This dissertation presents a study that was designed as a replication and extension of a one-year efficacy study that evaluated a manualized, school-based, adult mentoring intervention for youths determined to be at risk for school drop-out.
The author of this dissertation examines burgeoning research that investigates if positive outcomes can be generated by intentionally placing a non-parental adult in a child’s life through a mentoring program, with an objective of maintaining students’ engagement in school. The study was designed to replicate and extend a previous, one-year efficacy study that evaluated a manualized, school-based, adult mentoring intervention for youths determined to be at risk for dropping out of school. The dissertation provides in-depth discussion of the research methodology and results. The author’s research study lasted 18 months and included a new cohort of 38 similar low-income ninth graders from the same mid-Atlantic, urban high school as the original study. The cohort was divided in half, with a random selection of students assigned to the mentoring group and the other 19 students assigned to the control group. Mentors were trained, volunteer teachers, who received ongoing weekly consultation from the program developer. The students completed surveys at three different intervals, and four semesters of grades and discipline referrals were obtained from school records. Results supported the previous study’s findings, and indicated that youths who were assigned mentors reported significantly more positive perceptions of teacher support and received fewer discipline referrals. The author notes that, by the end of the follow-up period, mentored students also reported significantly greater sense of classmate acceptance and had higher grades in mathematics and language arts than the control group.