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Mentoring: A Key Part of the Conversation at White House Summit

By: Noelle Hurd I am just returning from a day-long summit at the White House. The summit was sponsored by FLOTUS’s office and was titled Beating the Odds: Successful Strategies from Schools & Youth Agencies that Build Ladders of Opportunity. The summit was part of the First Lady’s Reach Higher Initiative(https://www.whitehouse.gov/reach-higher) which broadly focuses on […]

New Research Identifies Relationship Quality as Key to Successful School-Based Mentoring

Bayer, A., Grossman, J., & DuBois, D. L. (2015). Using volunteer mentors to improve the academic outcomes of underserved students: The role of relationships. Journal of Community Psychology. Summarized by Jessica Cunningham, B.A., Research Associate, Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring Background: Many schools facing financial hardship are turning to low-cost ways of identifying and supporting students […]

Why Public Schools Should Reinvent Mentorship

by Daniel Lombrosco (WATCH VIDEO) Jessica Valoris is a “dream director,” a new take on the guidance counselor role that combines mentorship, life coaching, and artistic training. Jessica’s job is difficult: Only 22 percent of students at Roosevelt High School are at grade level and many are on the verge of dropping out. “I’m creating […]

The Importance of High-School Mentors

by Alyza Sebenius (the Atlantic) In her job as a “dream director,” Jessica Valoris is tasked with unleashing the potential of disadvantaged students at an inner-city high school in Washington, D.C. Her employer, a New York-based nonprofit called The Future Project, embeds mentors like Valoris in public schools, characterizing her role as a “midwife of […]

Guest Contributor Niobe Way: Why we should celebrate all mentors, male and female

by Niobe Way, Ed.D., Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology at NYU and Author of Deep Secrets Matching boys with caring mentors should be the goal of any mentoring program regardless of the sex of the mentor. My research with Black, Latino, White, and Asian American boys over the past two decades indicates that boys want […]

At UC San Diego, retired professors are mentoring first-generation college students

By Melvin H Green, The Conversation Thursday, January 7, 2016 My mother cried when I told her I was changing my major from engineering to chemistry. Her fear was that I would never earn a living as a chemist. When she heard a few years later that I planned to go for a PhD in […]

Study uncovers interesting differences in the interpersonal tone of school-based mentoring relationships

Pryce, J. M., & Keller, T. E. (2013). Interpersonal tone within school-based youth mentoring relationships. Youth & Society, 45(1), 98-116. Background Positive mentoring relationships display closeness, warmth, authenticity, and empathy. This study sought to capture the emotional tone of interactions within the relationships, using observable interactions, such as communication, facial expressions, eye contact, and signs of affection. […]

Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’

By Carol Dweck For many years, I secretly worked on my research. I say “secretly” because, once upon a time, researchers simply published their research in professional journals—and there it stayed. However, my colleagues and I learned things we thought people needed to know. We found that students’ mindsets—how they perceive their abilities—played a key […]

Mentors: The Real Disruptive Innovation in Education

by Brandon Busteed Story Highlights Feeling supported in college helps grads in their careers Technology is significant, but human fundamentals matter too Effective mentoring is critical to a graduate’s success Students Need Support — and Experiential and Deep Learning Gallup — in partnership with Purdue University — recently completed a representative study of college graduates, […]

Nonprofit seeks to end violence by mentoring youth

by Maria Sestito The (Jacksonville) Daily News Published: Monday, August 17, 2015 at 12:30 a.m. S.O.U.L. (Support, Opportunity, Unity, Leadership) Society kicked off its first few weeks as a nonprofit by holding a peace festival. The My Brother’s Keeper Peace Festival, held July 25, was an effort by organizers to begin a dialogue about violence, […]