The impact of urban high school mentoring programs: A study to determine students' perceptions of school climate, school connectedness, and academic success

Dropout prevention has been among several objectives of the federal government's national education goals. Mentoring programs for students ages 12 to 17 gained popularity after 1990 U.S. Census figures showed a national high school dropout rate averaging 12%. Although mentoring programs for high school students vary in delivery, type, and style, mentoring relationships keep students in school. This researcher felt that there was a need to include the voice of students in determining the effectiveness of high school mentoring. The researcher's Mentoring School Climate Survey was administered to urban high school sophomores to investigate their perceptions of effective mentoring strategies. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the perceptions of student connectedness, school climate, and academic success in relation to mentoring. The data were taken from a sample of 353 students who volunteered to take the survey. The responses from 177 students were analyzed based on their participation (n = 50) or nonparticipation ( n = 87) in their high school mentoring program. Inferential statistics were used to draw conclusions. SPSS V. 17.0 was used to code and tabulate scores collected from the survey and provide summarized values where applicable, including the median, mean, central tendency, variance, and standard deviation. ANOVA was used to detect the amount of shared variance and strength of relationship between the variables of interest. It was concluded that participation in a school-based mentoring program does not affect students' perception of positive school climate or school connectedness. The study further concluded that mentored students perceived a positive relationship between academic achievement and participation in a school-based mentoring program.