Posts

What Grieving Children Need From the Grown-Ups in Their Live

By Anya Kamenetz, Reprinted from Time COVID-19 will impress a signature of grief into the next generation. According to the Imperial College London, 258,800 children in the United States have lost a primary or secondary caregiver to COVID-19. That is, the disease took one or both of their parents or grandparents who lived with them. […]

New study examines effects of cross-age mentoring on mentors of color from low-income, urban communities

Quimby, D., Richards, M., Onyeka, O. “Cynthia,” Miller, K., Tyson-McCrea, K., Smith, Z., & Denton, D. (2022). The effects of cross-age peer mentoring on adolescent mentors of color residing in low income, urban communities. Youth & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/0044118X221115761 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Evidence indicates that cross-age peer mentoring can benefit adolescent mentors. Given that […]

ArtSmart investigates the effectiveness of a school-based arts mentorship intervention on students’ learning outcomes

By ArtSmart Overview: ArtSmart launched the two-year study, led by Evan Linett and reviewed by WCG Institutional Review Board. The value of arts education for youth is often self-evident to advocates and practitioners. However, finding empirical evidence to support such claims is limited, and can be costly for organizations like ArtSmart, a 501(c)3 non-profit that […]

How Schools Can Teach Students to Network (Even When Students Don’t Think They Have One)

By Sarah D. Sparks, Reprinted from Education Week Many schools have used federal funding to hire or assign staff or volunteers to build one-on-one relationships with students. But as leaders grapple with staff shortages and overwhelmed teachers, it may be more effective and sustainable to help students learn to find and develop support networks on […]

New commentary reevaluates the effectiveness of mentoring in reducing juvenile criminal recidivism

DuBois, D. L. (2022). Reconsidering the effectiveness of mentoring for prevention of juvenile criminal recidivism: A brief comment on systematic review and meta-analysis of noninstitutional psychosocial interventions to prevent juvenile criminal recidivism (Olsson et al, 2021). Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 90(8), 647–651.  https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000744 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Interventions conducted outside the juvenile justice […]

What factors promote positive youth development among Chinese youth?

Wang, Y., Li, X., Bronk, K. C., & Lin, D. (2022). Factors that promote positive Chinese youth development: A qualitative study. Applied Developmental Science, 0(0), 1–18.  https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2022.2060225 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  Despite the pervasive use of positive youth development (PYD) in western countries, there’s a lack of work on PYD in mainland China, […]

Using mentorships to promote agency and a sense of belonging among asylum seekers

Amitay, G. (2022). From helpless rage to loving resistance: Resistance to othering and practices of agency in mentoring children of asylum seekers in Israel. Child & Youth Care Forum, 51(4), 705–727. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-021-09649-7 Summarized by Ariel Ervin Notes of Interest:  More than 30,000 African refugees and asylum seekers (AS) live in Israel. AS in Israel endure restrictive […]

Today’s Youth Have Spoken–It’s Time for A Different Approach

By Torie Weiston-Serdan, Ph.D., Reprinted from the National Mentoring Resource Center A key part of my role at the National Mentoring Resource Center is to represent a different way of thinking. With the Youth Mentoring Action Network, my work involves critical mentoring at the intersection of othered identities. As an active Research Board member at […]

Do You Love Lunch?: How these feelings associate with students sense of belonging in school

Whiting, E. F., Hinton, A. E., & Jensen, B. (2022). Loving lunch in junior high: Lunchtime activities and a sense of belonging in school. Journal of community psychology, 50(7), 2973–2992. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22809 Summarized by Maggie Bayly Notes of Interest: All humans need a sense of belonging. For students, this idea is linked to memberships and connectedness to their […]

Every School…Safe, Supportive, Engaging, Inspiring Preparing for a new school year: We are hopeful

By Center for Supportive Schools, Reprinted from the National Mentoring Resource Center “This work of deepening connections, of ensuring safety, and building relationships is more important now than ever before…the state of well-being for our children is at a crisis point. Schools cannot do this work alone. This is the work of CSS. Their staff, […]