Solomon EDUC701 Final Paper
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The Impact of Mentoring on At-Risk Students
Horace L. Solomon, III
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
Horace L. Solomon, III
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this assignment should be addressed to Horace L. Solomon, III
Email:
hlsolomon1@liberty.edu
Abstract
Mentoring programs have become one of the most effective methods for schools to deal with the
issues surrounding at-risk students. While there are many reasons that students fall behind, the
consensus is that mentoring programs help alleviate the issues that the students have. The paper
outlines the issues that students have in schools and helps to figure out ways that lead them to
success. In the United States, the commitment to helping all students to succeed has been met
with skepticism because of the improbability of the task. However, the strategical
implementation of mentoring programs has helped tremendously on all levels.
Keywords:
mentoring, at-risk, school-based mentoring, mentors, mentees, reciprocal mentoring
Mentoring programs all across the world have been implemented to bridge the gaps in
achievement and progress amongst all students. Students from diverse backgrounds and levels of
society walk into classrooms across the globe in hopes of obtaining and education that will help
them to become productive citizens. At the end of the day, those same students go home to
different situations and deal the proverbial hands that they are dealt. Chan, et al (2020) revealed
that mentoring programs helped the students to improve their performance at school and at
home. By the time the students who participated in Project Arrive were engaged for one school
year, they produced positive results in school with higher grades and boasted about better home
lives. Schools have implemented many programs to help students who are at-risk to achieve
against the odds that life ultimately presents to them. In the face of these challenges and
adversities, the students must maintain their will to succeed, and the education system is duty
bound to make it happen.
Mentoring has taken the place of many other interventions and has led to great successes over
the past few decades. Many will question what makes mentoring more effective than other
methods used to be effective in the lives of at-risk students. Mentoring works when the minds of
both the mentor and mentee are in the right place. Kowalski (2019) explained that mentoring
starts in the mind of the mentor, because it their mind is not in the right place, they will fail to
help the person in need. Mentoring is an important part of the changes that education systems are
making at this time, because without the programs, many children will continue to fall through
the cracks. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiatives were designed to help all students achieve
academically, but the mentoring programs are designed to nurture the whole child. Before a child
can be taught or learn anything, his well-being must be taken care of first; children learn more
when they learn that someone cares about them.
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Definitions
1.
Mentoring
- the process of providing guidance to someone with less experience
(Kowalski, 2019)
2.
At-Risk Students
-students who have a high probability of failing or dropping out of
school for a variety of reasons (Hung, et. al, 2017)
3.
School-based mentoring
- mentoring programs that take place on school grounds and
during the school day (McQuillin& McDaniel, 2020)
4.
Mentors
- wise and trusted advisors who guide individuals to better decision-making
(Kowalski, 2019)
5.
Mentees
-a persons who are guided by the mentor (Kowalski, 2019)
6.
Reciprocal mentoring
- the mentoring process in which the two individuals involved take
on both the roles of mentor and mentee (Peterson& Ramsay, 2020)
Related Literature
Mentoring has become one of the most popular ways to combat the widespread issues
regarding achievement gaps in schools. In the past few decades, the education system has
suffered due to the disparities in what has been determined to be both equal and equitable. In
order to solve the problem or at least alleviate some of the pressures, mentoring programs have
been implemented worldwide. Students who benefit the most from mentoring programs are those
who are deemed at-risk for failures in life. Beattie, et al (2016) commented that mentoring
programs provide another open door for those who have been labeled as failures in life. After at-
risk students have the chance to redeem themselves, many of them made better choices. The
popularity of mentoring programs has increased over the years because the programs are easier
to incorporate and more or less cost effective. The success of mentoring programs is contingent
upon several factors and without the proper steps, the mentoring programs will fail. Kowalski
(2019) contended that a successful mentoring program will be designed to help students to regain
the motivation that they lost over the years. Mentors must know the mentees in ways that will not
only build relationships but also help them to last throughout the process. Mentoring programs
have been used to lower the number of students who are labeled “at risk” and to help them get
back on track.
The number of at-risk students in educational settings has risen steadily over the years due to
several reasons. In some cases, the number has risen due to COVID-19 and other factors that
have acerbated the problems within the socioeconomical and racial differences between students.
Many students are labeled “at-risk” because they have fallen behind in school due to issues that
are most likely beyond their controls. The discrepancies between the races of people have
contributed to the failure of minority students to “make the grades” needed to succeed in school
and after graduation. Brooms, et al (2019) has discovered that Black and Latino males have a
more challenging time being successful due to societal and family issues that impede their
academic progress. Many of the students who have grave issues at home generally do poorly in
school and make for easy targets for the outside world. The mentoring programs that are
implemented help to deter them from the street life and also give them a chance to redeem some
of the time that they lost. Mentoring for them is a proverbial game changer and a life saver as
well. According to Blankenship, et al (2020), without mentoring programs, those groups of
students would fall further behind and eventually give up on education as a whole. The chance to
meet with someone outside the classroom who sought to help them make better choices was all
that some of those at-risk really needed. Mentoring programs provide those chances on a daily
basis.
Mentoring programs have also been used in situations that involved minority students in
search a chance to get the “fair shake” that has otherwise eluded them. In some cases, being born
anything other than a "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant” male presents challenges that are hard to
overcome without some help. Jackson, et al (2014) explained that many schools across the
United States took the opportunity to expand their scholastic programs to help African American
and Latino students who had been previously denied the opportunities to make strides in
education. Whether it was a societal issue or one that was caused by the lack of legislation, the
gaps had to be addressed and most schools opted to use mentoring to meet those needs. After
many years of avoiding the legal ramifications of social and racial inequalities in the United
States, schools and education systems have developed plans to fix the issues; mentoring
programs are usually employed to make amends. Without them, the at-risk students would fall
further behind, and the numbers would increase steadily over the next decade.
Mentoring programs for at-risk students are not confined to the secondary school levels,
because there are students who make to college and stare failure head on. In most cases, students
may survive high school and realize that they are not prepared to face the “real world” because
of the demands that they did not realize were there. What can be done then to help them to adjust
to their newfound freedom and responsibility? Mentoring programs have been implemented to
help them as well due to the fact that the pressures of college are commonly the reason that so
many people do not earn their degrees. Peterson & Ramsay (2021) explained that college
students who were at-risk of dropping out were benefitted by mentoring because they were
allowed to learn quite a bit about themselves as they sought to navigate life. The post-secondary
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mentoring programs that have been offered by institutions of higher learning over the past
decade have helped to raise the graduation rates across the world. According to Hall, et al (2020),
mentors helped at-risk students to develop a sense of belonging so that they became motivated to
finish their education and moved into the workforce.
Mentoring programs for at-risk youth also help students who have endured traumatic events
that have nothing to do with academics. Mentors are a necessity because they can relate to the
students and help them to work through the problems that teachers may not be able to fully
understand. Kowalski (2019) has stated that in order for mentors to be successful, they have to be
able to understand and relate to those with which they are working. Their sole purpose has to be
to understand the students and help them in regard to whatever their present issues may be.
Mentoring programs for at-risk students give them a sense of belonging and a safe haven from
the struggles that they face outside the confines of the school day. Douglas, et al (2019) has
expressed the importance of mentoring programs for at-risk students by showing that the
mentoring programs have helped them to recover from childhood trauma. In many cases, the
adverse effects of a poor childhood are deemed irreversible, but the mentoring programs turned
things in a different direction. Much of the recent success in the urban areas of the United States
is due to the implementation of mentoring programs that involve peers.
Peer to peer mentoring is one of the most effective methods of reaching at-risk students
because studies have shown that they speak freely when they are comfortable. Peer mentoring
has been around since the 1980’s and much of what is known in terms of success comes from
this type of mentoring. Douglas (2019) pointed out that at-risk students who had mentors that
they could confide in recovered faster than those who did not. The aim of most mentoring
programs has been to motivate the at-risk students to work on a plan that will help them to bridge
the gaps between where they are and where they should be. The reasons for the gaps are not
always explored because the reasons are less important than the treatments. Douglas, et al (2019)
stated that peer to peer mentoring programs are effective because of the close bonds that the
participants have. Research has shown that mentoring programs for at-risk students are
successful when the mentees feel empathy and understanding from the mentors. When a person
is devoid of emotion and motivation, mentoring them is a key tool that should be used to push
them towards their goals.
School-based mentoring has increased over the past twenty years because school systems
have found that it was more beneficial to serve the students while they were already in the school
setting. Allowing the students to go home or find ways to escape the programs was deemed to be
Ill-advised, so school-based mentoring became the weapon of choice. McQuillin & McDaniel
(2020) deduced that the setting of a mentoring program was just as vital to the success of at-risk
students as anything else. In most cases, the students did better with the programs when they
were implemented at school and took place during the school day. Mentoring for struggling
students within the school day gave them the extra support when they needed it and fostered the
growth that had otherwise not been seen. According to McQuillin (2020), school-based
mentoring programs were more beneficial to at-risk students than community-based programs
for several reasons. School-based programs were easier to fund, and the students were more
comfortable because they were in a place that was familiar to them. Outside sources of revenue
and workforce did not always meet the needs of the at-risk students, so the efforts were utterly
counterproductive.
The school-based mentoring programs were successful for at-risk students as well because the
students were able to receive services for free and without the notice of their peers. Gaudreault
(2016) insisted that mentoring programs can help students shake the labels that they openly
despise more than anything. In many cases, at-risk students shy away from the help because they
are ashamed and do not want their peers to know that they are falling behind. Effective goal
setting and succession plans were at the center of the school-based mentoring plans and helped
students in several ways. At-risk students were more likely to disrupt the classroom setting and
make learning more difficult for the other students; mentors helped them to find ways to channel
their energies and emerge as better students. Mentoring programs allow at-risk students with
behavior issues to work beyond their issues to succeed in school. While some students did not
originally like the mentoring program due to its intimate nature, they eventually came to
understand the power of the programs.
School-based mentoring programs are often used to close the achievement gap for at-risk
students, but there is also a deeper issue at the foundation of the problem. The racial disparities
that minorities have faced in the United States are due to laws and rules that separated the masses
for the last fifty years. School-based mentoring programs have been approved by the State
education boards to try and right the wrongs of previous generations. The at-risk students who
are residual casualties of the modern Civil Rights movement benefit greatly from mentoring
programs. Grey (2019) explained that school-based mentoring programs closed the achievement
gap between Whites and Black people significantly in the last decade. One of the major reasons
is that the mentors and mentees came from similar backgrounds and had some of the same
experiences. Mentees tend to learn more and evolve when they can relate to those who are there
to help them.
Mentoring programs that are designed to help reduce the achievement gaps between the at-
risk students and the ones who are on target have helped in many different ways. At-risk students
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have traditionally been the ones who spent the most time outside of the classroom for several
reasons whether it is home life or classroom disruptions. In some cases, the classroom
interactions are improved by the teachers who serve the children on a daily basis. The students
can and will learn a lot from their teachers as long as they are afforded the opportunities outside
of the regular class setting. Larose, et al (2020) stated that mentoring programs are useful in
changing the relationship between at-risk students and teachers overall. When the students
learned that the teachers were willing to give extra time and effort to help them to succeed, they
responded positively.
Mentoring programs are also highly effective for at-risk students because they are allowed to
meet in smaller groups and work on their issues rather than be subject to embarrassment or worse
with their peers. Studies have shown that at-risk students who meet in smaller groups have more
positive results when it comes to mentoring no matter how intense the program is. Many of at-
risk students respond better to one-on-one interactions because the mentors and mentees seem to
show more care and concern in those settings. The emphasis that is placed on the reciprocal
mentoring has moved the pendulum closer to success than any other aspects of mentoring.
Jackson (2014) proposed that mentoring relationships in which the mentors and mentees
switched roles led to advancements with minority students. The Black and Latino students used
their time during these sessions to share their own love and experiences with their mentors and
that led the at-risk students to have more concern for their future.
At-risk students are not really born into their situations, but many of them sink into the abyss
of poverty and hardship because of the choices that they make. While some of these occurrences
are unfortunate, mentoring programs have become the redeeming feature for most of them. The
students have become saddled with the issues of society and labeled as failures, but mentoring
programs have been effective in helping them to turn their lives around. In recent years,
mentoring programs have been used to make last ditch efforts to help students who are in danger
of losing out on everything that life has to offer them. Keijzer, et al (2021) has explained that
mentoring programs have been useful with students who have reached the last resort stage in
schools. Students who are on the last resort stage are at a point where dropping out is the most
viable option. These students have either been previously incarcerated or retained in several
grades in school. The mentors in last resort programs are equipped to support at-risk students at
school and at home where they probably needed the most support. The students ae usually
disconnected from school and have no interest in attending school let alone graduating. Keijzer
(2021) stated that mentoring programs allowed the students to increase their motivation and
pushed them to make academic progress at the same time. Mentoring programs that nurture all
parts of the at-risk student are most successful because the child’s well-being is at the forefront
of everything.
Mentoring has often been the first option when dealing with at-risk students who have run
afoul of the law, but there is so much more that mentoring adds to the lives of at-risk students.
Mentoring is about building and maintaining good relationships between the mentees and
mentors beyond the classroom. While studies have shown that mentors can help students pull
their grades up, there is extraordinarily little to say about how mentors help at-risk students
develop socially. Wesely, et al (2017) pointed out that at-risk students do much better when the
mentoring programs focus on how to help them to become more productive citizens after the
programs have run their course. The mentoring programs are designed to help the at-risk students
become resilient in the face of their personal circumstances; while mentoring cannot erase their
reality, it can definitely help them to face it that much better. Mentoring programs allow the
students to meet with people who can identify and sympathize with them on their issues but also
teach them coping mechanisms.
Learning Theory Association
Mentoring aligns with the Social Cognitive Theory, which was advanced by Albert Bandura
in the 1960’s. According to the social cognitive theory, subjects learn from the modeling from
others and act accordingly. When a mentee listens to the mentor and mimics their behavior, they
are following this model. The Schunk text defines mentoring as the process in which an
experienced person provides knowledge to a person with lesser experience for the purpose of
shaping behaviors.
Gaps in the Research
There are many studies that have focused on the academic aspects that mentoring helps to
improve, but there is a lot of research that still needs to be done. In some cases, the negative
aspects of mentoring are overshadowed if there is any positive in the situation. While mentoring
does indeed produce good things, there are still some mentoring programs that do not help the at-
risk students to maintain their momentum. Further research needs to be done to figure out how
mentoring changes the psychological leanings of the mentees after an extended period of time.
Some at-risk students regress and there needs to be some research done to find out why the
progress is no longer lasting. What can be done to help those who are restored to keep their pace?
Mentoring programs can also been counterproductive if the mentees leave the settings in which
they were serviced.
Further research can also be done to determine if mentoring programs can be beneficial for all
students. If students are mentored regardless of their academic success, then perhaps, there may
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be a smaller number who are labeled at-risk. Lindt & Blair (2017) implied that mentoring should
not be offered to the at-risk only because even the best of students can benefit from the support
that mentoring programs provide. Moreover, the mentors would be teaching people skills to the
mentees and help them to prepare for the outside world.
Biblical Worldview
Mentoring is definitely an idea that can be closely related to occurrences within the King
James Bible. The Bible says that men should be helpers one to another and that includes
mentoring. The Bible gives several instances where mentoring took place in order for progress to
be made. Jethro, Moses’ father in-law, was his mentor and he instructed Moses on what to do and
how to respond when God gave him a task. It was also Jethro who advised Moses to delegate
responsibility to capable men so that he could do more to lead the people more efficiently.
Further, the greatest men of the Bible either were mentors or were greater due to being mentored
at some point. Jesus Himself was a mentor to His 12 Disciples, who in turn mentored others as
well.
In the grand scheme of things, mentoring is a part of the Christian duty and is much needed in
order to further the Kingdom of God. The Bible always teaches the believers to become learners
and then to apply their learning and understanding to their lives. Women are to teach younger
women the ways that are pleasing to God and the same applies to men. When someone of lesser
experience or knowledge encounters someone who has knowledge, that person should be willing
to impart and share.
Conclusion
Mentoring programs are designed to change the lives of those who are at-risk. While it may
be impossible to change who a person is, it is probable that a mentoring program can help them
to change how they respond to various situations. Without the implementation of mentoring
programs, many at-risk students will remain lost and never achieve their fullest potential. In the
end, who a person becomes or fails to become can be due to not having a model to imitate. If
mentoring programs go away, so will the lighted path of direction that the programs provide.
Everyone has the potential to be great, but without the extra nudge, some may never reach the
apex of their lives; other may reach it, but never get over the hump.
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