Mentoring as a strategy to support high school students is assumed to impact students developmentally and cognitively, although evidence is still limited. We will discuss how best to study program design in relation to program impact on mentors and mentees. Interest derives from the piloting of a mentoring program that involved students from the Baruch College Honors Program and honors societies and high school sophomores and juniors from the High School for Public Service (HSPS) located in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. HSPS has a graduation rate of 98% with all of the graduates being accepted to college. However, of the students who enrolled at a CUNY school, more than half required remediation in either English or math. A mentoring program was piloted in winter 2011 to help these students improve their overall performance. The program’s goals are to help high school students succeed academically and socially.

2. Survey data about experiences and outcomes

3. Outcome data from HSPS (attendance, grades, test scores)

4. Study Hypotheses:1. High school students’ participation in a semi-structured mentoring program will be associated with improved high school performance including school attendance, test scores, and semester and year end grades.2. High school students who participate in the program will do better in school than those who do not participate.3. High school students’ participation a semi-structured mentoring program will result in greater self-confidence and self-efficacy. 4. High school students’ participation in a semi-structured mentoring program will result in a more realistic understanding about college attendance.5. High school students’ experience of being mentored in a semi-structured situation by persons who have had different life experiences will be a key factor in affecting positive learning outcomes and developmental growth.6. College students’ experiences mentoring students in a semi-structured situation who have had different life experiences will increase their social concerns and humanitarian values, cognitive development and self-confidence.