Longitudinal Cohort Analysis of a First Year Peer Mentor Program for Improved Retention

Abstract

Per ASEE FPD guidelines, this paper is the type Complete Paper: Evidence-Based Practice. This paper assesses a peer mentoring program in a school of engineering. Building upon the first wave of data in a previous study, the current study analyzes the third year of the program. The current analysis identifies program changes, describes their rationale, and assesses their impact on student retention rates. There are four contributions to this approach. First, the paper contributes evidence regarding an engineering education practice: peer mentoring. Second, the paper builds upon data collected across three cohorts of program implementation and reported in a series of publications, the former of which inform this analysis. Third, the current analysis attempts to identify which factors were changed between each wave of data. More generally, this project contributes to broader understanding of first-year students and their supportive contexts