Mentoring in Kentucky: district employees walk the walk.

The benefits of mentoring are clear and well established. Kids thrive when they can foster a solid relationship with a caring adult. Children matched with mentors are 80 percent more likely to finish high school, and they tend to achieve higher grades, according to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada.

Kenton County, Ky. (www.kenton.k12.ky.us), District Superintendent Tim Harmer is well acquainted with the benefits of mentoring. As Piner Elementary School principal, Hanner mentored five students weekly from 1997 to 1999 during his lunch hour. "We focused [our talks] on using their leadership skills in more positive ways," recalls Hanner, as the students were demonstrating the potential to use their leadership qualities in a more disruptive manner.

Last fall, Hanner decided it was time for the entire district to tap into the benefits of mentoring. Rather than soliciting local businesses for volunteers, he looked closer to home and asked district employees to consider spending one hour a week mentoring a child or small group of students. The goal was to attract 18 mentors--one for each district school--but 38 clerks, administrators and bus drivers stepped up to the plate and committed an hour to the program every week.

After teachers and building administrators identify which students can benefit most from mentoring, based on assessments of academic performance and social and emotional needs, the district matches each with a mentor. Mentors focus on anything from academics to social and emotional support, depending on students' needs.

Hanner says that the program is a huge success. Students are building leadership skills and earning better grades. Schools are clamoring for even more mentors, and the employees' willingness to commit to the program has made it easier for principals to ask for business volunteers, notes Hanner.

Four businesses thus far have joined the mentoring program as partners in the new Business Education Success Team. After a business group commits to the program, the district provides training to help new mentors work with children. River Ridge Elementary's BEST partner, First Security Bank, allows two employees to work with two students on learning activities every week.

The program is also growing on the technology front. District employees who are unable to commit to an hour of face-to-face mentoring are exploring e-mentoring, an e-mail based mentoring program.

For many mentors, the biggest surprise has been the program's personal impact on them. "The majority of participants report enhanced job satisfaction. It gets them back to the roots of why they are in this business." says Hanner.