Publications and Mentoring Research

This forum is for announcements of new mentoring and youth development resources and publications, as well as discussions about mentoring research and published findings.

National Girls Institute Website Launched: tools and TA for programs serving girls

The National Girls Institute has a new online resource hub designed to better meet the needs of at-risk and delinquent girls, their families and the agencies and organizations that serve them. Through this website, professionals can submit requests for training and technical assistance, as well as find current information about best practices, gender-responsive tools, research and related events.

WEBINAR: Discuss the New Meta-Analysis with David DuBois

Cropping the Big Picture - Determining What the New Meta-Analysis Means for Your Mentoring Program

Date: Thursday, January 19
Time: 10:00-11:15 Pacific; 12:00-1:15 PM Central; 1:00-2:15 Eastern
Cost: FREE
Learn More & Register

New Meta-Analysis Provides Strongest Evidence Yet for Mentoring Program Impact

A landmark piece of research that the mentoring field has been waiting for for years has finally been released:


How Effective Are Mentoring Programs for Youth? A Systematic Assessment of the Evidence
by David L. DuBois, Nelson Portillo, Jean E. Rhodes, Naida
Silverthorn, and Jeffrey C. Valentine. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 12(2) 57– 91.

2011 Kids Count Databook Released by Annie E. Casey

This year's Kids Count Databook from the Annie E. Casey Foundation gives a sobering picture of what is going on with our nation's children (particularly sobering in light of the erosion of funding for child and family programs). Basically the gains from the 90s in terms of child well-being have been reversed during the last decade.

New Report -- random-assigment evaluation of after school, career-focused programming for high schoolers

This report on the After School Matters Program is one of the very few random-assignment evaluations of the impact of after school program participation for high school students (after school research has focused on younger students). It is very informative, and makes some great recommendations for any youth serving program with career-enrichment/exploration or a group project focus.

After School Matters (ASM) offers apprentice-type opportunities for students who work on group projects. The study assessed 13 ASM groups and their respective control groups for a total of 535 youth.

Results of 3-year evaluation of National Guard Youth Challenge Program

The National Guard ChalleNGe program operates in 38 states and has garnered national attention as an effective program so it is interesting to see the results of their 3-year evaluation. The program serves 16-19 year-olds and the model features a 22-week residential phase, followed up by a one-year mentoring relationship with a trained member from each youth’s respective community (youth are asked to identify a community member who they would like as a mentor and if the person agrees, they receive mentor training).

Summer Symposium on Mentoring Research, July 22, 2011

Event Date: Friday, July 22, 2011
Portland State University - Portland, OR

Registration is now open for a fantastic one-time event on mentoring research: the Summer Symposium on Mentoring Research. This event is an offshoot of the Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring at Portland State University, and annual event that brings researchers and mentoring practitioners together. This one-day Symposium features brief presentations from each of this year's featured researchers. The theme is mentoring of youth who have had contact with the child welfare or juvenile justice systems.

New Article on the Ethics of Mentoring

Dr. Jean Rhodes and MENTOR have just released a new article on the ethical responsibilities of mentors. This article builds on a previous piece of work* by Rhodes, Belle Laing, and Renee Spencer. The article focuses on five core ethical positions that effective mentors must take and can be an excellent supplement to any mentor training.

Download the PDF at: http://www.mentoring.org/downloads/mentoring_1335.pdf.

New Website Launched for The Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring

You may have read a while back that prominent UMASS researcher Dr. Jean Rhodes and MENTOR had partnered to create a new Center for Evidence-Based Mentoring that would aim to improve the use of research by mentoring programs around the country. Earlier this week they announced that the website for the project has officially launched: http://umbmentoring.org/

The site features a listing of current projects, each providing presentations or published research in a number of areas of study. The site also offers links to a variety of other web resources.

UMass Boston and MENTOR Form Alliance Supporting Youth Mentoring Research

Good morning-

I'm just back from the National Mentoring Summit hosted by MENTOR at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Among other exciting speakers and announcements, one announcement will be of particular interest to those following youth mentoring research, the creation of the UMass Boston/MENTOR Research Alliance, headed up by Dr. Jean Rhodes.

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