Program Name: Mentoring in Elizabeth
Nominator's Name: Martha Weber, Director of Community Services / Arthur Fredman, Office of Partners in Education
Nominator's Telephone Number: (908) 558-3053
The nominated school system is: Elementary/Middle/High School
Organization: Elizabeth Board of Education
Districts: Elizabeth School District
Address: 27 Prince Street
City/State/Zip: Elizabeth, NJ 07207
District Superintendent: Manuel Gonzalez
District Telephone Number: (908) 558-3100

Area 1: Goals:

The district Educational Improvement Plan provides a general guide for individual schools to follow. Specific schools develop local EIPs to focus on district needs and goals. Two goals and objectives emphasized in the Winfield Scott School No. 2 EIP are directly related to the work of the mentors in that school and are in conformity with the local EIP.

The School No. 2 EIP includes certain goals and objectives which are relevant to the Chamber of Commerce Mentoring in Elizabeth program Goal, or Outcome. Number One states that students will demonstrate an increase in socially acceptable behavior. This goal is supported by such objectives as the implementation of peer counseling, emphasis on discipline, and initiation of a student incentive award program for improved behavior. The mentoring program at School No. 2 is concerned with the importance of good behavior, incentives for student achievement, and reasons for good discipline. Also, mentors regularly contribute to a variety of supporting activities, including the school's awards program, its Caribbean Cruise spring festival, and school partnership activities.

A second goal focuses on improved mathematics proficiency. Mentors will interface with staff by enriching math instruction through new math materials and sharing experiences in practical math from the world of work. Thereby, regular classes will receive supplementary aid.

The Mentoring in Elizabeth goals and objectives are as follows:

Goal: Mentors will bring lessons, materials and funding from the world of work to elementary level students.
Objectives: By the conclusion of each school year, as a result of mentoring, students will demonstrate greater appreciation of the workplace, improved standardized test scores, and increased thirst for education.
Objective: By the conclusion of each school year students will improve attendance and academic proficiencies. This school partnership program implicitly supports several district and individual school goals and objectives. Mentoring in Elizabeth is designed to support and supplement the curriculum, activities, and school-community coalition.

Area 2: Activities:

In 1993, the Union County Chamber of Commerce and Winfield Scott School No. 2, in Elizabeth, initiated Mentoring in Elizabeth, a business and education partnership. Fifteen businesses, affiliated with the Chamber committed personnel and resources to the program. Among the businesses involved are Statewide Savings Bank, Paradigm Associates, Schering-Plough, Inc., Fernandez Distributing, Sea-Land Services, and Silverman Architects. The program has developed from nine members in 1993 to a current (1996) twenty-six individual volunteers. In fact, the collaborating parties are in the process of expanding the mentoring partnership program to a second elementary school in the district. All teachers and mentors attend one full day of training at Kean College of New Jersey in addition to ongoing contact with their mentors.

Volunteer mentors visit the school each month on specially designated "Mentoring Day." They present classes in a variety of subjects, including careers, job requirements, family life, travel, and government. Mentors often bring materials from their companies to class in order to develop a theme and provide much-needed resources. They describe their job- related responsibilities, talk about their personal lives, and share thoughts about relevant issues.

Specific activities are included in the following list:

• student trips to Elizabeth General Medical Center, Liberty State Science Center, New York theater, etc.
• singing performances at Chamber receptions, including General Motors and Elizabethtown Gas Co.
• luncheons including school PTA, Chamber members, students and staff.

The twenty-six mentors devote a total of 400 hours, including 260 student contact hours and 140 training, planning; and preparation hours. Teachers at each class, grades 4 and 5, are supported by a mentoring team of three volunteers. They complement each other in delivery of the lesson. In addition, parents, through the school PTA, prepare a major luncheon honoring the mentors.

The program is driven by extensive corporate and community partner involvement in mentoring. Participants develop classroom modules based upon training they receive from the Kean educational specialists as well as planning sessions with the classroom teachers. Emphasis is always on maximum interaction between the mentors and their students. Among classes previously presented are those about architecture, transportation, family life, going to work, workplace operations, hospitals, police and fire departments, and storytelling. Increase in self-esteem is a byproduct of this program.

Area 3: Evaluation:

After the initial year of mentoring, attendance reached 90.5%, a jump from the high 80's in the previous year. Now, at the end of the third year, attendance has increased to an unprecedented 92.5%. Attendance is especially high on Wednesdays, the mentoring days. Also, when extra activities occur, student attendance is consistently higher. Student morale soars on mentor days and when mentor-sponsored field trips and special events occur.

In addition, California Achievement Test scores have improved during this time frame, a fact that the principal believes is a major dividend of the mentoring program. In 1995, for the first time, all grades at School No. 2 passed all sections of the CAT. Student projects, letters to the mentors, and holiday cards are indications of the success of the program.

Parents, teachers, and administrators have taken an interest in the mentoring program and fully support its activities. During a recent citywide municipally-sponsored Black History Week program, the School No. 2 chorus, which was developed through the mentor program, attracted an outstanding audience of over three-hundred people at the local Elizabeth Public Library. In terms of community involvement, it was the top event of the week.

Each year, the school's PTA organizes a special luncheon honoring the mentors and their accomplishments. The entire school community, including parents, teachers and others contributes to the success of this event.

Area 4: Stability:

Mentoring in Elizabeth is concluding its third year of service at School No. 2. The program has evolved from its planning stage to the third year of implementation. Sufficient mentors have been recruited to warrant program expansion in 1996-97 in a second elementary school.

The program has been recognized widely. As a result, the principal and the mentoring coordinator from the Chamber will conduct workshops at two outstanding college programs: Jersey City State College, Conference on Urban Education, and Western Michigan University, International Mentoring Conference, at San Antonio, Texas.

Kean College continues to support the program by contributing in-service training to prospective mentors as well as sharing ongoing evaluation and direction of the program. Kean, along with the Chamber and Board of Education personnel, determine new directions and give counsel concerning marketing of the program and recruitment of new members.

Of the original nine mentors, seven remain in place two years later. Mentors have generally had positive experiences in the program and have stayed with their tasks unless their employment changed or they moved from the area.

Area 5: Endorsements:

School No. 2 Principal Albert Hawkins states, "Since the advent of mentoring at our school, students and staff have shown a visible morale boost as well as improvement in performance. The Chamber members have also learned by working with our children, mostly poor, inner city youth. The entire school community has been uplifted by the program."

According to Bill Granda, partner of Paradigm Associates, a marketing firm, "We have discussed goals, how to reach them and why have them. Now, all of the children mentored by my team have set their goals. We guide them and enhance them. The work of a mentor is truly rewarding."

Chamber of Commerce Mentoring Coordinator Susan Jacobson believes, "As the Elizabeth Public Schools continue to develop this mentorship program, welcoming representatives from the world of work, true systemic change will take place throughout the district. Learning will become increasingly more relevant and dynamic. The children and the entire community will reap long-term benefits."