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Mentors can help students overcome math anxiety

Posted by Mark Peters Even students who perform extremely well on math exams can suffer from anxiety. And the better a student does at math, the more strongly anxiety will drag his or her performance down, new research shows. And the relationship between anxiety and achievement holds true not just in the United States, but […]

New research tests impact of mentoring on school dropouts

Candil, D. M., & Gaza, M. (2017). A pilot Study of the impact of the Peraj mentoring program on school dropout risk of Mexican children. Journal of Community Psychology, 45(3), 315-332.DOI: 10.1002/jcop.21849 Summarized by Jelle de Graaf   Background: School dropout is a serious issue in Mexico; it affects hundreds of thousands of children and […]

Mentors push minority students to achieve even more – Tips for finding the right mentor

By Tori DeAngelis As an undergraduate at the University of California, Irvine, Jeanett Castellanos, PhD, was just glad she’d made it to college. Neither of her parents—both Cuban ­refugees—had graduated from high school, and they were exuberant about their daughter’s success. “I thought I would just get a BA. I didn’t think there was anything […]

New Book “Teach to Work” seeks to bridge education-business gap through mentoring

by Patty Alper Mentoring transforms lives. I have learned this firsthand through the eyes of six hundred inner city students I have had the privilege of mentoring over the last fifteen years. In Teach to Work, I will show how you can improve the lives of high school, community college, or university students, while simultaneously […]

New research observes combination of peer youth mentoring and multimedia

Bowers, E. P., Hilliard, L. J., Batanova, M., Stacey, D. C., Tirrell, J. M., Wartella, K., & Lerner, R. M. (2016). The Arthur Interactive Media Study: Initial findings from a cross-age peer mentoring and digital media-based character development program. Journal of Youth Development, 10(3), 46-63. Summarized by Matthew Hagler   Introduction Over the past 20 years, both […]

Empathic teacher-student connections lead to better student behavior

By Emily Underwood, ScienceMag School suspension rates have nearly tripled in the United States since the 1970s, rising from just 3.7% of all students in 1974 to nearly 11% in 2011. That’s a big deal because missed class means missed learning, and suspensions can predict future unemployment and even incarceration. Now, a new study suggests […]

Without mentoring, girls lose interest in STEM fields

Stoeger, H., Duan, X., Schimer, S., Greindl, T., & Ziegler, A. (2013). The effectiveness of a one-year online mentoring program for girls in STEM. Computers & Education, 69, 408-418. Summarized by Jessica Cunningham, B.A. Lab Manager, Center of Evidence-Based Mentoring Introduction: As you may have already heard, women are highly under-represented in the fields of […]

PBS NewsHour: Why first-generation students need mentors who get them

PBS’ September 20, 2016, podcast of their NewsHour series tackled the importance of mentors to first-generation college students. To access the podcast, click here. You can find the transcript of the essay from novelist Jennine Capo Crucet below, as well.   GWEN IFILL: We close with an essay. Novelist Jennine Capo Crucet grew up in […]

Boosting the grade for school-based mentoring: Training and focus are key

Written by Marisa Ramirez Mentoring programs for school-aged children have grown in the past two decades, but their effectiveness has not kept pace with their popularity. A study from the University of Houston College of Education finds school-based mentoring programs fail because they lack sufficient time, mentor training and a research foundation. “While community-based mentoring […]

Mentoring program found to boost academic and mental health outcomes for urban minority youth

Montanez, E., Berger-Jenkins, E., Rodriguez, J., McCord, M., & Meyer, D. (2015). Turn 2 Us: Outcomes of an urban elementary school-based mental health promotion and prevention program serving ethnic minority youths. Children & Schools, 37(2), 100-107. Summarized by Jessica Cunningham   Background: Many school age children suffer from undiagnosed mental health problems, and this problem […]