Mentorships

Callahan and Dickson (2008) define mentorships as "a teacher who models learning skills daily to a student to encourage life long learning." Mentors can also be considered an advisor, friend, model or guide. However, in terms of gifted education they are usually always something more. Mentors are sought to help develop students that are gifted in a specific area that could range from a career, talent area or a personal issue. Callahan and Davis also point out that a mentorship goes beyond an assigned independent study or internship as a mentor and student develop a relationship during the learning arrangement that goes far beyond the set learning goals that occur in both independent studies and internships.

Because of the nature of gifted students, often their needs may go beyond what the school has resources to provide for. One way to continue to promote learning and content mastery where the school district may lack resources to aid the student, is through providing the student a mentor. Shore, Cornell, Robinson and Ward (1991) went beyond this in showing through their research that students that are gifted not only need career education, but also benefit from understanding the benefits of working and understanding why people work. Shore (1991) put forth that gifted students benefit from having relationships with people who share the same interest and have an expertise in the field of interest. Social and emotional factors also are important reasons for providing gifted students with a mentorship. Often, gifted students feel out of place and even lost in school because of their perceived difference from others. A mentorship allows students to become more secure in their talents by being able to affirm their abilities and witness the work of a person that shares many of the same talents (Batten & Rogers, 1993). Mentors can also aid students in feeling less stressed about not fitting in. While students that are gifted may feel like an outsider at school, with their mentor many gifted children feel more at ease and are able to have a sense of belonging. Pleiss and Feldhusen (1995) reported that students saw mentorships as a positive as it helped these students continue to be motivated in their area of interest along with showing them the benefits of continuing in a career in their area of talent. While the above research greatly supports that mentorships have a positive role on the social and emotional lives of gifted students, far less research exists on the affect of mentorships on gifted students academic success. Callahan and Davis write in their article on mentorships that "the data from the existing studies are often only reflective, highly subjective, and self-report, thus limiting generalizability, these studies do provide some beginning evidence of benefits that accrue from mentorships." Most likely, factors such as the duration of different mentorships, the type and intensity or the program and other factors make it hard to accurately judge how mentorships effect student academic growth. In Roger's synthesis (1992, 2002, 2005) she found that mentorships garnered over half a years additional academic growth. These results again, seem likely to vary based on the variables previously listed.

Research by Gardner (1993), Simonton (2000) and Feldman (1991) did highlight an area where programs in mentoring should be careful. When paired with an inappropriate mentor or a mentor that was not able to teach the student, the mentorship could have profoundly negative effects. Simonton was concerned about mentors that were too set in their ways and thus suppressed their students creativity, along with mentors that tried too hard to make the student match the mentor in all aspects of their work. Gardner noted that a mentor that demanded mastery at a level to high for the student to reach could cause the student discouragement. As such, a mentor should be carefully chosen and research suggests that more than one mentor is often a good idea.

Mentorships, given the appropriate mentor, can be a great asset for a gifted student. Mentors help teach content mastery in a field or area that may be unavailable from the school district. Mentors help teach the importance of careers and benefits of motivation and work. A mentor can also help students who are gifted understand that they are not alone and different and that there are other people that share their interest and abilities. While mentorships, like Advanced Placement Classes, are an excellent part and very helpful in a gifted program, mentorships can not stand by themselves as the gifted program. Used correctly though, they can have a positive impact on the life of the student.