As the number of at-risk students' increases, challenges for teachers, administrators and policymakers increase too, including the need to develop productive programs to help reduce some of the negative outcomes to which at-risk youth are already predisposed. Mentoring programs offer opportunities for at-risk youth to socialize and learn in a safe environment that exposes them to other members of the community. This study explores some of the components that constitute "effective mentoring", with regards to mentoring programs for at-risk youth. It compares two mentoring organizations, Strong Women Strong Girls and The DREAM Program using several of the benchmark criteria for effective mentoring programs set forth by the National Mentoring Partnership. It concludes with recommendations and suggested next steps on the federal, state and local levels toward enhancing current mentoring programs. The findings include, that Strong Women Strong Girls and The DREAM Program meet the majority of the established benchmark criteria. / McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts; / Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy / MA; / Thesis;

This study is about programmes that foster adult-youth relationships and more specifically about the community context necessary for such programmes to flourish. The study is designed to explore a faith-based community context in which a youth mentoring programme is being considered as a strategy to help develop adult-youth relationships and youth participation in the community. The focus of this research is an Anglican parish in Perth, Western Australia. The study evaluates whether mentoring would be the most appropriate adult-youth programme intervention to facilitate parish ministry to its young people. Three literatures related to formal adult-youth programmes including youth mentoring, intergenerational and youth-adult partnerships inform the study. Key programme characteristics and theoretical models related to the three literatures are identified, as well as recommended practices or behaviours associated with the development of effective adult-youth relationships. The study methodology emphasises wide consultation and elicits the perceptions and expectations of participants regarding youth mentoring and youth participation. Illuminative evaluation, action research and mixed methods approaches are integrated and combined within the study, incorporating a range of data sources to be compared and contrasted to identify adult and youth needs and to produce recommendations pertinent to the parish context. A sociocultural approach to data analysis and interpretation, as outlined by Barbara Rogoff, is employed to foreground interpersonal relationships in the parish whilst also considering individual and cultural-institutional planes of analysis. Youth participation is identified to be an adult need given the anxiety of many study participants about the future of the parish and their valuing of a community incorporating all age groups. Despite generally positive participant expectations of mentoring as an intervention, study findings indicate that a formal youth-adult activity programme would be more likely to respond to the needs of all young people connected to the parish. Mentoring is identified to be one potential form of youth-adult activity that could be included, as well as being a form of relationship that could develop naturally. The study includes four main recommendations regarding preparatory activities intended to support the design and implementation of an effective parish adult-youth programme: (1) Address barriers to communication between youth and adults; (2) Be aware of power differences between adults and youth; (3) Be open to supporting youth initiated change; and (4) Develop a shared vision for youth participation in the parish. Overall, lessons learned from the youth mentoring, intergenerational and adult-youth partnership literatures suggest that a focus on mutuality and reciprocity between youth and adults is most beneficial for the development of ongoing relationships.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-101).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 98-101) Also available in print.

Although research has described mentoring programs to have positive effects with youth, there are few studies that describe how mentors build relationships with homeless youth. In this study, I sought to explore how mentors of a community-based organization, Starting Right Now, built relationships with homeless youth. Starting Right Now is a multi-faceted, community-based intervention developed in 2009 in Tampa, FL. They provide services to homeless adolescents who are no longer living in the custody of a parent or guardian. The program provides residential, educational, recreational, and professional development services, as well as mental and physical health care. Additionally each youth in the program receives a trained mentor. A qualitative approach allowed mentors to share what strategies they used to connect with their mentee and overcome challenges within the relationship. Five female adults were recruited from Starting Right Now to participate in individual semi-structured interviews. Results showed that for some mentor-mentee pairs, the relationship developed easily if they found similar commonalities (e.g. outgoing personalities). Further, mentors discussed the strategies and activities that created a closer relationship and how they overcame challenges with the relationship. Finally mentors discussed the advice they would give to someone else looking to mentor a homeless youth. Overall mentors in this study reported that commitment and patience are major components to being a successful mentor to a homeless youth.

No description available.

The author presents original research findings on the subject of the impact of a youth mentoring program, Fresh Start, on a group of at-risk adolescents in the United States. The article opens with an introduction and overview of the subject of youth mentoring, and proceeds to a review of the literature that describes types of mentoring and the varied outcomes mentoring programs have been documented to have on target populations. The literature also explains the concept of at-risk adolescents, and explains how and why mentoring programs are believed to be effective interventions for working with this population. The author then presents the methodology, research design, and procedures that were used for the study, and identifies the organization that served as the subject of the study. The researcher explained that data were collected from three distinct participant groups: students, teachers, and parents. The researcher documents the data collection and analysis techniques, and reports the results. Based on the study conducted, the researcher concluded that the Fresh Start mentoring intervention influenced statistically significant positive outcomes for participants with respect to the at-risk students’ behaviour and academic performance. Taking this conclusion into consideration, the researcher reflected upon the components of a mentoring program that are most likely to predict academic and social success for students who have been deemed at-risk, and offered recommendations for future research and program development. / Sociology / D. Phil.(Sociology )

The author presents original research findings on the subject of the impact of a youth mentoring program, Fresh Start, on a group of at-risk adolescents in the United States. The article opens with an introduction and overview of the subject of youth mentoring, and proceeds to a review of the literature that describes types of mentoring and the varied outcomes mentoring programs have been documented to have on target populations. The literature also explains the concept of at-risk adolescents, and explains how and why mentoring programs are believed to be effective interventions for working with this population. The author then presents the methodology, research design, and procedures that were used for the study, and identifies the organization that served as the subject of the study. The researcher explained that data were collected from three distinct participant groups: students, teachers, and parents. The researcher documents the data collection and analysis techniques, and reports the results. Based on the study conducted, the researcher concluded that the Fresh Start mentoring intervention influenced statistically significant positive outcomes for participants with respect to the at-risk students’ behaviour and academic performance. Taking this conclusion into consideration, the researcher reflected upon the components of a mentoring program that are most likely to predict academic and social success for students who have been deemed at-risk, and offered recommendations for future research and program development. / Sociology / D. Phil.(Sociology )

No description available.

Despite a narrowing trend over the past forty years, the racial academic performance gap between non-Asian-American minority students and European-American students remains an overarching issue in K-12 schooling according to the Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (2017). Du Bois’s (1903) theory of double consciousness is implicated in the performance gap phenomenon. Though not explicitly connected, Steele and Aronson’s 1995 study revealed stereotype threat (STT) to be an empirical explanation of the negative impact of double consciousness. Steele et al.’s study revealed a psycho-social contributor to the racial academic performance gap, STT. STT is characterized by performance suppression caused by the fear of fulfilling a negative stereotype or the fear of being judged based on a negative stereotype attributed to one’s social identity group. The activation of this phenomenon is related to identity threatening cues, a systemic issue laden in the academic environment (Purdie-Vaughns, Steele, Davies, Ditlmann, & Crosby, 2008). To date, over 300 studies have been conducted on STT according to a meta-analysis conducted by Pennington, Heim, Levy, and Larkin (2016). Though certain experimental studies featuring mentoring as a vehicle for shifting stereotype narratives have yielded useful practices for STT reduction (Good et al., 2003), qualitative design, which is seldomly employed in the STT field, may produce an understanding of the phenomenon that is not possible through a deductive approach (Ezzy, 2002; van Kaam, 1966). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore African-American adolescent student perceptions of the impact that mentoring has on their schooling experiences while under STT conditions. The findings of this study demonstrated that African-American adolescents perceived mentoring to positively impact their schooling experiences and helped them to cope with STT activating cues in the environment. The participants discussed structural aspects of the relationships, personality attributes of the mentor, and specific mentor guidance. Participants also discussed a documented STT intervention that fell outside of the parameters of their mentoring relationships that positively impacted their schooling experiences and abilities to cope with STT cues – affirmations (Cohen, Garcia, Apfel, & Master, 2006; Walton et al., 2012). Recommendations for practice and future research are presented.