• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

IZA Newsroom

IZA – Institute of Labor Economics

  • Home
  • Archive
  • Press Lounge
  • DE
  • EN
ResearchSeptember 2, 2013

How effective is high school mentoring?

Is it worthwhile paying special attention to high school students from disadvantaged social backgrounds? Núria Rodríguez-Planas put this question to a test by looking at the longer-term impacts of mentoring, educational services, and learning incentives on US high school graduation and post-secondary education enrollment among low-performing high school students. Her answer: “It depends.” The study, published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, shows that while interventions were successful in the short term, the educational results were modest. Moreover, there were no significant effects on employment outcomes – and detrimental effects on engagement in risky behaviors in the long run.

In a complementary IZA Discussion Paper, Rodríguez-Planas unravels some of the mechanisms at play. She finds that interventions were extremely successful among youth with a high risk of drug use as they managed to curb risky behaviors: the high school graduation rate increased by 14 percent and college enrollment by 21 percent. In contrast, the program was unsuccessful among youth with a low risk of drug use as it increased their engagement in risky behaviors (especially while in high school) and had no impact on educational outcomes. The findings suggest that these negative impacts are driven by peer effects.

Featured paper

IZA Discussion Paper No. 6770 School and Drugs: Closing the Gap – Evidence from a Randomized Trial in the US Núria Rodríguez-Planas

Share this article

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Share via e-mail
  • college enrollment
  • drug use
  • education
  • employment
  • graduation rates
  • high school
  • learning
  • mentoring
  • risky behavior
  • Núria Rodríguez-Planas
Previous Post
Shuffle
Next Post

Reader Interactions

Primary Sidebar

COVID-19 and the Labor Market

covid-19.iza.org

Recent Posts

  • January 23, 2023

    Does immigration undermine social cohesion in the receiving country?
  • December 19, 2022

    Immigration or automation?
  • November 16, 2022

    Skilled immigration spurs innovation

Related Content

  • April 15, 2019

    briq/IZA Workshop on Behavioral Economics of Education
  • June 3, 2016

    How to promote entrepreneurship
  • 
  • 
  • Archive
  • 
  • Research
  • 
  • How effective is high school mentoring?

© 2013–2023 Deutsche Post STIFTUNGImprint | Privacy PolicyIZA