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The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal Students Taking Academic Responsibility (STAR): A Mentoring Program for At-Risk Students Natalie S. Gilbert, Butler University
A common concern among academic advisers and higher education institutions in general is the retention of students. A population of students who are particularly at-risk are those who are reinstated or on academic probation. In the fall of 2005, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) implemented a mentoring program with the overall goal of increasing retention of University College students who were on probation or reinstated by connecting these students to people and resources on campus. The name of this mentoring program is STAR: Students Taking Academic Responsibility. Students who commit to participating in this semester-long program are paired with either a peer mentor or an adviser mentor with whom they meet weekly to discuss their academic progress and work toward weekly and semester goals. In its first semester, STAR paired fifty-six students with mentors, and that number grew to seventy-five during the following semester. Why Mentoring? There are several reasons that IUPUI chose mentoring to be at the core of STAR. One is to create a needed connection on campus for the students. Because IUPUI is predominantly a commuter campus, many students come to campus for their classes and then leave without ever getting involved or taking advantage of the many resources available to them. It is one of the goals for STAR students that, through the mentoring process, they develop a relationship built on trust and a common goal and begin to feel more valued as a student and member of the IUPUI community. Pascarella and Terenzini, as cited in Kuh (2000, p. 52), state that valued students are more likely to take advantage of institutional resources. Another rationale for a mentoring program is to provide both challenge and support for the students. Sanford's theory of challenge and support (1966) states that there are “three developmental conditions: readiness, challenge, and support” (Evans, Forney, & Guido-Dibrito, 1998, p. 25). Once students are ready to take responsibility for their academic progress, STAR challenges them to develop new, positive behaviors and supports them when striving to obtain new levels of achievement. A third reason that a mentoring program was chosen is to apply more intrusive techniques to helping these students succeed academically. Because students in academic difficulty most likely have not identified the need for help in the past, the intrusive mentor/adviser sets up interventions and regular contact with these students (National Academic Advising Association, 2006). According to Heisserer and Parette (2002), “Research literature on student retention and attrition suggests that contact with a significant person within an institution of higher education is a crucial factor in a student's decision to remain in college.” It is hoped that the STAR mentors will become that significant person for the participants. Components of STAR Participation Criteria Because of a limited number of available mentors and advisers, not every reinstated or probationary student can participate in STAR. There are several criteria that are used to narrow the pool of students eligible to participate. One of the criteria is the student's cumulative grade-point average (GPA). Ideally, a STAR student's GPA is between 1.30 and 1.70. Although a student on academic probation with a lower or higher GPA would not be turned away if he or she wanted to participate in STAR, students within the given range have a greater chance of getting off probation within one semester. In relation to Sanford's theory of challenge and support (1996), STAR participants also need to express the readiness and motivation to assume more responsibility for their academic and personal goals. The students also need to be willing to work on time management, stress and conflict, and personal issues that may be affecting their academic performance. The last two criteria are rather difficult to measure. Because STAR is voluntary, the STAR coordinators hope that the students' commitment to weekly meetings with their mentors is evidence of their readiness for responsibility and their willingness to work on the issues listed above. Peer Mentors and Adviser Mentors There are two types of mentors with whom a STAR participant may be paired: peer mentors and adviser mentors. The majority of STAR students will be paired with peer mentors. Peers are used because “their opportunities [will allow them] to relate easily to [their mentees] because they often share some of the same problems” (Reinarz, 2000, p. 217). Peer mentors are successful students who serve as resource mentors through IUPUI's Bepko Learning Center (BLC). The BLC peer mentors must have at least a 3.00 GPA and are selected through an application and interview process. Because most of the peer mentors are full-time students themselves, they are limited to mentoring three STAR students a semester. Adviser mentors are professional or graduate assistant advisers who volunteer to mentor STAR students in addition to their typical advising responsibilities. The number of STAR students assigned to each adviser depends on how many students the adviser feels he or she can adequately devote time to. To ensure that STAR students and their mentors are similar in age, adviser mentors, instead of peer mentors, are often paired with the nontraditional-age STAR students. Peer Mentor Training Peer mentors attend several training sessions to provide them with appropriate mentoring skills and techniques. Specifically, these sessions cover communication skills, active listening skills, questioning skills, and referral skills. It is made clear to the peer mentors that they are not to act as academic advisers or psychological counselors. Circumstances when students should be referred to a counselor or adviser are discussed. A representative from the campus counseling center participates in a training session to discuss what behaviors warrant a referral, and contact information for various campus resources is given to the peer mentors. STAR Mentoring Sessions As stated earlier, at the core of STAR are the weekly mentoring sessions between the student and his or her mentor. Because these sessions are so important, a STAR Session Guide was developed to explain what topics should be discussed at some point during the semester. Although the sessions are listed numerically in the guide, it is not necessary for the mentors to follow the exact order. What is discussed is often decided by the particular needs of that student during that week. The session guide includes suggestions for ten sessions, which is the number of sessions the students and mentors will ideally meet throughout the semester. Sessions include topics such as time management, organization, study skills, learning styles, and career exploration. A significant part of each mentoring session is goal setting. Goals are often centered on the three themes of academic, personal, and life goals (Ender & Wilkie, 2000, p. 119). During the first or second session, the mentor and STAR student set long-term goals that the student will work toward throughout the semester. During each subsequent session, the student and the mentor review the progress on the long-term goals and set one or more weekly goals. Some of these weekly goals are predetermined within the session guide, but they are often related to specific issues concerning the individual student. STAR Assessment and Limitations Since retention and providing useful resources to the students are goals of STAR, it has been important to assess whether or not the program is accomplishing these goals. One way STAR has been assessed is by having the students fill out both pre- and post-participation surveys. These qualitative and quantitative surveys ask students various questions regarding current study habits, campus involvement, use of campus resources, what they hope to gain by participating in STAR (pre-participation), and how STAR was helpful (post-participation). Another way STAR has been assessed is by looking at the retention rates of participating students. Through the first two semesters of the program (fall 2005 and spring 2006), there was a retention rate of approximately 70 percent for both semesters (C. Maroldo, personal communication, October 12, 2006). There are limitations to the STAR program. Unfortunately, students who originally sign up do not always follow through with participating in the program. This may be because of the population of students that STAR targets. If students are already struggling with committing to school work and attending classes, then committing to weekly meetings may not be realistic, reaffirming Sanford's view that readiness is an important part of development (Evans et al., 1998). Another limitation to STAR is the limited number of mentors to whom students can be assigned. Every semester, approximately 350–400 University College students are placed on first-time probation (C. Maroldo, personal communication, October 12, 2006). Although not all of these students would meet the criteria for participation in STAR, if all students who are placed on probation did want to participate in STAR, there would not be enough mentors to pair with every student. To counteract this, opportunities for becoming a mentor were expanded during the fall 2006 semester to other staff members employed within University College. Also for the first time this fall, two former STAR students, who are now off academic probation and academically successful, are serving as STAR mentors. Conclusion Although it is a fairly new program, STAR has successfully reached many students who are in academic difficulty. The retention rates and positive feedback from the surveys show that the decision to provide individual, intrusive mentoring to these students is making a difference. The peer mentoring component of STAR is providing students with someone to whom they can relate and someone who has the knowledge to direct them towards resources that could help them succeed academically and personally. As the program continues to grow, further data will be collected. One question that will be important to study is whether or not participating in STAR affects long-term retention and/or graduation rates. Along with further data collection, STAR wants to continue to increase the number of students it is able to mentor each semester. Because it is so new, STAR will most likely continue to evolve. Hopefully, the overall goal of connecting at-risk students with a knowledgeable mentor and to the campus in an effort to increase retention will continue to help STAR participants begin to shine. References Ender, S. C., & Wilkie, C. J. (2000). Advising students with special needs. In V. N. Gordon & W. R. Habley (Eds.), Academic advising: A comprehensive handbook (pp. 118–143). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., & Guido-DiBrito, F. (1998). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Heisserer, D. L., & Parette, P. (2002). Advising at-risk students in college and university settings. College Student Journal, 36(1), 69–84. Kuh, G. D. (2000). Understanding campus environments. In M. J. Barr & M. K. Desler (Eds.), The handbook of student affairs administration (pp. 50–72). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. National Academic Advising Association. (2006). Intrusive advising. Clearinghouse of academic advising resources. Retrieved October 11, 2006, from http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Clearinghouse/AdvisingIssues/Intrusive_advising.htm Reinarz, A. G. (2000). Delivering academic advising: Advisor types. In V. N. Gordon & W. R. Habley (Eds.), Academic advising: A comprehensive handbook (pp. 210–219). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. About the Author Natalie S. Gilbert is a student development specialist/academic adviser at Butler University. She can be reached at ngilbert@butler.edu or 317-940-9308. Published in The Mentor on February 14, 2007, by Penn State's Division of Undergraduate Studies Available online at www.psu.edu/dus/mentor/ Privacy and Legal Statements | Copyright | © The Pennsylvania State University | All rights reserved | |