Peer mentoring for first-generation and transfer students, built on the platform where the research began.
UMass Boston Connected FuturesBoston, Massachusetts
Connected Futures pairs incoming students with trained peer mentors who use goal setting, weekly check-ins, and secure messaging on MentorPRO. Program staff follow every match from a supervision dashboard and step in when a check-in signals trouble. The model is now being extended to additional campuses.
Engagement is through the roof compared to what we looked like last year. MentorPRO has become the linchpin of those connections.
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Salem State UniversitySalem, Massachusetts
Salem State’s first-year retention went from 76 to 82 percent.
Salem State adopted MentorPRO alongside an intentional shift toward goal-directed peer mentoring. Program leaders report that first-year retention, which had averaged 76 percent, reached 82 percent in the first year of the new model. Retention is associated with many factors, and these figures are the program's own reporting.
Most programs are seeing a 5 to 10 percent improvement in retention and a 25 to 30 percent ROI. Our first-year retention has been averaging 76 percent. This year, using MentorPRO, and adopting intentional goal-directed mentoring, we retained 82 percent.
Two peer-reviewed studies, 2,572 first-year students, and a measured link between engagement and grades.
Northeastern made app-supported peer mentoring available to every incoming first-year student and studied what happened over two years. Two peer-reviewed papers came out of it. More check-ins and more messages to peer mentors were both associated with higher end-of-year grade point averages, after controlling for prior academic risk. Both studies are observational, so they establish association rather than cause. More messaging was also associated with more course withdrawals.
I think this is probably the most helpful program our school has ever come out with.
Salem State UniversitySalem, Massachusetts