Archived: Yes, You Can: Guidelines for Mentoring Programs. A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n. Yes, You Can: A Guide for Establishing Mentoring Programs to Prepare Youth for College- -October 1. First Steps: Program Planning. Beginning- -The First Stages of Program Development. We are the Poudre High School. The Students Mentoring Students. Mature age high school students. Mentoring programs, like any successful partnership, are designed to achieve the goals and objectives of the people involved. More so than other types of programs, mentoring programs must consider the needs and goals of several constituencies- -the students who will be mentored and their families, the mentors themselves, the schools, partner organizations who may contribute volunteers or resources, and the community in general. Because mentoring programs are built on shared trust and respect, they require careful planning and time to develop, implement, and evaluate. The following points should be considered during the beginning of program development: What specific problems need to be addressed? Before a mentoring program can be established, it is important to know what problems the program will seek to deal with. For example, does the school have a high dropout rate? Is there a low rate of college attendance? Which children- -and how many- -will take part in the program? For example, does a particular elementary or secondary class need help? Or do special populations- -learning disabled, handicapped, or language minority teens? Once the target population has been selected, the number of mentors who will be required and the type of commitment that will be needed from the sponsors will be clearer. How will the program be led and coordinated? Mentoring programs need leaders to help plan and coordinate the program. Any mentor program that lacks good leadership and coordination will fail. How will the program fit in with school and other services? The mentoring program should complement, and not compete with, the regular school day and school assignments. In some cases students may also already be receiving some form of additional assistance, such as tutoring, or participate in other positive activities, such as an afterschool program. Mentoring can be a strong component of an afterschool program, and can and should build upon and enhance what the student has learned in school. Which existing mentoring programs have a similar focus? When beginning a new mentoring program, it is useful to examine exemplary programs that are designed to serve the same special population, such as teenage mothers or handicapped children, or to serve the same general purpose, such as college- focused mentoring and tutoring programs. The Boomerang Project peer mentoring and student transition. The Rotary Student Program is a junior and senior high school student Rotary mentoring program. The Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) offers high school students the opportunity to join ongoing research projects lead by AMNH scientists. Programs that have a similar focus can often help new programs identify potential obstacles, solutions, and innovative or effective practices based on their experience. Examples of model programs are provided throughout this guide and in the resource section (Section 3). After a school, business, or community organization has considered the need for the program, the population to be served, and the person or organization that will initiate the program, the next step is to design a complete and comprehensive plan for the program. The procedures that follow are based in part on guidelines developed by the National Association of Partners in Education, a nonprofit organization in Alexandria, Virginia, which has had extensive expertise in all facets of school- community and school- business partnership programs. Mentoring as a Network of Support. Mentoring may occur either as natural mentoring, when a sustained relationship develops naturally between a coach, teacher, neighbor, or other adult and a youth, or as planned mentoring, when a relationship is purposefully created to help a youth who may otherwise not have the access he or she needs to the wisdom and support of a caring adult (Dennis, 1. In the past, youth may have been more likely to come into contact with a greater number of natural mentors who played a vital, though perhaps unrecognized, role in their development. Tripartite mentoring is a further innovative approach to mentoring in which, in addition to the usual adult- youth relationship, the mentored youth also serves as a mentor to a younger child. Coordinating the Program Planning. Programs should begin by building awareness among key stakeholders in the community. Doing so early on will foster . When creating a planning team, it is important to remember to involve representatives of all stakeholders from the very beginning. This may include parents of the students who will be mentored, teachers and principals, or the students themselves. The planning team will define what type of mentoring the program will provide, become aware of other efforts and resources that are currently available, explain the need for mentoring in their community, and identify the potential benefits of the program for all stakeholders. Ensuring that all stakeholder groups are represented on the planning team will help to maintain the trust and involvement of these groups with the program. Large mentoring programs may have planning teams with members selected by the superintendent of schools, college or university presidents, chief executive officers (CEOs) of corporations, or presidents of civic organizations. Small programs should also have a team in place. Solid leadership is important for ensuring that the planning team works effectively. Experts in partnership organization report that the most successful teams have leaders who- are well respected in the community and have an established base of support; understand the bureaucratic intricacies of dealing with schools, businesses, and civic organizations; can devote sufficient time to the program; are sensitive to the needs of the program participants and have superior organizational and coordinating skills; have access to, and support from, top- level decision- makers in the partner organizations; andhave the authority to make decisions on behalf of their schools, community organizations, or corporation, including committing funds to the program (Otterbourg, 1. As the program progresses, the planning team will be responsible for every aspect of the program, from its inception to its evaluation. The team gets support from schools and the community; decides the purpose of the program; formulates the goals and objectives; allocates funds; writes the mentor role descriptions; appoints program staff; takes responsibility for recruiting, training, retaining, and rewarding the mentors; and regularly informs all stakeholders of the program's progress. Assessing Needs and Potential Resources. Any school or organization that wants to develop a mentoring program should conduct an assessment to determine why the program is needed, what the school or organization hopes to gain for its students and the types of resources that will be needed to meet these needs. A thorough assessment of needs and resources is essential for determining exactly what the mentor program should- -and can- -look like. Assessments can be done through questionnaires, conducting interviews, by talking and observing, and by examining data on student behavior, attendance, or achievement. The questions used in a needs assessment should be asked of members of each group of stakeholders and should reflect the needs of the students, the school or community wishing to have a mentoring program, and the program's sponsors. The following questions are examples of the kinds that should be asked in a school- based mentoring program, but many are more generally applicable. For example: Why are mentors needed? What specific problems are the mentors intended to address? Why are mentors more suited than other forms of assistance to remedy these problems? What are some needs that could be addressed through a mentor program? What problems are of most concern to teachers, parents, and members of the community? What age group could benefit most from having an adult mentor? Do teachers and parents have any concerns about the idea of students having mentors? What special knowledge and skills should the mentors have? What types of individuals would be most appropriate for the children who will be in the program? How many mentors are needed? How will teachers and the school be involved? If the mentoring has an academic or college- preparatory focus, which academic areas should mentors concentrate on? What training will the mentors require? Who can provide this training? When can mentoring take place? How often, and for how long, will mentors and students meet? Where will mentoring take place? Is their adequate room for the mentors and their students to meet? Will other support staff or volunteers be needed? What, if any, materials will the mentors or students need? Will mentors or students need transportation? How will security checks be handled in a way that is respectful of the mentors and yet absolutely assures the safety of the students? Once it has been determined that a mentoring program is needed, an equally important step is resource assessment: What will the partners and the community be able to provide to the program? Program planners should think broadly in terms of all types of resources, including: human, financial, time, materials, and facilities, to name a few. Perhaps the most important question for any program to ask is, are there existing efforts which this program could complement or build upon? Other important questions a program sponsor should ask include: Who can serve as mentors- -employees, spouses, retired persons, college students, church members, police officers, or people from the community? How many mentors can each of the partners and the community provide? What kind of time commitment can the mentors make each week? Are the mentors available for a long- term commitment? Has this organization sponsored any previous mentor programs? Who can the program call upon that has experience in mentoring, or running a mentor program?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2016
Categories |