Recruitig Mentors for After School Reading Program Best Practices
Mentor for America: Exploring Unified Best Practices in After-Schoolhouse Mentoring Programs
Hannah Alexander and Laura Londoño
Abstract
The United states of america experiences a strong civilization of mentorship programs for all ages. Schools, churches, customs centers, service groups, and universities fix opportunities for immature people to engage with older, more than experienced mentors that guide them through a wide range of life decisions and areas of personal growth. These mentoring relationships vary in core purpose, format, setting, frequency of meetings, and overall scope. Given the diverse nature of mentoring programs in the United States, this report explores the value and scalability of a specific mentoring model in which college students are paired with local middle school students in a three year program.
Introduction
The Jones-Zimmerman Bookish Mentoring Program, future referred to every bit JZAMP, is a three year bookish mentoring plan that pairs college students at urban universities with local middle schoolhouse students at run a risk of dropping out. This gratis afterward schoolhouse program creates an surround in which local middle schoolers tin further their academic and life skills while developing a close relationship with a higher student wholly invested in their success. Our experience with JZAMP's successes in building on the motivation of students who have committed to the plan, combatting the trend toward depression performance in math and reading, have inspired us to explore the expansion and scalability of this model currently concentrated in three Connecticut based universities and their iv corresponding middle schools .
In this report, we volition couple our agreement and experience with the structure of the Jones Zimmerman Academic Mentoring Program with the Teach For America model. We will explore how TFA's recruiting, grooming, and impact model tin exist applied in standardizing and scaling upward iii-year college mentoring programs throughout the United States.
Teach for America has a streamlined recruiting, placement, and training structure for its corps members. Information technology provides on-campus recruiting at universities, encouraging college juniors and seniors of all academic backgrounds and interests to consider teaching. Beyond recruiting, Teach for America bridges the gap between new teachers and their placement schools through placement relationships and matching. This reduces the barrier between new teachers, and schools seeking to recruit new teachers, in working with 1 another. TFA additionally guides new teachers through training, certification, and preparation for their starting time 24-hour interval of teaching.
The aforementioned model allows Teach for America to place over 3,300 new corps members in schools throughout the country each year, providing them with a "skeleton" of tools they need to make a successful transition from college to the world of teaching. (TFA, 2017) Though different in nature, purpose, commitment level, and telescopic, this report will explore the ways in which TFA's scaling model can be used to implement the J-Z AMP model throughout the country. More specifically, information technology will consider how a standardized method for recruiting and training higher mentors for a three-year mentoring delivery can curb trends of depression-impact programs throughout the country, changing the civilization of mentorship altogether.
Background
Mentoring Programs
Bookish research pertaining to mentoring programs shows mixed results. In a meta-analytic review conducted by a group at the University of Missouri, it was determined that there was "bear witness of merely a modest or modest benefit of program participation for the average youth." (Allen et al., 2008) However, the data demonstrated that, "program furnishings are enhanced significantly, however, when greater numbers of both theory-based and empirically based 'all-time practices' are utilized and when strong relationships are formed between mentors and youth." (Allen et al., 2008)
This data demonstrates an imminent need to disseminate, employ, and enforce these "theory-based and empirically based 'all-time practices." Possibly more chiefly, it alludes to "practices" that do not work, and a responsibility to ensure that they are not universally employed. Given the wide scope of mentoring programs in the United States, however, bad practices are both ubiquitous and diverse in nature. We at present will briefly explore what some of these practices look like.
Models That Do and Don't Work
In the study conducted by a group at the University of Missouri, it was determined that "all-time
practices coincided with "multifaceted intervention plan[s]" where "mentoring is linked to other supportive services." (More than specifically, they are usually installed to promote "positive youth development" and/or "instrumental goals relating to areas such every bit education or employment." (Allen et al., 2008) Thus, information technology has been adamant that the general philosophy with which mentoring programs are founded and approached is relevant in determining its success rate.
In analyzing these philosophies, information technology is also relevant to explore philosophies as such that accept led to failing programs. In an analysis of the educational bear upon of a mentoring plan at Wesleyan University, several of these less effective plan philosophies were exhumed. In their mission, the NEAT program states that, "The Northward End Action Team (NEAT) is a community-based organization whose mission is to empower residents and stakeholders to participate in and abet for the interests of the North Finish neighborhood within Middletown, Connecticut ." (NEAT, 2017) This program's philosophy does not autumn under the two aforementioned categories that the University of Missouri qualified as "effective," and thus might explain the reasons why its mentors felt dissatisfied in its effectiveness.
Beyond the content of the program and the services provided to the individuals involved, the structure and methods by which the program and its services are provided fall into the aforementioned "practices." Among them, the methods by which mentors and mentees are recruited, the timing and frequency of mentoring sessions, the setting in which mentoring takes place, and the time allocation inside mentoring sessions are relevant.
Assessing Effectiveness
Though these factors can be considerately observed and disentangled, the capacity to subjectively evaluate them is limited for several reasons. In the study conducted by the Academy of Missouri, the team pointed to to the difficulties involved with the "Cess of Outcomes." They state that, "the type of data source or informant utilized equally well as the timing of outcomes assessment relative to the active period of program operation," affect the already difficult procedure of evaluating the outcomes of varying "patterns of interaction' from plan to program.
Having addressed these challenges in assessing effectiveness in mentoring programs overall, in improver to "best practices," nosotros volition outline four factors that will ascertain the style in which this written report identifies an constructive mentoring plan. They will exist: consistency, goal-oriented philosophies, mentoring relationship forcefulness, and purpose-driven program structures.
JZAMP within the context of mentoring programs overall:
JZAMP employs many of the same theory and empirically based best practices equally well as stiff relationships between mentors and youths to ensure a successful mentorship plan, improving academic and social outcomes for the students involved. The aspects of the programme fall under the categories defined for assessing program effectiveness: consistency, goal oriented philosophies, mentoring relationship strength and purpose driven programme structure. For the purposes of this study, nosotros will focus on the particular JZAMP site of Wexler-Grant Community Schoolhouse in New Haven, CT and its partner university, Yale.
Goal Oriented Philosophy:
JZAMP was created in 2000 when then Connecticut Country Representative Reginald Jones partnered with young man school board fellow member John Zimmerman with the aim of combatting school drib-out rates. This goal oriented philosophy is the foundation upon which the other effective strategies the program employs are built. To combat school drop out rates, JZAMP seeks students who are below form level proficiency in reading and math; the students are selected based on recommendations from their fifth form teachers and results of standardized tests administered by the state of Connecticut. The tests decide the baseline of the students proficiency in math and reading and the teachers recommend students who are highly motivated to practice better in these areas.
With this criterion goal of increasing proficiency in reading and math to gainsay the run a risk of dropping out firmly in identify, mentors can build proficiency throughout the iii years past setting smaller quarterly and semester goals of achievement for their mentees. Concrete goal setting is important for both mentors and mentees because "seeing oneself proceeds progressive mastery strengthens personal efficacy, fosters efficient thinking and enhances performance attainments" (Bandura, 1993). This cocky efficacy in combination with goal setting contributes to academic attainments (Zimmerman, Bandura, Martinez-Pons, 1992).
Students gain conviction by meeting goals they fix in conjunction with, and with the back up of, their mentor and improve academically. Examples of smaller goals set by some mentors and their mentees range from general improvement of grades, to speed and accuracy with which students complete specific types of math and reading problems in homework, to increasing the amount of fourth dimension spent focused on work during academic fourth dimension. Setting and reaching these goals permit both the mentor and mentee to gauge their academic progress over fourth dimension .
Consistency:
This goal oriented philosophy is reinforced by the consistency of the program, another expanse in which JZAMP maintains mentoring effectiveness. Consistency is manifested both in the elapsing of the mentoring cycle likewise as the frequency with which mentors and mentees work together. Both mentors and mentees are recruited to JZAMP knowing that the plan lasts for a full three years. Higher students apply to mentor with the program at the end of their freshman year and are selected on the basis of their experience with tutoring and mentorship besides as their willingness to commit to the full three years of the plan. During these three years, mentors and mentees meet twice a week for the elapsing of the school year–barring school holidays. This year to year, week to week, and day to solar day consistency is crucial to the accomplishment of the aforementioned academic goals because mentorship has been shown to increase in effectiveness over time (Grossman and Rhodes, 2002). Grossman and Rhodes found in a 2002 study that the benefits of a mentoring relationship are best achieved if the relationship lasts at least one yr (Grossman and Rhodes, 2002). JZAMP'south 3 year duration ensures that non simply the minimal benefits of a mentoring relationship can be achieved, but that they can be maximized over an even longer period of time.
Mentor Human relationship Force:
Strong mentor-mentee relationships that are also cadre to the success of the program. Herrera, Sipe and McClanahan identify viii characteristics that contribute to a strong mentoring relationship: mentor and mentee engagement in social activities; mentor and mentee engagement in academic activities; hours per month mentee and mentor spend together; decisions made nigh how mentors and mentees spend time; similarity of interests; prematch orientation and training; post match support and training from programme staff; and age of the mentee (Herrera, Sipe, McClanahan, 2000). JZAMP builds mentor-mentee relationship strength forth each of these 8 metrics. The strong mentoring relationships of JZAMP are due in part to the duration of the plan and the frequency with which mentors and mentees collaborate, discussed in the consistency department above. Engagement in social activities, academic activities, fourth dimension management decisions, training, matching and support each fall under the category of purposeful program construction which will be discussed in the following section.
The mentor-mentee relationship is besides strengthened by pairing mentees with mentors in a ratio no higher than 2:1. Because the mentor's time is non dissever between many parties, the mentees receive more focused academic and social attention from their mentors. This focused attending allows mentors to tailor the time spent with their mentee or mentees to maximise effectiveness. In do, this takes the form of concentrating on bookish areas of weakness specific to the mentee or mentees; pushing the mentee or mentees to move at a specific pace; or spending focused social fourth dimension getting to know mentees on a personal level.
Purpose Driven Programme Structure:
The effectiveness of JZAMP is likewise owed to the structure of the plan, both at its higher programmatic level and in the day to day structure at the schools, for this section we will examine Wexler-Grant School in New Haven and its partner university, Yale, as a instance study.
JZAMP at Yale is administered through the university's undergraduate student lead community service organization, Dwight Hall. Dwight Hall appoints a site director that acts as a liaison between the university and the foundation that supplies the funding for the plan. Twenty-four hour period to 24-hour interval operations of the plan at the local middle school are administered by the pupil director appointed past the site director at Dwight Hall. This separation of overall programmatic administration from day to day operations at the school relieves the authoritative brunt on both parties, allowing for efficient running of the plan. The ii act in conjunction, trading information and reinforcing each others roles to maximize program effectiveness.
The Dwight Hall site managing director acts as back up for the program, providing training and resources to the student managing director and mentors. The site director oversees the programme's budget, bookkeeping for mentor pay, funding for supplies and field trips. The manager also oversees the period of onboarding and training each each year for the mentors during which information from the previous year are assessed and improvements and adjustments are made to ensure a better feel for mentees.
The student director acts equally on the ground support for the mentors–interacting with school administration and teachers to smooth the day to 24-hour interval operations of the program. The educatee director acts equally a resource for the mentors on site, facilitating communication with teachers about mentee progress and keeping the school administration abreast of program activities.
A solar day of JZAMP at Wexler-Grant is as follows:
2:00- Mentors arrive earlier the end of the school day and prepare by bringing JZAMP materials to the classroom used for the plan. Mentors arrive with whatever specific materials needed for that days activities and bring the materials left at the school to our mentoring site.
2:10- Schoolhouse twenty-four hour period ends and mentors usher their mentees to the classroom and wait until everyone has arrived.
ii:20-two:40- Mentors and students go to the gym or outside if the atmospheric condition permits to decompress after the school day and relax before resuming academic activities. This is a period during which mentors and mentees tin can collaborate in a more casual and social setting. Mentors and mentees may play a game of basketball or tag, or sit and exchange stories most their days or engage in a word near electric current events. This is a time during which mentor and mentee relationships can exist strengthened in a social setting.
ii:40-3:00- Mentors and Mentees return to classroom for snacks, announcements and prepare for academic time. During this period, the educatee director may make announcements almost upcoming field trips or group activities. Students also have the opportunity to share about their lives in a larger group setting through "Rose, bud, thorn" an activity in which students share something good that happened, something they're looking forrad to, and something negative that has recently happened. During this time, mentors may poll the crowd nigh upcoming school assignments that mentees can piece of work on.
3:00-4:00- Mentors work with mentees on homework and projects, or tutor to reinforce areas of academic weakness. During this time, mentors and their mentees break off into their assigned matches and work on whatsoever mentor and mentee agree should exist washed that day. Mentors and mentees may employ goal setting by setting daily goals such every bit finishing x number of assignments or getting to a certain point in a larger homework packet assigned for the week. With both parties enlightened of the daily goal, mentors can chart a stride for their mentees and provide support needed to succeed for the mean solar day. Shared goal setting and small group or one on one pairing lends the interaction a collaborative feel rather than a teacher-student bureaucracy that strengthens mentor and mentee bonds.
four:00-4:30-Mentors lead a session of academic enrichment, the theme of which changes weekly, giving each mentor a chance to elect the theme of the calendar week. Academic enrichment themes tin can include only are not limited to political debate, historical word, and recent scientific discoveries. This time is intended to encourage students to engage in intellectual pursuit exterior of work assigned in school. This time is opened with an introduction and transitions to an activity related to the topic, with the second day of mentoring building upon the first.
4:30-v:00 Mentors and mentees return to the gym or exterior until transportation arrives to take students home.
This schedule is strictly followed each day of mentoring and ensures that mentees are getting the well-nigh out of their time with their mentors, both academically and socially.
These elements of consistency, goal oriented philosophy,mentoring human relationship forcefulness and purpose driven program structure have proven effective in improving academic outcomes for JZAMP mentees. JZAMP has achieved its goal of combatting drop out rates. JZAMP's first accomplice graduated high school in 2008 and JZAMP participants had a graduation rate of 85% (JZAMP, 2016), higher than the country boilerplate of 79.2% (Lohman, 2011) for that year. JZAMP mentees at Wexler-Grant outperform their school peers in both school assessments and standardized testing; ii JZAMP mentees scored the highest in the schools assistants of the PSAT 8/ix test.
TFA Within the Context of Preparation and Disseminating Universal Practices
This report has already established the fundamental differences between TFA and mentoring programs like J-Z AMP. It has indicated that the TFA model will exist used in social club to extrapolate methods by which mentoring "best practices" could be universally employed and applied. In this section, we will more concretely evaluate what elements of the TFA model would exist most finer practical to a "Mentor for America" model. This department will briefly elaborate on physical elements of these practices to be implemented.
Broad Telescopic
Teach for America is both applauded and criticized for its wide recruiting efforts. More than specifically, Teach for America seeks to encourage a various range of college students– regardless of their background or academic interests– in lodge to pull from a significant pool that selects for competitive applicants. At the point in which it most invested in recruiting, effectually 2013, Teach for America, "attracted 57,000 applicants, yielding a corps that year of 5,800 teachers." (Washington Post, 2016)
This information begs questions pertaining to the accomplish with which Teach for America recruits. Critics fence that considering of its mission to recruit in high numbers, Teach for America focuses marketing on people who are not necessarily interested in education, affecting TFA'south retention charge per unit. (Donaldson, Johnson, 2011) These critics might cite the fact that more than two thirds of TFA teachers leave their positions at public schools beyond their two-twelvemonth commitment. (Donaldson, Johnson) Nonetheless, this data is express given its framing. Though 2 thirds of TFA teachers leave their positions after their two yr commitment, almost 90% of them remain in their positions during the outset two years. We volition now briefly explore this paradox, arguing that it is okay that a majority of teachers leave after their two year delivery given the leverage that this provides TFA in its recruiting efforts.
In analyzing this information, it is relevant to further explore the methods past which TFA goes about recruiting at this telescopic. I of the chief marketing efforts that TFA employs in this effort is its emphasis on "leave options." By "exit options," we refer to the cues that it provides potential corps members pertaining to means in which TFA will expand, rather than stunt, their future alternative career options. On ane of its alternating website tiles, TFA emphasizes that corps members will, "join an extraordinary, diverse network 53,000 strong tackling inequity from every sector." (TFA, 2017)
TFA asserts to its potential corps members that TFA will non lock them into a career path in teaching, using the fact that they can leave after two years every bit a selling point. Through we take explored the reasons why critics detect this problematic, this written report will argue that this framing and emphasis is beneficial.
This method is practical and beneficial for several reasons. Given that information technology targets people across those seeking to enter an education track, it increases its numbers essentially. TFA does this knowing that there is a teacher shortage, and that finding people that are good teachers, and who can fill the gaps in today'due south teacher deficit, requires a broad choice method. This type of recruiting emphasizes the fact that constructive teachers come in many different "shapes and sizes," and that it is in many bests interests to welcome and larn a diverse pool of teachers. Past embracing the fact that their goal is not to commit teachers for a lifetime of education, TFA maximizes its ability to recruit a pool of diverse and effective teachers.
Establishing Commitment & Abiding Contact
Recruiting a loftier number and broad variety of corps members does not cause Teach for America to compromise in its high expectations for corps members. From the start of its recruiting path for corps members, information technology ensures commitment through a high-level investment threshold on the part of the potential new corps member.
In practice, this means that Teach for America develops a abiding feedback relationship with its corps members, establishing a level of commitment that goes beyond boilerplate onboarding practices.
From its application process, TFA requires new corps members to dedicate time to submitting personal statements, answering purpose questionnaires, and complete activities that require upwards of five hours. (TFA, 2017) After the application process, TFA requires all potential new corps members to conduct a day-long in-person interview that is tiered to challenge the applicant's private and collaborative background, goals, and intentions. (Glassdoor, 2016)
Once corps members are hired, the methods by which they are prepared to teach in classrooms vary from region to region. In TFA'due south New York Region, for example, new corps members are required to attend multiple preparation webinars, upload videos pertaining to their intentions and goals, and participate in a busy "grooming" process where they are prepared for the licensing process and placement. (Teacher Certification Degrees, 2017)
In analyzing this process, information technology is relevant to extrapolate the broad factors of consistency, commitment, and contact. Teach for America ensures instructor delivery— amounting at the previously cited 90% retentivity rate during the ii-year placement– through creating a procedure of substantial investment on behalf of its new teachers.
Self-Evaluative Tools
Teach for America is capable of holding its large puddle of new corps mentors universally accountable through its methods of cocky-reflection and evaluation. More tangibly speaking, TFA'south "Teaching Every bit Leadership Comprehensive Rubric" is a model of the ways in which TFA requires and perpetuates the importance and magnitude of this process. (Instruction every bit Leadership, 2017) This rubric provides new corps members with the framework from which to fix goals that are tangible and tiered; they seek to assure that new teachers constantly improve themselves through self-evaluation and incrementally higher goals.
The "Self-Evaluative Tools" element of Teach for America'due south "universal practices" is maybe one of the most worthy of extrapolation and ubiquitous implementation. This is due to the fact that it ensures abiding increased output from each of its new teachers and staff members, thus generating optimal results for children in classrooms.
Combining the Ii: Scalability of Good Mentoring
Implementation
This report has extrapolated "all-time practices" from J-Z AMP, mentoring programs at large, and Teach for America in order to consider the ways in which the The states could amend statistics that currently demonstrate the ineffective nature of youth mentoring programs. (Aben et al., 2006) This section will explore how these aspects can be tangibly combined in lodge to improve mentoring programs nationwide.
In implementing a program with such goals and practices, we propose a large-scale, centralized mentoring establishment that recruits, trains, and places mentors in localized regions. These regions are broken down into campuses and schools of contact. However, the process of creating such a bureaucracy allows for the "universal best practices" implemented by TFA to be disseminated throughout the United States.
Mentor for America will recruit, train, and place college-aged mentors within partner schools throughout the country, seeking to universalize the effective strategies and structures utilized in JZ AMP. It will use universities, every bit does TFA, every bit the centers in which these actors are prepared to finer mentor in schools. The ultimate goal of this organization will be to implement the best practices of JZ AMP and TFA to universalize skillful mentoring throughout the U.s.a., and change the condition quo of mixed successes in the multifariousness of programs that currently exist in the country.
Potential Problems
The implementation of the expansion of JZAMP post-obit the TFA scalability model is not without potential problems. Scaling any program, despite its effectiveness and organisation at the micro level, will have its problematic areas at the macro level.
The start potential problematic area may arise in funding the plan. JZAMP is funded through a grant from the Jones-Zimmerman Foundation to pay for all costs associated with the program. Securing adequate funding to run the programme on a larger calibration may be hard. This could be mitigated by addressing the need for funding through each university'due south Dwight Hall equivalent.
The existence of a Dwight Hall like entity within each academy is besides unlikely and may crusade issues in implementation. Embedding JZAMP at Dwight Hall aids in the smooth running of the programme, but may not be necessary. There would have to me extensive structure building at the new universities to conform a program of this type.
Conclusion
Existing literature pertaining to mentoring programs in the Usa shows mixed results with regard to their effectiveness. At this point, the benefits of mentoring programs are not concretely defined or discernable, and many studies indicate to net losses. This report identified one of the reasons for these existing results: given an absence of ubiquitous best practices, mentoring programs fall on a wide spectrum of general success.
Due to the broad range of mentoring programs and corresponding success rates in the The states, this report has considered the ways in which uniting best practices pertaining to mentoring, and those pertaining to running an effective, nation-broad educational program (TFA), might increment success rates of mentoring programs around the country.
From a proscriptive standpoint, this report has suggested the implementation of a mentoring-based program modeled after the best practices of Teach for America'south recruiting, training, and placement practices and JZ AMP mentoring techniques called Mentor for America.
Moving frontwards, there is room to consider the applied elements of implementing a program such every bit Mentor for America. More specifically, it will be relevant to consider financing, fundraising, staffing, leadership hierarchies, and distribution channels. Though these factors take not been examined at this point, the theoretical bear witness of the need and projected success rate of such a plan has been established in this report.
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Source: https://campuspress.yale.edu/edstudiescourses/mentor-for-america/
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