|
BY REQUEST... September 1998 PDF version Introduction
Implementing a Mentoring Program:
Appedix A:
|
Introduction
Students face barriers to academic and social success for many different reasons throughout the course of their education. Consider the following scenarios:
Shawnda, an eighth grader, loves algebra and is at the top of her class. When asked what she wants to do when she gets older, she can’t think of a career where she could apply her math skills. And, despite having the highest test scores in her class, she doesn’t have confidence that she could be successful in a math or technology-related career.
Meanwhile, John, a junior, is thinking about dropping out of school. He’s already missed several weeks of class this semester and he just doesn’t see any point in trying to catch up. As far as John can tell, nobody— at home or at school—really cares whether he graduates or not.
What can schools do to help students like John and Shawnda reach their potential? The answer may seem obvious at first:
provide them with more individual attention, more guidance, more encouragement, more support. At a time when teachers are faced with overwhelming demands of increasingly diverse student needs, however, this solution hardly seems realistic. Are there other ways schools can provide students with more individual attention without placing even greater demands on classroom teachers?
One strategy that has become popular over the past decade
is mentoring—pairing students with adult volunteers or older
students who provide friendship, guidance, and support as students navigate new and ever more challenging circumstances. Through school-based mentoring programs, schools across the country are offering students new avenues for exploring educational and career paths, stronger incentives for staying in school, and increased confidence in their ability to succeed. For students in need of career direction, mentoring programs can pair them with professionals who can familiarize them with the world of work, serve as role models, and bolster confidence. For students having social or academic difficulties, or for students at risk of dropping out, mentoring programs provide friends who are personally involved in students’ success and who can both encourage them and hold them accountable for going to class and getting their work done. And mentoring programs are not just limited to these scenarios. Versatile and relatively low in cost to implement when compared to other school improvement efforts, mentoring programs are being designed for students of all ages and from
all segments of the student population. Although mentoring is often considered to be primarily for students with low grades and limited opportunities, it is useful for gifted and mainstream students as well, providing them with opportunities to develop job and communication skills, practice decisionmaking, and learn more about subjects such as art, science, history, math,
and technology.
This booklet provides an overview of school-based mentoring. Recognizing that no two programs are alike, it focuses on how student mentoring works, the benefits associated with it, and strategies for designing successful mentoring programs which address the specific needs of individual students, communities, and schools.
|
