Youth Mentoring@100% Innovation 6 – Connecting the Education System
Youth Mentoring@100%: Innovation 6
Connecting the Education System
The projects presented in the ten innovations areas are all designed to address barriers to vital services. Action teams should review all projects and prioritize those that have the best chance of addressing the barriers identified in the 100% New Mexico countywide survey. Your collaborative and result-focused local work is nothing less than heroic.
Here’s a quick overview of what you will find below.
Project Quick Links
Project: Youth Mentoring.6.1
Project 1: The “students as mentees” project
The data indicate that most students will benefit from some form of mentorship. Your mission here is to figure out what the public schools offer and how it’s all being evaluated. Big Brothers Big Sisters school-based mentoring connects students with mentors who meet with them weekly on-site during the school day, lunch or before or after school. The focus of the match is all about building a healthy relationship, while activities may include help with academics, reading, playing games or eating lunch together.
Big Brothers Big Sisters School-Based Mentoring: https://aae.how/79
Big Brother/Big Sisters High School Bigs program: https://aae.how/80
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Project: Youth Mentoring.6.2
Project 2: The “research the mentor consultant group and the ‘dr mentor’” project
This program offers “training solutions for the mentoring movement.” Check out the information on training related to school-based mentoring programs.
Mentor Consulting Group: https://aae.how/81
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Project: Youth Mentoring 6.3
Project 3: The “get updated on many mentoring models” project
Other national organizations that perform or support mentoring in schools include: Communities in Schools, Girls, Inc, Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA and Goodwill. Many of these, however, are not one on one mentoring, may have little evaluation behind their approach and take place at afterschool sites. They all should be networked with as a countywide network of mentoring agencies is created. Experience Corps, a program of the elder-focused organization AARP, is a tutoring and mentoring program to improve the literacy outcomes of elementary school-aged children at risk of academic failure. This program is prescriptive rather than relational, in that the focus is on reading.
Program participants made significantly greater gains in reading comprehension scores and teacher-assessed reading skills over an academic year as compared with the control group. However, there were no significant differences in vocabulary and word attack scores from pre- to post-intervention. Mentor2.0 and iMentor combine school-based and e-mentoring primarily for high school students. Recent studies suggest these are effective but need to be analyzed and assessed thoughtfully. The challenge/criticism of these and tutoring-focused mentoring has been that they focus more on academics/ guided lessons and do less to forge a strong connection that is built on mutual interest and trust.
AARP Foundation Experience Corps: https://aae.how/82
The National Mentoring Resource Center: https://aae.how/83
Mentor 2.0 (at a Big Brothers Big Sisters program): https://aae.how/84
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Project: Youth Mentoring 6.4
Project 4: The “explore options with the ‘community schools’ mentor support” project
We have lots of research on how community schools can become a hub for mentorship (school-based, community-based, etc.). Your action team can connect with the community schools’ action team to learn what schools are offering onsite, or how staff serve as navigators to programs across the county to support mentors and mentees.