PROVO, Utah, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- A new study says U.S. teachers who act as mentors to disadvantaged students greatly increase the chances they will go on to college.
The study conducted by Brigham Young University and North Carolina State University found that teachers who act as mentors can basically double the odds that a disadvantaged student will attend college.
An adult mentor also increases the chance that any teenage student will enroll in college by 50 percent.
"Teacher-mentors close the college gap for disadvantaged kids," BYU sociology professor Lance Erickson said in a written statement. "Comments from study participants indicate that their mentors weren't necessarily doing anything extraordinary, just being involved and treating the young person as an important human being."
The university said Thursday the study, which will be published in the journal Sociology of Education, used information provided by more than 14,000 adolescents who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.
