1. Goal: To redesign the existing MentorWorks in-school tutoring program within Fairfax County Public Schools in order to scale the program to bring on more schools, mentors, and mentees. Concurrently, this strategy will also develop and implement an evidence-based, academic and experientially-rooted model with a theory of change and a set of measurable data whereby we can determine the success of the program.

2. Intent and Activity: This 4-year program consists of funding a Penn State University faculty member to work with the MentorWorks program to build a logic and theory of change model; to identify the key data sets needed to best track student and mentor behaviors, performance, and growth; to build a database and collection system to acquire, monitor, and evaluate the program data; and to include robust experiential activity learning opportunities for the mentor/mentee matches. Over time, the program will collect data, assess performance, and then adjust and modify the programming to ensure high quality and optimum outcomes.

1. Our sustainability goal is this data will demonstrate the effectiveness of this new model and the data collection such that the program continues to evolve and mature over time to best ensure student success. At the end of this grant cycle (end of School Year 2024-2025), the program will be funded and managed fully by FCPS.
2. Results to date:

• Because of COVID-19, this program was delayed in School Years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Thus, we lost almost two full years due to school closures and loss of in-person mentoring and FCPS then needed to essentially rebuild the mentoring program during the latter half of 2021-2022.
• By 2023, the MentorWorks/Penn State team completed the framework for the database and began acquiring mentor/mentee data in earnest. Baseline data from 2021 and 2022 is available in some cases; however, data fidelity is more limited in these previous years. Strong match data is more guaranteed in School Year 2022-2023 forward.
• From School Year 2022-2023, we can now begin to observe output and outcome measures within the program, with measurements occurring at the end of each school year (spring data, labeled as Quarter 2):

• Output Measurements (how much we are doing):
  • We do see some variability in the number of Staff Mentors matched with a student (1,123 as a baseline, with an increase to 2,377 at the end of SY 21-22, then a dip in SY 22-23 to 1,486). As the program is building the correct processes now, our stretch/scale goals are limited at this point, but do hope to see an increase at the end of SY23-24. We assigned a “yellow” health score.
  • We do see a strong increase in the number of Community Mentors matched with a student, reaching a high of 414 in SY 22-23. This increase is a result of the success of bringing outside community mentors back into the school buildings following COVID. We assigned a “green” health score.
  • Similarly, we see positive growth in the number of FCPS schools and centers adopting and engaging the MentorWorks program within their buildings, with a high of 188 using the program (out of a total of 214 in the district) in SY 22-23. We assigned a “green” health score.
  • Mentee engagement (number of individual students participating in the program) grew significantly to 3,745 students in SY 22-23, earning a “green” health score; and the number of group mentors (2 or more students working with a single mentor) also grew to 278 at the end of SY 22-23, earning a “green” score. Group mentoring allows for more students to be reached at scale, but may, at times, reduce some of the effectiveness of the interventions.
  • We are still acquiring data on the Mentee experiential opportunities and will provide that at the next Data Analysis session to be completed at the end of SY 23-24.
• Outcome Measurements:
  • As part of the new program design, we are in the process of tracking the new Outcome Measures, which will reflect “how” the program is working to ultimately improve student achievement.
  • These Measures will include, at a minimum, improving the Match Quality of the mentor/mentee relationships and improving student outcomes. 
  • All Outcome Measurements will be measured using an evidence-based numerical scale to determine how effective the programming is related to student improvement.
  • We expect to have these data sets complete by end of SY 23-24, to be further monitored and evaluated through SY 24-25.