Skip to Content
Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

Mentoring

Overview

  • Influence: Mentoring
  • Domain: Teaching Strategies
  • Sub-Domain: Instructional strategies
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Likely to have a small positive impact
  • Influence Definition: Mentoring involves a professional relationship in which an experienced person (the mentor) assists another in developing specific skills and knowledge that will enhance the less-experienced person's professional and personal growth.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 5
  • Number of studies: 175
  • Number of students: 15,019
  • Number of effects: 671
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.18
  • Robustness index: 3

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Journal of Vocational Behavior Eby, Allen, Evans, Ng, & DuBois Does mentoring matter? A multidisciplinary meta-analysis comparing mentored and non-mentored individuals 2008 Mentoring on performance outcomes 31 10,250 31 0.16
American Journal of Community Psychology DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper Effectiveness of mentoring programs for youth: a meta-analytic review 2002 Mentoring on academic outcomes 59 NA 574 0.18
Psychological Science in the public interest : a journal of the American Psychological Society DuBois, Portillo, Rhodes, Silverthorn, & Valentine How Effective Are Mentoring Programs for Youth? A Systematic Assessment of the Evidence 2011 Mentoring on academic outcomes 73 NA 54 0.21
Research on Social Work Practice Wood & Mayo-Wilson School-based mentoring for adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis 2012 School based mentoring on adolescent achievement 5 4,769 5 -0.01
Educational Review Sneyers & De Witte Interventions in higher education and their effect on student success: a meta-analysis. 2018 Mentoring on academic outcomes 7 NA 7 0.15
TOTAL/AVERAGE 175 15,019 671 0.14
Back to top