Who Does Mentoring Serve?

As noted earlier, mentoring programs can be designed for virtually any segment of the student population, from elementary students with an interest in science to high school students at risk of dropping out. Although the majority of existing school-based mentoring programs target middle and high school students, some programs work primarily with elementary school students, operating on the belief that "personal attention should begin early—before poor study habits or negative behavior have a chance to become well-established and potentially destructive" (Lengel, 1989, p. 28).

Depending on school and community needs, mentoring programs can target (Faddis et al., 1988; Pringle et al., 1993):

• Gifted students
• Language minority students
• Minority students
• Female students
• Students from single-parent homes
• Students from low-income homes
• Students with low self-esteem, limited social skills, or behavioral problems
• Low-performing students, or students who need help in specific academic areas, such as reading or math
• Students who need encouragement in order to apply to college, enroll in vocational training, or find work
• Any other students with specific unmet needs

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