Developmental Relationship Programs: An Empirical Study Of The Impact Of Peer-Mentoring Programs

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the impact and effectiveness of developmental relationships provided through academic intervention programs at a medium-size master’s level public university in the Northeastern United States. The programs’ curriculum follows the Model of Strategic Learning’s four pillars of learning and is administered to students with diverse interventional needs.

This paper presents a brief review of the literature about effective developmental relationship programs (mentoring and coaching) in higher education. Then, Ordinary Least Squares regressions, as well as paired samples t-tests, are used to test the impact of programs offered through developmental relationships to students with varying academic deficiencies. The immediate, as well as longer-term, impact and sustainability of students’ enhanced performance is statistically examined. The paper concludes that students who fully take advantage of developmental relationships benefit the most and sustain their higher level of performance beyond the immediate post one-time intervention period. However, in the absence of additional intervention, the academic performance gains seem to subside and flatten out.