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School-based Mentoring Relationships and Human Capital Formation

We document a largely unrecognized pathway through which schools promote human capital development – by fostering informal mentoring relationships between students and school personnel. Using longitudinal data from a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents, we explore the frequency, nature, and consequences of school-based natural mentorships. Estimates across a range of fixed effect (FE) specifications, including student FE and twins FE models, consistently show that students with school-based mentors achieve greater academic success and higher levels of post-secondary attainment. These apparent benefits are evident for students across a wide range of backgrounds but are largest for students of lower socioeconomic status.

Keywords
Mentoring, Student-teacher relationships, educational attainment, natural mentor
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/96bs-6m26

EdWorkingPaper suggested citation:

Kraft, Matthew A., Alexander Bolves, and Noelle M. Hurd. (). School-based Mentoring Relationships and Human Capital Formation . (EdWorkingPaper: 21-441). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/96bs-6m26

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