Using Success Mentors to Combat Chronic AbsenteeismRobert Balfanz, Everyone Graduates Center and

Lori Takawira, Talent Development Secondary

Success Mentor Initiative

Evidence-based data driven mentor model aimed at reducing chronic absenteeism by connecting chronically absent students with a mentor and a student support system;Program components include:✓ Pairing every chronically absent 6th and 9th grader with

a Success Mentor✓ Holding a weekly student success/ data review meeting✓ Building connections between school and youth and

social service providers✓ Working on whole school activities to improve

attendance

Started in NYC and now being

used in 20 districts across

the country

Student Success Meetings

Data Review

Welcoming Climate

Prevention

Strategies

Messaging

School Success Mentor and Student Support Model

Youth and Social Services Mentor and Mentee

Parents, Family, Caregivers

Success Mentors & Supporting Infrastructure Substantially Improved Student Attendance in NYC

• Students with prior histories of chronic absenteeism with a Success Mentor gained nearly two additional weeks of school (9 days), which is educationally significant.

• In the top 25% of schools, students with Success Mentors gained one additional month of school.

• High School students with Success Mentors (including those overage for their grade) were 52% more likely to remain in school the following year.

• Mentees reported they liked having a mentor and the mentor helped improve their attendance, schoolwork, motivation, and confidence.

MAYOR’S INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE 4

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Why Success Mentors Are Crucial:

➢Once a student is chronically absent or heading towards it, you either need to change a behavior or solve a problem.

➢ In most cases, this will necessitate having positive, supportive, and on-going relationship with the students and families.

➢ In schools with many chronically absent students this is difficult, if not impossible for teachers and counselors to do on their own.

What is a Success Mentor?

➢Success mentors are caring adults (or peers) who work with chronically absent students to address the barriers keeping them from coming to school each day

➢Success mentors interact with their mentees during the school day, at least 3 times per week

➢ Any caring adult can be a Success Mentor

➢ Success mentors are: advocates, motivators, problem-solvers – who encourage their mentees to attend school every day and work to remove obstacles to regular attendance.

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Work with school staff for

support and interventions

Morning meet and

greet

Phone call home for each

absence

Meet with mentees

one-on-one or in small

groupsTrackmentees'

attendance and

improvements

Recognizeand celebrate

successes

Reach out to and engage

students’ families

What do Success Mentors do? 7 Key Elements

Matched with students

with history of chronic

absenteeism or at risk of becoming

CA

Lets Begin by Learning by Doing

• Pick a partner

• Determine who is the chronically absent student and who is mentor

Chronically Absent Students

You are hesitant to reveal the real reasons you miss school

Pick one of the following reasons and make the mentor work to find it out:

a) Taking care of siblings

b) Being teased or bullied at school

c) Do not see the point of attending everyday, think you can miss a day here and there and be fine

d) Wild Card -- make up your own reason

Mentor

• Use your positive relationship with the student to make them feel welcome and wanted in school and missed when they are not there

• Leverage the relationship to unearth root causes of the student’s absenteeism

• Once you have found the cause(s), co-create with the student a workable and realistic plan to increase their attendance

Creating a School Success

Mentoring Program-Lessons Learned

Student Success Meetings

Data Review

Welcoming Climate

Prevention

Strategies

Messaging

School Success Mentor and Student Support Model

Youth and Social Services Mentor and Mentee

Parents, Family, Caregivers

Data-Part 1-Tracking Student Attendance

• Want to be able to analyze attendance data and trends at individual, classroom, grade and school level

• Want to be able to identify when students have cross-threshold and missed 10% of school to date

• Want to be able to identify when students without prior history of chronic absenteeism are trending towards it or have just become it

• Want to know who starts year with history of chronic absenteeism

Data Part -2-Data to and From Success Mentors

• Need to establish means through which mentors can get up to date attendance data for their mentees-may involve data sharing agreements

• Need to establish means through which mentors can share what they have learned about why students are not attending with attendance team

Who Can Be A Success Mentor

• Internal-All adults in the school-teachers, administrators, support staff-front office, cafeteria, security etc.

• External- existing or new non-profit and community based organization school partners-Ameri-corps, City Year, College Work Study, Social Work and Counseling Interns, Fraternities and Sororities

• Peer-12th grades working with 9th graders, 8th graders with 6th graders, with organized and supported program.

Mentoring: Learning from MENTOR

• Mentor mission is to increase the quantity and quality of mentoring relationships for America’s young people and to close the mentoring gap.

• MENTOR, in partnership with its network of affiliate of 27 Mentoring Partnerships (list of partnerships: http://www.mentoring.org/our-work/our-affiliates/#partnerships)

• Thought and practice leader in providing training and technical assistance to mentoring organizations using the Elements of Effective Practice for MentoringTM as a guide.

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Building Relationships

Effective communication begins with building relationships. The “seeds” of good communication are often “rooted” in a shared history that develops between people over time through a track record of trust, mutual respect, rapport, and consistency.

When mentors consistently listen to youth, take them seriously, tell the truth, keep promises, and respect their feelings, youth are more likely to listen and respond positively.

Addressing Chronic Absenteeism – TDS Summer Institute

Building Strong Mentoring Relationships

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• Start with being a good mentor. A good mentor:• Is consistent

• Listens

• Is trustworthy

• Expresses care

• Honors commitments

• Keeps the needs of the mentee first and foremost in mind

Communication: Age-Appropriate Strategies

Just as there are differences in the way we communicate with a coworker or a supervisor, there are age-appropriate ways to communicate with young people.

▪ Ask open-ended questions and elicit explanations

▪ Use active listening techniques to show interest

▪ Invite and accept opinions from your mentee

▪ Strive to be nonjudgmental; refrain from absolutes such as “always,” “never,” and “should”

▪ Don’t personalize a mentee’s need to rebel against authority and test limits

▪ Be open and inviting but also set limits and boundaries, as being overfamiliar can foster misunderstandings

▪ Respect privacy and confidentiality (within limits)

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Success Mentoring: 8 Tips

➢ Kick it off!

➢ Notice attendance – “We missed you today” calls.

➢ Keep your mentee motivated and on track.

➢ Build a positive relationship with mentees’ families.

➢ Make the most of phone calls home.

➢ Recognize and celebrate small mentee successes – improved attendance, citizenship, accomplishments.

➢ Create a positive school wide culture that promotes attendance.

➢ Participate effectively in weekly attendance meetings.

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Weekly Attendance Team Meeting

Weekly Meeting Best Practices

➢ Meeting takes place same day & time each week and follows standard agenda

➢ Led by principal or principal’s designee

➢ Include Success Mentors (or lead Success Mentor)

➢ Invite key community-based partners

➢ Community-based partners sign confidentiality agreement to review student level data

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Positive School Climate

• Make students feel welcome in school

• Celebrate good and improving attendance at individual, classroom and grade level

• Watch inadvertent use of sarcasm when chronically absent students return to school

• Identify any school climate reasons why students are not attending school i.e. safety, bullying, getting yelled at for being late, or missing assignments and work to address them

Youth and Social Service Providers

• Identify youth and social service providers that address reasons student do not attend school.

• On a monthly basis have them participate in the weekly attendance review meetings-to share what supports they provide and provide insights into solutions

• Make sure mentors are aware of how to link up students with appropriate youth and social services providers

Become an Success Mentor Expert Activity

What Makes the School Success Mentor and Student Support Model Powerful?

• Evidence of impact

• Clear and measurable outcomes (you can tell rapidly if its working)

• Flexible and builds on existing school and district strengths and by aligned with existing initiatives

• Not another initiative but an enabler of multiple school improvement efforts

• Cost effective – can be largely driven through existing resources, applied differently

• Can be continually improved and enhanced

• Focuses on student strengths; celebrates small successes –used as a tool to engage parents/caregivers

Useful Resources

• Success Mentor How To Manual-http://new.every1graduates.org/national-success-mentors-initiative/

• National Student Attendance, Engagement, and Success Center-has many webinars on different aspects of using Success Mentors

• http://every1graduates.org/nsaesc/