Guiding Youth to Careers: Do Mentoring Programs Benefit Urban Youth?

Mentoring programs have become a popular method for helping to close the achievement gap in education. Few research studies have been conducted to support the benefits of these programs, and questions have been raised about school-based mentoring which is short in duration and less intensive than traditional mentoring. This research focuses on the Guiding Youth to Careers program run through the Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania. The research shows that if specific goals are outlined and completed, school-based mentoring programs can have an impact on the students they serve.