Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education, Teaching and Learning
Year: 2022
DOI:
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Dual Enrollment: How Can Mentoring Be Applied to Promote Effective Learning?
Dave Young, Bill Young, Sara Young, Bing Wei
ABSTRACT:
Dual enrollment programs enable high school students to take community college courses and earn both high school and college credits, saving two years of college expenses. However, many dual enrollment students lack a robust support system for the college-level coursework and environment. The authors created a mentorship program, which pairs a volunteering senior student with a junior student in a longitudinal mentoring relationship. This study assessed mentors’ and mentees’ long-term assessment of the program and its impacts. 39 mentors and mentees matched, and mentoring relationships lasted for a full academic quarter. Mentees later completed an anonymous online feedback survey (based on the Likert Scale), with a response rate of 56% (n = 22). It found a 28% increase in mentees’ confidence in their ability to succeed in college and a 60% increase in mentors’ confidence in teaching others. Mentees’ comfort in college increased with the frequency of meetings (p<0.001), but the number of meetings did not correlate to their Grade Point Average (GPA) (p = 0.24). Notably, many dual enrollment programs have a ~10% student academic probation rate (GPA less than 2.0) each quarter; however, 0% of the mentees were on academic probation. 82% of mentees reported interest in being a mentor the following year. These data indicate that peer mentorship is crucial for dual enrollment student success and creates a self-sustaining model for the future. Using the data and students’ personal feedback, this study describes detailed methods for future organizers to build a high-impact, community-sourced mentorship program.
keywords: college, community, education, learning, support.