Quality Mentoring

The NQMS is a 92 question self-assessment process that provides mentoring programs with a deep understanding of their strengths and weaknesses along with a roadmap and support from MENTOR Nebraska to help achieve the highest quality of programming.
The NQMS is a research-based tool focused on the latest mentoring policies, practices, experience and research in the fourth edition of the Elements of Effective Practice, the foundational document and list of guiding principles for quality mentoring programming created by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership.

There is no monetary cost to mentoring programs in Nebraska.

Participation in the NQMS tool will give your program access to an extensive collection of resources that correspond to specific best practices, as well as individualized training and technical assistance. Completion of the NQMS also gives your program the chance to 1) validate your program quality, 2) show results in funding applications, 3) pinpoint areas for improvement, and 4) develop an improvement & innovation plan to guide organizational planning. Most importantly, the NQMS checks whether best practices are in place to ensure youth and volunteers have the best possible mentoring experience.

Programs complete the NQMS every three years so MENTOR Nebraska can track your program’s progress, recognize your achievements, and accurately portray any program changes. This provides a great opportunity for programs to engage in the continuous learning philosophy that is central to the NQMS process.

We find programs that have been actively matching and working with mentors and mentees for at least one year are usually ready to complete the NQMS. Programs should also have an interest in developing quality practices in their work and staff that have the capacity to complete the program assessment, participate in the review process, and implement the Innovation and Improvement Plan.

The time it takes to complete the NQMS varies from program to program based on staff capacity, and how accessible the needed information is to those completing the assessment. A good estimate is approximately 8 hours of time, and we suggest completing the NQMS within six to eight weeks of receiving access to the tool.

The people who have the most knowledge about your program processes, policies and history are best positioned to lead the self-assessment process. Many programs have found it useful to involve multiple staff members in the assessment process. Some programs have even involved other stakeholders, such as board members.

Only MENTOR Nebraska staff and select MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership evaluation and administrative staff will have access to your results, which will remain confidential. On occasion, MENTOR Nebraska will report on aggregate findings based on all programs who have completed the NQMS. Your program results will never be identified individually.

MENTOR Nebraska staff will review your NQMS assessment then contact you to schedule an onsite review. During this review, we will discuss your current mentoring practices and work together to develop an Improvement & Innovation Plan. An Improvement & Innovation Plan is designed to summarize the onsite review and provide feedback about the strengths and areas for improvement in three key program areas; management, operations, and evaluation. The Plan will detail 3-5 priority areas or action items for your program to focus on in the next 6-12 months.

We are here to support your program at any time. Please don’t hesitate to contact a staff member at MENTOR Nebraska if you are looking for resources, need support in a specific program area, or simply want to bounce an idea off of another person in the mentoring field. We would also love to hear from you if you are experiencing any significant program changes or in any transition that may impact your program’s sustainability. We are here to support you in whatever ways are most helpful to your program!