Paraprofessionals use of group school-based instrumental mentoring: Examining process and preliminary outcomes |
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| Authors: | Gerald G Strait Jenna Turner Diana Stinson Samanthia Harrison Rojan Bagheri Tanya Perez Bradley H Smith Jorge Gonzalez Jacqueline R Anderson Jill Simpson Sam D McQuillin |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Clinical, Health, and Applied Sciences, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston, Texas, USA;2. Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA;3. Psychological Services, Cumbria County Council, Cumbria, UK;4. Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA |
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| Abstract: | Many schools use paraprofessionals to implement and monitor interventions. Though paraprofessionals are cost-effective, many questions remain about the training and skills they need to implement a wide array of school-based interventions. In this study, we compare paraprofessionals' (i.e., undergraduates) implementation of the Group-Academic Mentoring Program for Education Development (Group-AMPED) to school psychology graduate students' implementation of Group-AMPED. Ten paraprofessionals and five school psychology graduate students provided approximately eight sessions of Group-AMPED to 35 sixth-grade students. Results indicated no significant differences between middle school students' engagement when groups were led by either school psychology graduate students or paraprofessionals. Similarly, self-reports of fidelity and supervisor postsession implementation confidence indicated no difference between paraprofessionals and graduate students' implementation of Group-AMPED. Follow-up measures indicated that mentors and proteges perceived Group-AMPED as feasible, acceptable, and understandable. Most importantly, middle school students participating in Group-AMPED had significantly higher second-semester grades in comparison to a small control group. |
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| Keywords: | academic mentoring paraprofessionals |
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