Achievement Mentoring [also known as Behavioral Monitoring & Reinforcement Program (BMRP) and formerly called Prevention Intervention] is a school-based prevention and intervention program for grades 4 through 11. Achievement Mentoring promotes successful high school completion by matching students with a school-based, caring adult who will support, encourage, and advocate for their success. The program goals are as follows: to awaken the mentee’s passion about achieving life success – now and in the future; to support students in feeling connected to school in order to enhance their learning and academic achievement; to partner with students in navigating 1-2 potential barriers to high school completion; and to teach effective problem-solving skills and support cultivation of positive habits and patterns of behavior.

OVERVIEW

Achievement Mentoring promotes successful high school completion by matching students with a school-based, caring adult who will support, encourage, and advocate for their success. At each participating site, the program is led by a Stakeholder Team Coordinator and can easily be integrated into a regular school setting or offered as an afterschool program. Ideally, the program intervention lasts for two years and requires caring, supportive, and consistent staff.

• School-based staff (teacher, social worker, counselor, nurse, psychologist, or youth worker) meet with students during weekly, 40-minute small group sessions (middle school participants only) and/or weekly, 20-minute individual sessions (both middle and high school participants).

• Mentors participate in an 18-hour training course during the first year of implementation to learn how to run the program with fidelity and provide effective weekly mentoring to youth.

• Mentors participate in monthly coaching sessions to receive assistance with mentoring challenges.

• Each mentor participates in a weekly, 5-minute interview with a student’s teacher and a monthly, one-hour consultation/coaching session with a CSS consultant.

• Students receive weekly “report cards” that offer feedback from a teacher on such items as attendance, classroom behavior, and academic achievements.

• Staff also stay in contact with each student’s caregivers and provide ongoing positive feedback and encouragement as earned.

Achievement Mentoring has been replicated in several states, including Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, as well as internationally in Ireland. This program was developed by Brenna H. Bry.

RESULTS