Tiered Mentoring

A mentoring structure in which learners at several stages of development work together, so that each participant has a role model who is only one step ahead of them rather than many. In a tiered model applied to research labs, for example, high-school students are mentored by undergraduates, who are in turn mentored by graduate students and faculty. Research on broadening participation in STEM — particularly for students with disabilities or from underrepresented groups — has highlighted tiered mentoring as effective because near-peers share more recent experience of the transitions students are about to face (e.g., choosing a college major, navigating disability disclosure) and are often more accessible and relatable than senior mentors alone.