The Effect of Cross-Age Mentoring on Elementary Students Disruptive Behavior

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2015-08

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Rights

Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. To obtain information or permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Goucher Special Collections & Archives at 410-337-6347 or email archives@goucher.edu.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a six-week cross-age mentoring program could impact the disruptive behavior of first and second graders (N = 10). The measurement tool was the appropriate learning behavior score, which was based off of items on students’ report cards. This study involved the use of a pretest/posttest design to compare data from the third quarter report card (before the intervention was administered) to data from May of 2015 (after the intervention was complete). The students had significantly higher post-intervention appropriate learning behavior scores (Mean = 11.00, SD = 3.09) than pre-intervention appropriate learning behavior scores (Mean = 9.90, SD = 2.51) [t (9) = 2.91, p = .017]. Implications of the findings are discussed. Research in the area of cross-age mentoring programs should continue given the lack of research in this particular type of mentoring especially in the elementary setting.