School-Based Mentoring

Talking Points of the SRCD Briefs

• Of the approximately three million adults who volunteered in formal mentoring programs in 2005, roughly one in four (29%) did so in school-based settings. 
• The number of youths served by school-based mentoring in “Big Brothers Big Sisters” affiliates jumped from 27,000 in 1999 to 126,000 in 2006. 
• The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 increased pressure on schools to focus on improving academic outcomes, leading to the expansion of the Student Mentoring Program from $17 million to $50 million annually by 2004, though it has since been eliminated. 
• Three large-scale randomized control trials of school-based mentoring programs (Big Brothers Big Sisters, Communities in Schools of San Antonio, and the U.S. Department of Education’s Student Mentoring Program) showed modest effects in reducing truancy, misconduct, and absenteeism, while improving relationships with non-familial adults, perceived academic abilities, and peer support. 
• Evaluations of interventions in schools focusing directly on academic skills or social and emotional learning have reported stronger effects than current school-based mentoring programs, which do not necessarily reflect these areas of emphasis.