Impact Evaluation of the U. S. Department of Education's Student Mentoring Program

Contractors: Abt Associates; Branch Associates, Moore & Associates, and Center for Resource Management (CRM)

Background/Research Questions:

The U.S. Department of Education's Student Mentoring Program is intended to address the lack of supportive adults in the lives of students in grades four through eight at risk for academic failure and behavioral problems. The program provides funds to schools and to community- and faith-based organizations to create school-based mentoring programs. The program is authorized under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2002, Section 4130 and was funded at $48,544,000 in FY08. The evaluation of the program will cost $5,600,000 over four years. The study addressed these questions:

• Does the program assist students in developing prosocial behaviors (e.g., personal responsibility; community involvement) and in decreasing high-risk and delinquent behaviors?
• Does the program assist students in developing stronger school engagement (e.g., increased attendance) and higher academic achievement?

Design:

The study included approximately 2,573 students from 32 mentoring grantees. The students were randomly assigned either to receive the student mentoring program or not. Outcome data collected after one school year were student self-reports and student school records. Program implementation was assessed through surveys of students, mentors, and grantees.

Duration: 4 years (March 2005 – March 2009)

Current Status: The report was cleared by IES peer review and released on March 2, 2009: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/20094047/index.asp.

Key Findings

For the full sample of students, the program did not lead to statistically significant impacts on any of the targeted outcomes. Statistically significant subgroup findings included: positive impacts for girls on academic outcomes and for younger students on truancy rates; negative impacts for boys on both prosocial behaviors and delinquent behaviors; and mixed findings for boys on their academic outcomes.

Approximately a third of the students in the control group received mentoring services from mentoring providers that were not part of the study. Eight-five percent of the mentored students in the treatment group reported meeting with their mentors at least twice a month compared to 66 percent of the mentored students in the control group.