WWC Quick Review: Impact Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Education's Student Mentoring Program June 2009

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What is this study about?

The study examined the effects of the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Mentoring Program (SMP) on students’ interpersonal relationships, academic outcomes, and delinquent
and risk behaviors.

The study focused on about 2,600 at-risk fourth-through-eighth-grade students in 32 SMP sites.

Applicants were randomly assigned to a program group that was offered SMP services or to a control group that was not. Control-group students were free to receive mentoring services through other programs.

The authors collected data on students’ interpersonal relationships and delinquent and risk behaviors through student surveys. They collected data on course grades, statewide assessment scores, and disciplinary infractions from school records.

What did the study authors report?

Study authors found that the student mentoring program had no statistically significant effect on the academic and behavioral outcomes they examined once they adjusted their statistical tests for the analysis of multiple outcomes.

WWC quick reviews are based on the evidence published in the report cited and rely on effect sizes and significance levels as reported by study authors. WWC does not confirm study authors’ findings or contact authors for additional information about the study. The WWC rating refers only to the results summarized above and not necessarily to all results presented in the study.