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Effects of peer mentoring on the achievement and persistence of academically underprepared college freshmen

Author

Ann Ferden Austad, University of the Pacific

Date of Award

1988

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

Department

Education

First Advisor

B. R. Hopkins

First Committee Member

Deann Christianson

Second Committee Member

R. Eugene Rice

Third Committee Member

Margaret Anne Longer

Fourth Committee Member

[?]

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether a peer mentoring program incorporating learning styles impacts upon the achievement and persistence of entry-level academically underprepared college students.

PROCEDURE: Subjects were freshmen at Bemidji State University during the fall terms of 1985 and 1986 who were assigned to remedial/developmental English because of low placement test scores. An experimental group of 31 English 100 students participated in Connections: The Student-to-Student Mentoring Network, a pilot program designed to help underprepared students make a successful transition into college. The experimental group was compared to a control group of 40 students who were not mentored but who took the course the previous year from the same instructors. Analysis of covariance procedures and chi-square statistics were used to assess the effects of peer mentoring on grades and reenrollment status. Effects of mentors and students matching and mismatching in learning style, age-level, and gender were analyzed by comparing grades and reenrollment status of matched and nonmatched pairs. The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator was used to assess level of learning style match.

FINDINGS:

1. Students in remedial/developmental English who received peer mentoring achieved a more favorable reenrollment status than comparable students who took the course without mentoring.

2. Mentored students attained more satisfactory grades than nonmentored students.

3. Matching students and mentors by learning style was not found to be a factor in improving students' grades or reenrollment status.

4. Matching students and mentors by gender was not found to be a factor in improving students' grades or reenrollment status.

5. Matching students and mentors by age-level was not found to be a factor in improving students' grades or reenrollment status. Contrary to the research hypothesis, the findings suggested that students who had mentors of a higher age-level attained a more favorable reenrollment status.

6. Mentored students were more knowledgeable about campus resources and used them more frequently.

Pages

221

Recommended Citation

Austad, Ann Ferden. (1988). Effects of peer mentoring on the achievement and persistence of academically underprepared college freshmen. University of the Pacific, Dissertation. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/504