High School Students as Mentors: Findings from the Big Brothers Big Sisters School-Based Mentoring Impact Study

From Public/Private Ventures, this report outlines findings from a mentoring impact study of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program. Data was collected from a large-scale, random assignment impact study of ten Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies, which included 1,139 youth in 71 schools across the country. Findings show that high school volunteers as mentors can provide attention and friendship for children lacking peer social skills or experiences. High school mentors tend to involve their mentees in decisionmaking more often than adults.