Individualized Mentoring: A Model For Student Success Using Student Support Mentors (SSM).

There are at least 4,500 mentoring agencies in America, and at least 2.5 million children being mentored (DuBois & Karcher, 2005 & Rhodes, 2002). America is not making the gains academically as it once was. Students are in need of more academic as well as behavioral supports than ever before. This paper investigates how children are performing academically around the world, in the US and specifically the state of Delaware and the Red Clay Consolidated School District. Using an example of a mentoring program in the United Kingdom, a proposal is recommended that schools and school districts can embrace in targeting students at-risk in the area(s) of: behavior, attendance and grades. As much as it is felt by many to be an effective tool to help children, what we know about the true positive and negative effects of it is not as vast as we think (Rhodoes, 2002.) Karcher et al., (2006) point towards mentoring for supporting a child's healthy growth and development, and on the other hand protecting the risks these individuals face.