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[Case Study]
Saddleback College Narrows Equity Gaps with Peer Mentorship
After implementing a Mentor Collective peer mentorship program, Saddleback College's institutional research team ran an internal propensity analysis by designing a non-mentored control group matched to the demographic data of the Mentor Collective program. The results showed that the mentored group persisted at a rate higher than the control. Disaggregating by ethnicity and first-generation status, the data told a more profound narrative of narrowing equity gaps.
Our fall to spring data showed narrowing of equity gaps, but we still had a significant gap for the first-gen students. Then, when we measured spring to fall, we had a 16% gain in persistence. All of the equity gaps disappeared, and every group had 64% or higher persistence. If you think about a 16% gain in persistence in a program of 1,000 participants, that’s 160 students who would have otherwise attrited. That’s ROI."
Dr. Elliott Stern, President, Saddleback College