A special friend: Adolescent mentors for young, economically disadvantage, potentially gifted students¹

The methods reported in this paper represent the combined efforts of the Project Synergy staff. In addition to the authors, the project team consists of David Ebersole, Ranald Jarrell, Jené LeBlanc, Julie McMahon, Joyce Simons, and Jonathan Wilcove. The authors would like to thank Brother Brian Carty of the De La Salle Academy and the De La Salle students who served as mentors in Project Synergy: Angel Agramonte, Rafael Arias, Gabriel Aviles, Monique Carter, James J. Conover, Shaun Duggins, Stephanie Etienne, Luisa Gil de Lamadrid, Erika Goyzueta, Debra Ifill, Nyaima Smith, and Tamika Wilson. The authors would also like to thank Diane Jarrell for her many contributions to the mentorship program. This research was supported by U.S. Department of Education Grant # R206A00597 to the authors under the provisions of the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students’ Education Program administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. The findings and conclusions of this report do not reflect the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education or the Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

In this article, we describe the mentorship component of Project Synergy, a federally funded project of the Department of Special Education and the Leta Hollingworth Center for the Study and Education of the Gifted at Teachers College, Columbia University. Project Synergy is a research project, the major goals of which are to devise and test ways of identifying potentially gifted, economically disadvantaged young urban children and to provide services to identified children, their parents, and their teachers in order to develop the children's potential for giftedness. The mentorship component of Project Synergy, part of the talent development aspect of the project, is unique in that the mentors are drawn from a school for gifted urban minority middle school students. Three phases of the mentorship program— training, mentoring, and evaluation—are described, conclusions are drawn, and plans for the future are discussed.

Notes

The methods reported in this paper represent the combined efforts of the Project Synergy staff. In addition to the authors, the project team consists of David Ebersole, Ranald Jarrell, Jené LeBlanc, Julie McMahon, Joyce Simons, and Jonathan Wilcove. The authors would like to thank Brother Brian Carty of the De La Salle Academy and the De La Salle students who served as mentors in Project Synergy: Angel Agramonte, Rafael Arias, Gabriel Aviles, Monique Carter, James J. Conover, Shaun Duggins, Stephanie Etienne, Luisa Gil de Lamadrid, Erika Goyzueta, Debra Ifill, Nyaima Smith, and Tamika Wilson. The authors would also like to thank Diane Jarrell for her many contributions to the mentorship program. This research was supported by U.S. Department of Education Grant # R206A00597 to the authors under the provisions of the Jacob Javits Gifted and Talented Students’ Education Program administered by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. The findings and conclusions of this report do not reflect the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education or the Office of Educational Research and Improvement.