspectives on the quality of the relationships established and the academic benefits of the program. The results indicated that such programs are a promising direction for further development and research work.
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