Does mentoring work? An impact study of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program
Grossman, J., & Tierney, J. (1998). Evaluation Review, 23(3), 403-426. doi:10.1177/0193841X9802200304.
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examining959Students, grades4-10
Grant Competition
Review Details
Reviewed: September 2020
- Grant Competition (findings for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS))
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Findings
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
GPA |
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) vs. Business as usual |
18 Months |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
No |
-- |
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of times skipped a day of school |
Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) vs. Business as usual |
18 Months |
Full sample;
|
N/A |
N/A |
Yes |
-- |
Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.
Sample Characteristics
Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.
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Female: 38%
Male: 62% -
Race Black 40% Other or unknown 57% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 10% Not Hispanic or Latino 90%
Study Details
Setting
The study sample was taken from eight of the 500 Big Brothers/Big Sisters (BBBS) agencies. These eight agencies were located across Texas, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, Kansas, and Arizona.
Study sample
For the analysis sample, 62.4% were boys and 56.8% were from a minority group. Of the minority group, 71% were African American, 18% were Hispanic. Over 40% of the participants came from households receiving food stamps.
Intervention Group
Big Brothers/Big Sisters is a mentoring program where youth from single-parent households are paired with adult volunteers. The pairs agree to meet 2 to 4 times per month for a year, which each meeting lasting 3 to 4 hours. The intervention is not targeted at a specific problem but aims to provide the youth with an adult friend.
Comparison Group
Comparison conditions students were placed on an 18-month wait list for a big brother or big sister.
Support for implementation
This intervention was implemented by the Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization. The primary support for implementation included program staff time and the time of the adult volunteers. BBBS staff are responsible for screening and training the mentors. Once a mentor and child have been matched, the volunteer mentors receive monthly phone calls from BBBS staff.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
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Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).