Although mentoring can facilitate talent development, mentoring interventions need to follow research-based recommendations to be effective (Stoeger et al., 2021). This contribution evaluates the effectiveness of a three-year one-on-one mentoring based on those recommendations (learning pathway mentoring) where teachers mentor students who are particularly interested and high-achieving in a specific domain (school subject). Mentoring dyads use the results of the accompanying support diagnostics to set goals and plan a learning pathway that enables mentees to achieve these goals, which is continually reflected and adjusted during the mentoring. The program included 111 mentoring dyads from 27 German secondary schools.
For the evaluation, student data from four measurement points were available: Beginning of the 19/20 school year and end of the 19/20, 20/21, and 21/22 school years (N = 1541; 76 mentees and 1465 non-mentees). Outcomes included the extent of activities, study and career choice intentions, self-concept, and interest regarding the respective mentoring subject.
First analyses demonstrate better development of mentees compared to non-mentees from the beginning of the 19/20 school year to the end of the 20/21 school year for all outcomes (controlling for the initial value of the respective outcome and for academic achievement, motivation, and quality of students’ learning environment). Most effects were in the upper range of what mentoring interventions typically achieve (d = .34 to d = .68).

References
Stoeger, H., Balestrini, D. P., & Ziegler, A. (2021). Key issues in professionalizing mentoring practices. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1483(1), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14537