The Science Behind: MentorPRO

MentorPRO Outcomes

Students Who Use MentorPRO Earn Higher Grades and Feel More Connected

Werntz, A., Jasman, M., Simeon, K., Gunasekaran, H., Yowell, C., & Rhodes, J.E. (2023). Implementation of a Technology-Enhanced Peer Mentor Referral System in a Large Urban University. Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science, 15. Advance online publication.

The study followed more than 2,500 first-year students at a private research university who used MentorPRO during their first year of college. Students who engaged more actively with the platform, by completing weekly check-ins and sending messages to their trained peer mentor, finished the year with higher GPAs. This held true even after researchers statistically accounted for the background factors that typically put students at greatest risk, including being a first-generation college student, belonging to an underrepresented minority group, being male, or entering college with a lower high school GPA. The findings were not driven by the highest achievers self-selecting into the program. They reflect a genuine advantage that active engagement with MentorPRO provided across a diverse student population.

Beyond grades, students who used MentorPRO more consistently reported stronger senses of belonging to their university community, greater confidence in their ability to succeed academically, and higher overall well-being. These are not just feel-good outcomes. Research consistently shows that belonging and academic self-efficacy are among the strongest predictors of whether a student will persist and graduate (Gopalan and Brady, 2020; Zajacova et al., 2005). By supporting these dimensions of the student experience, MentorPRO addresses some of the deepest drivers of college attrition.

We used propensity score matching, a rigorous statistical approach that creates comparable groups of students and controls for selection bias, to ensure the GPA findings were not simply a reflection of who chose to engage. This design gives the results considerably more credibility than earlier observational studies and places MentorPRO among a small number of technology-enhanced mentoring programs with genuine evidentiary support.