Quality mentoring in schools promotes student engagement

As part of our 20 Challenges in 2012 initiative to celebrate Mass Mentoring’s 20th anniversary, we are releasing a series of challenges to address key goals of mentoring in Massachusetts. Goal six is 20 ways that communities grow with mentoring. The Highland Street Corps Ambassadors of Mentoring have researched 20 ways that mentoring provides positive social benefits that strengthen schools, families and communities. You can read more about their findings here.

This guest post is from Patricia Hanson-Staples, an Ambassador at Springfield School Volunteers. She interviewed David Finkelstein and Melin Menas from Freedom Credit Union for this post.

From David F.:

David F.

I had been a teacher in the Springfield Public Schools for 35 years.  I always had enjoyed my time as a teacher because of the interaction with students. And on many occasions, I had informally mentored students.

Two years after retiring I came back to Central High School, the school that I had retired from – but this time as a paraprofessional.  At that time I was approached by a Central counselor, and asked if I wanted to become a mentor.

I accepted immediately because I understood that one caring adult can make a life-changing difference in the future of young people. And I certainly have never regretted that decision. What so many young people need is acceptance, and a way to see how life will be positive.

Many of the students who are mentees are students who are at-risk. Often times they are students who, for one reason or another, have a very negative image of themselves. What they really need is someone who will be positive and hold them accountable for their own actions and choices. It seems like a simple formula – but it does work.

I have enjoyed many fun times with mentees that they have enjoyed also – and they have achieved success because they knew that I cared and was there for them.

I would recommend being a mentor to anyone interested in a fulfilling experience that benefits the community.

From Melin M.:

Melin

I absolutely enjoy my mentoring sessions at Central High School.  We discuss topics ranging from school work to music to home life – whatever she wants to discuss, I am there to listen, be a resource and hopefully guide her in a positive direction.

As a member of the business community, I believe that being a mentor is the right thing to do, and I am fortunate enough to work for a company that supports the belief of giving back to the neighborhoods in which we work and live in.  After all, one day, most of these students will themselves become an integral part of our society.

Quality mentoring leads to higher graduation rates with more earning potential

As part of our 20 Challenges in 2012 initiative to celebrate Mass Mentoring’s 20th anniversary, we are releasing a series of challenges to address key goals of mentoring in Massachusetts. Goal six is 20 ways that communities grow with mentoring. The Highland Street Corps Ambassadors of Mentoring have researched 20 ways that mentoring provides positive social benefits that strengthen schools, families and communities. You can read more about their findings here.

This guest post is from Lianna Mika, an Ambassador at Boston Area Health Education Center (BAHEC).

Young people in high-quality mentoring relationships are more likely to graduate high school and pursue higher education, which leads to higher lifetime earnings. High school graduates make, on average, $130,000 more throughout  their lifetimes than their peers who didn’t graduate high school, while college graduates make $1 million more throughout their lifetimes than people who didn’t graduate from high school.

This is important for our economy as well as for the individuals. Many jobs require at least a high school diploma, if not some college. Students are put at a disadvantage if they do not finish high school, and that is where mentoring programs can help. According to the Building a Grad Nation Report by America’s Promise Alliance, America has an average high school graduation rate of 75%. If this rate was increased to 90%, 580,000 extra students from the Class of 2011 would have graduated and gone on to earn $5.3 billion more together in their lifetimes. America’s Promise Alliance estimates that this additional economic activity would lead to the creation of 37,000 jobs and an increase in our nation’s gross domestic product by $6.6 billion. This is all for one year’s worth of students who didn’t graduate high school – imagine this effect if every year 90% of students graduated high school.

The most important people in all of this are the students. Making more over their lifetimes would put them in a better economic position to live the life they want. They would be more likely to find a job and more likely to buy a house. If having a mentor can so greatly improve the lives of students who may otherwise not finish high school, then it is so important that we provide great mentors to students who need them the most and encourage these students to finish high school. They need a little extra help to get their diploma. Everyone who can mentor should consider mentoring – the benefits are far-reaching.

Source: Balfanz, R., Bridgeland, J. M., Bruce, M., & Hornig Fox, J. (2012, March). Building a grad nation: Progress and challenge in ending the high school dropout epidemic. Retrieved from http://www.americaspromise.org/our-work/grad-nation/~/media/Files/Our Work/Grad Nation/Building a Grad Nation/BuildingAGradNation2012.ashx

Supporting male mentees

On Columbus Day weekend in Chicago, I joined participants from across the country to learn from experts in male mentoring at the “Forum on the Effectiveness of School-Based Male Mentoring,” co-hosted by the DePaul University Center for Access and Attainment and the Kenwood Academy Brotherhood.

We explored the critical issues of academic achievement and personal and social development of young males. The research suggests that there is an enormous need for targeted interventions for males:

• 80% of high school dropouts are males
• 50% of fourth and eighth-grade minority males in most urban districts and nationwide scored below basic levels
• In college and career preparedness, minority males are twice as likely to drop out of high schools as Caucasian males

Zeeba Khalili attended the Forum on the Effectiveness of School-Based Male Mentoring

Clearly, it isn’t an achievement gap we’re looking at, it’s a chasm and because of that, the creation or scaling up of quality programs specifically serving boys is urgent. Throughout my work with Boston Public Schools, I have heard repeatedly that more mentoring programs serving boys are a great need. This research demonstrated to me that the issue is a national one.

The Long Beach California School District has come together to try to change those statistics for its own district and has been remarkably successful. They created the Male Academy Program. Quentin Brown, the program administrator, talked about the initial creation of the program as a club, and its eventual integration district-wide because of its success. The Male Academy program, serving more than 300 students in high school and middle school, has seen increases in GPAs, significant decreases in campus tension between African-American and Latino male students, higher graduation rates, and higher participation in school leadership.

One of my favorite things that the Male Academy does is take photos of each young man in a graduation cap and gown. Those photos are posted in their program space so that the goal of graduating high school is not only a constant reminder but a visual reality.

It would be great to see a district-wide initiative like that in Boston, involving the higher education institutions in the city and impacting the high school and middle school students. The students have the potential for academic and social growth; now we need to provide them with a vehicle to attain it.

Guest author Zeeba Khalili is the school partnership associate at MMP

Why the Dropout Prevention Act needs our support

Mass Mentoring recently testified in support of Sen. Chang-Diaz’s bill S.185, An Act Preventing Students from Dropping Out of School. We believe this legislation addresses gaps in the holistic support necessary for Massachusetts youth to thrive academically.

The bill has two provisions that we felt both help address the dropout problem and align with MMP’s work and that of our mentoring program network:

1. Implementing a graduation coach initiative that will match at-risk students with coaches to mentor and encourage them to success
2. Expanding the early warning indicator index in order to better identify youth who may need additional support services to graduate on time.

According to the research on the causes of high school dropout, students report that a lack of connection to adults or their school is a leading reason for disengaging from school. It is often reflected in poor attendance rates in the lower grades. The graduation coach initiative will not only help address this issue, but will give at-risk students the additional socio-emotional and academic support they need to graduate.

The initiative will match students with a coach who will provide individualized mentoring, guidance, and encouragement to nurture academic success. National research has shown that youth in mentoring relationships present better attitudes and behaviors at school and are also more likely to graduate high school and attend college.

In addition to serving as a mentor to students at risk of dropping out of school, the graduation coaches will be charged with connecting these students to school and community resources to help them towards academic success. Formal, structured mentoring programs could be a part of this solution and are frequently already working in that regard. According to Mass Mentoring Counts, a biennial statewide youth mentoring survey conducted by the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts, 44 percent of mentoring programs identify their primary goal as providing education and academic support to young people. Additionally, in our verbal testimony at this week’s hearing, Mass Mentoring CEO David Shapiro asserted the importance of proper training and support for the graduation coaches so they can be effective mentors and offered MMP’s support in this area.

Including the expansion of the early warning indicator index is also a critical provision of this bill. Research has shown that the decision to drop out of school is a gradual process that often begins long before students enter high school. By expanding the early warning indicator index, more schools will be able to identify students in need of extra support, and more students will benefit from additional resources, such as volunteer mentors who can provide academic tutoring in addition to social and emotional support. This is the type of asset-based youth development approach that can maximize the potential of every young person rather than then intervening to address a mounting set of deficits.

Each year, 10,000 Massachusetts youth drop out of high school. High school dropouts are less likely to be employed, and are more likely to earn less if they are employed. They’re also more likely to be dependent on public assistance and become incarcerated.

We believe that by employing a comprehensive approach such as the one proposed in S.185, we may be able to address this complex issue, and provide all our young people with the education and support that they need and deserve for generations to come.

If you’d like to receive additional information about this legislation and other advocacy news, please email Elena Sokolow-Kaufman with your name and email address.

Sen. Katherine Clark: The importance of mentors

Senator Katherine Clark, who recently joined with us in supporting the Mentoring Matching Grants line item in the state budget, penned an op-ed this week about the importance of mentoring as children head back to school. She also highlighted several of our member programs in her district, including the Melrose Alliance Against Violence’s Community CARES Mentoring program, the Wakefield Adult Mentors program and the YWCA Malden Group Mentoring program. Please read her article below and learn how you can get involved by searching for mentoring opportunities near you on our website.

Sen. Katherine Clark: The importance of mentors – Melrose, Massachusetts – Melrose Free Press.