Posts

On mentoring and wheat

by Jean Rhodes A call to action in youth mentoring Ron Haskins, the co-director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution recently wrote a New York Times OpEd in which he made a strong case for the use of evaluation and evidence in social programs. As he notes, “Despite decades of efforts and trillions […]

A response to the critique of the Brookings Institute report on mentoring

by Phillip Levine, Ph.D. I am grateful for the attention that my analysis has received and I believe there is more common ground here than one might otherwise gauge based on this critique (see below). Much of the critique is focused on the scope and nature of the evidence. My analysis was clear in restricting […]

Intensive Small-Group Tutoring and Counseling Helps Struggling Students

 Editors Note: This is a very encouraging study, summarized in the New York Times, about the power of tutors and mentors to help struggling students. CHICAGO — By the time they reach eighth grade, according to federal tests, half of all African-American schoolboys have not mastered the most basic math skills that educators consider essential […]