Mentoring Best Practices and Resources for College Access and Success
Encouraging Academic Pursuits
Stressing the importance of education to youth is effective in increasing both college access and success. Mentors should inspire their mentees to be engaged with and excited about their academics.
How does a mentor inspire his or her mentee to be enthusiastic about academics?
- Encourage the mentee to interact with professors and/or teaching assistants outside of the traditional classroom setting. Most professors have office hours or are willing to schedule appointments.
- Research the academic resources that a school or community offers to its students (e.g., math workshops, peer editing services, tutoring centers, after-school homework help). Be able to describe the benefits of using these resources to youth.
- Urge mentees to enroll in the highest-level academic courses possible for their skill set. Since remedial courses are most often needed in the subjects of math and English, college preparatory, honors, and advanced placement courses in these disciplines are most useful.
Why is encouraging academics an effective strategy for college access and/or success?
- The track that a student is on in school (i.e., vocational, honors/advanced placement, college preparatory) is significant for college access. Those who are on the honors/advanced placement and college preparatory tracks are more likely to be prepared for postsecondary education (The Mitchell Institute, 2002; Savitz-Romer, Jager-Hyman, & Coles, 2009).
- Astin (1974) proposed the theory of involvement, which states that students who are more involved with an institution have higher rates of retention. Astin believed that involvement is defined as the formation of academic relationships and the participation in activities related to the campus. He encourages students to interact with college faculty, especially professors, outside of the classroom. By being involved with their classes, students will inevitably form academic relationships with professors and perhaps even with peers, thereby increasing involvement and persistence (Salinitri, 2005).
- Improving academic preparation for college by taking higher-level courses in high school, especially in mathematics, can increase the chance that a low-income, first-generation student will attend college (Tinto & Engle, 2008).
- 30% of first-year students and 41% in community colleges enroll in developmental courses in their first year of college (Giegerich, 2008).
More Academic Resources:
Math:
- An online database of free math-teaching resources. In addition to including lesson plans by grade level, Illuminations has various mathematics-oriented computer games that can make learning fun and engaging.
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ - Online math games for students in middle/elementary school.
http://www.mathplayground.com - Online math games for students in middle/elementary school.
http://coolmath4kids.com/
Science:
- A collection of science fair projects and experiments with step-by-step and easy-to-understand directions. The projects are organized by subject (i.e., the human body, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, and technology).
http://www.sciencefair-projects.org/
English:
- Free audio book podcasts.
http://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks
All Subjects:
- Suggestions for learning outside of the classroom for students in middle school. This article provides links to some online resources and academic computer games.
http://www.greatschools.org/students/summer-activities/slideshows/4169-summer-learning-middle-school.gs?page=1#slide - Academic online videos that explain concepts from all subject areas.
http://www1.teachertube.com/