Mentoring: An Effective Dropout Prevention Strategy Jessica Noble

 Identify reasons why students drop out of high school  Highlight current mentoring research  Examine how mentoring fits into current dropout prevention initiatives  Learn about Kansas DropINs and the resources available on the website Objectives

 During the school year, 3,097 Kansas students dropped out of school.  That equals approximately eight students a day or one every 3 hours!  Each high school dropout costs the nation approximately $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes and productivity over the course of his or her lifetime.  For the 3,097 dropouts that equals approximately $805 million. Dropouts in Kansas

 The top five reasons for leaving school were:  Classes were not interesting (47%)  Missed too many days and could not catch up (43%)  Spent time with people who were not interested in school (42%)  Had too much freedom and not enough rules (38%)  Was failing in school (35%) -The Silent Epidemic Reasons why Students Drop Out

 The top five reasons for leaving school in Kansas were:  Personal or family problems (31.1%)  Got in trouble at school (24.2%)  School environment (19.3%)  Had to get full-time job (19.2%)  Money problems (17.9%) -Kansas DropINs survey Reasons why Students Drop Out

 By serving as a sounding board and providing a model of effective adult communication, for example, mentors may help youth to better understand, express, and regulate their emotions (Rhodes, Grossman, & Resch, 2000).  Through interactions with mentors, children and adolescents may acquire and refine new thinking skills, becoming more receptive to adult values, advice, and perspectives. (Herrera et al., 2007; Klaw, Fitzgerald, & Rhodes, 2003).  Mentoring relationships may improve youths’ perceptions of their parental relationships as well as their relationships with peers and other adults in their social networks (Rhodes, Reddy, & Grossman, 2005; Rhodes et al., 2000). Mentoring Research

 Significantly stronger positive effects on youth have been found when programs incorporate a range of different practices that would be expected to promote close, enduring, and developmentally enriching relationships  training and ongoing supervision of mentors  expectations of relatively frequent meetings  long-lasting relationships between mentors and youth  program-sponsored activities to enhance the development of mentoring relationships  parent support and involvement  the addition of other programs and services to supplement mentoring (DuBois et al., 2002; Herrera et al., 2007; Jolliffe & Farington, 2007). Mentoring Research

 Caring Adults  Safe Places  A Healthy Start  An Effective Education  Opportunities to Help Others The Five Promises

The “Every Child, Every Promise” report finds that children who receive at least 4 promises are:  Twice as likely to get A’s in school  Twice as likely to avoid violence  40% more likely to volunteer  2/3 more likely to be generous, respectful, empathetic and resolve conflicts..than those that have only 0-1 promises The Five Promises

15 Effective Dropout Prevention Strategies  Systemic Renewal  School-Community Collaboration  Safe Learning Environments  Family Engagement  Early Childhood Education  Early Literacy Development  Mentoring/Tutoring  Service-Learning  Alternative Schooling  After-School Opportunities  Professional Development  Active Learning  Educational Technology  Individualized Instruction  Career and Technology Education

 Positive School Climate  School Attendance  Positive Behavior  Academic Achievement  Family Engagement  Student Engagement The Six Essential Areas

Kansas DropINs is a dropout prevention initiative within the Kansas State Department of Education. We are committed to seeing all children in Kansas graduate from high school ready for the next phase of life. Kansas DropINs

Jessica Noble Education Program Consultant Kansas State Department of Education Contact Information