| Only about half of college students graduate, and many are ill prepared for professional careers. Mentoring could possibly help improve these results, yet there is a lack of research on whether mentoring yields real results. The purpose of this quasi-experimental field experiment was to determine whether mentoring could improve students' performance and retention rates. The research questions focused on whether mentoring improved the academic, cognitive, and social development of college students; and whether mentoring improved retention. The Personal Skills Map, an assessment tool that identifies emotional intelligence, was administered to 152 freshmen and 58 sophomores at a small liberal arts college. In this non-equivalent control group research design, freshmen participated in a mentoring program, while sophomores did not. The results from the Personal Skills Map were compared with related data on student attrition, GPA, and graduation rates. The results of t tests, Chi-square tests, and Pearson's correlation coefficients showed that mentoring improved academic and social development and increased retention rates, but mentoring had no impact on cognitive development. One recommendation is for colleges to consider the use of more structured mentoring programs, especially for entering students, to improve the chances for student success and retention. From a positive social perspective, helping students transition effectively from high school to college and succeed in school could be a major step in helping society gain the knowledge workers needed to address the emerging global challenges. |
