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Let Each One Teach One is based on literature findings that mentor relations facilitate academic success. The program uses the relationship between an elementary or middle school student and an older, more experienced student role model to provide life-skills enrichment, self-image, support, and a sense of belonging. Mentors help participants set personal and academic goals. The participants’ study skills are assessed, and mentors provide methods for helping them learn and remember what was discussed in class, plan and write papers, learn methods for math assignments, prepare for a test, complete homework, and improve study at home. Mentors model how they accomplished the foregoing and explore with the students a plan for doing the same. Visualization procedures are used to help students envision themselves as more successful.
The intervention approach consists of one-on-one mentoring, self-regulation skills building for promoting self-efficacy, and academic tutoring for minimizing individual and school risk factors. The program serves to enhance the protective factors of academic performance, attachment and commitment to school, consistent enforcement of rules regarding behavior, and attachment to prosocial role models.
The program was evaluated using a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with comparison groups. Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders with high at-risk ratings in school A were randomly assigned to treatment group 1 (n=20) or to the waitlist (control) group (n=19), and in school B they were assigned to treatment group 2 (n=16). The treatment consisted of a weekly session in which the mentor met with the student for 50 minutes. The “will and skill” (group 1) sessions used the mentor relationship for addressing personal, school-, and problem-related areas. This mentor role-model function provided support, challenge, and vision for increasing academic achievement along with the establishment of a “skill” domain to help students acquire strategies for self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-monitoring. Those in the “will” (group 2) condition did not establish a “skill domain.” The sample consisted of 55 youths: 20 in group 1, 16 in group 2, and 19 in the control group. All participants (n=55) and mentors were African-American males. Data was collected through the Children’s Self-Efficacy Scale, school data, mentor–student interviews/ questionnaires, and the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents.
The evaluation showed significantly higher posttest results for the treatment group 1 on self-efficacy, grade point average, and teacher conduct ratings when compared with the control group. There were no differences between treatment groups 1 and 2. A paired ‘t’ test showed that treatment group 2 obtained a significantly higher gain in self-efficacy, while treatment group 1 obtained a significantly higher gain in grade point average. Posttest results did not reveal any significant differences among treatment group 1, treatment group 2, and the waitlist group on the number of unexcused absences, office referrals, suspensions, self-perception for scholastic competence, social acceptance, behavioral conduct, and global self-worth. Paired ‘t’ tests showed that from pretest to posttest, treatment group 2 showed the most gain for scholastic competence, the waitlist group had a significant positive gain for unexcused absences, and treatment group 1 had the largest reduction in office referrals.
Tomlin, Vicky. Let Each One Teach One Mentor Program Study Evaluation. Denver, Colo.: Excellence Plus.
Vicki Tomlin, Ph.D., Psychologist, Consultant
Excellence Plus
P.O. Box 371803
Denver, CO 80237
Phone: (303) 796-0414
Fax: (303) 796-8071
E-mail: vtomlin@ansllc.net
