Achievement Mentoring

Achievement Mentoring (also referred to as the Behavioral Monitoring and Reinforcement Program) aims to reduce negative school behaviors among adolescent students, such as school failure and drug abuse, by working to improve academic achievement, promptness, attendance, and general discipline.

The Achievement Mentoring intervention lasts for two years and targets middle school students who are at increasing risk of academic failure (meaning they meet at least 2 of the 3 following criteria: low academic motivation, family problems, and/or receive frequent discipline referrals). The four main components of the program involve: 1) collecting frequent data about each student's school-related behavior, 2) systematically providing feedback to the student and/or the parents about the student's behavior, 3) rewarding points for positive student behavior, and 4) guiding the student on ways to earn more points.

The goal of this program is to improve academic performance, reduce substance abuse, and reduce school failure among middle and high school students.

The program was evaluated using a randomized matched pair control design, which paired 20 seventh graders attending a low-income, inner-city school with 20 students in the same grade attending a middle-class, suburban school. Each pair was randomly assigned into the intervention or control group and were followed for one year, and court records were analyzed five years after the study period. The two schools were pooled together for the one-year follow-up in order to increase sample size, since no significant demographic difference was present between the two schools. At one year, the intervention group had a significantly higher employment rate and had a marginally significant lower illegal drug use (excluding alcohol and marijuana use, where there were no significant differences between groups). After two years, students who received the intervention had significantly improved grades and attendance compared to declining rates among control group students. Five years after the program, those who were in the intervention group were 66% less likely to have a juvenile record than those who were in the control group. There were no significant differences between groups one year after the intervention for criminal behavior and marijuana and drug use, and no significant differences for disciplinary actions after two years.