This page contains answers to questions about the National Quality Mentoring System (NQMS), including specific instructions for issues you might encounter while completing the assessment.
The NQMS is structured, systematic process that uses an online tool to help mentoring organizations extensively assess program management, operations, and evaluation methods based the best practice guidelines outlined in the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™.
The goal of the NQMS is to better understand programs’ current strengths and help them identify areas for improvement in order to enhance future program practice and youth outcomes.
Based on the latest mentoring policies, practices, experiences, and research, the Elements of Effective Practice for Mentoring™(EEPM) serve as the gold standard for mentoring best practices. The guidelines were developed and published by MENTOR Colorado’s national organization, MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, with the support of leading experts and researchers in the field, state mentoring partnerships, practitioners, and federal funders.
There is no monetary cost to mentoring programs in Colorado.
Participating in the quality assessment gives your program access to an extensive collection of resources that corresponded to specific best practices, as well as individualized training, technical assistance, and evaluation of their assessments.
Completion of the NQMS also gives your program the chance to:
Most importantly, the NQMS checks whether best practices are in place to ensure that youth and volunteers have the best possible mentoring experience.
Click here to see a list of current participants that have recognized the need for quality mentoring.
Programs complete the NQMS every three years so MENTOR Colorado 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 the NQMS process. You will be notified two months before your three year mark and will be able to access your NQMS at that time. MENTOR Colorado staff will set up an onsite review so we can take time to celebrate all you have accomplished and make a new Innovation and Improvement Plan detailing how you can continue improving program quality.
Currently, the NQMS is available upon request to all Colorado youth mentoring programs that are registered on the Mentoring Connector.
The NQMS assessment is built around a program model that pairs volunteers with youth. However, we may be able to work with programs that provide mentoring using a variety of strategies. Please contact us to assess whether you are a good fit for NQMS.
You can e-mail hannah.krieger@comentoring.org to find out if you are registered. You can also search for your program through the Mentoring Connector.
We find that programs that have been actively matching and working with mentors and mentees for at least one year are usually ready to start 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 tool varies from program to program based on staff capacity and how accessible the needed information is. We suggest completing the NQMS within six to eight weeks after you receive access.
You will need a computer with high-speed Internet access, your program manual or operational guide, and time. Before beginning the assessment, you need to be registered on the Mentoring Connector. Register here.
The person or 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.
Your username is the email address of the Program Administrator. If you don’t know that email address, contact connector@mentoring.org to assign a new Program Administrator. Be sure to include the program’s name and the new Program Administrator’s name, email address, title and phone number. If you don’t remember your password, click the “Forgot Password?” button in the Mentoring Connector Login box.
Please take a screenshot and print the error message so that you can show MENTOR Colorado what it said. If for some reason you cannot do either of these things, write down every detail from the screen that you can – what the error message says, whether it is displayed in the browser or a dialog box, if it included the MENTOR Colorado logo, and anything else that might be pertinent. This information will help MENTOR Colorado pinpoint what went wrong and more quickly come up with a proper solution.
Only MENTOR Colorado 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 Colorado will report on aggregate finding based on all programs who have completed the NQMS. Your programs results will never be identified individually.
Yes. From any section in the NQMS, you can click on “Resources” in the questions. Each Resources link will open a new window or tab and take you to the appropriate point on the NQMS Resources webpage, which is full of guidelines, general information, and templates.
MENTOR Colorado is notified of your NQMS submission. One of our staff will send an email letting you know that we have received your NQMS and will be scheduling an NQMS Review.
The NQMS resources are available to anyone at any time at the following URL: http://www.nationalmentoringresourcecenter.org/index.php/component/content/article.html?layout=edit&id=183/#A
The submit button will appear once your NQMS is 100% complete. It will appear on the main page of the NQMS assessment.
MENTOR Colorado staff will be notified of your NQMS submission. One of our staff will send an email letting you know that we have received your NQMS and will be scheduling an NQMS Review.
MENTOR Colorado staff will review your NQMS responses 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 and Innovation Plan (I&I Plan) for the next 12 months.
The Improvement and Innovation Plan (I&I 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. This document will detail 3-5 priority areas or action items for your program to focus on in the next 6-12 months.
Within two weeks of submitting your NQMS assessment, MENTOR Colorado staff will contact you to schedule a meeting to review your responses. The onsite visits are usually scheduled for between 3 and 4 weeks after the NQMS is submitted, depending on the alignment of the mentoring program and MENTOR Colorado staff schedules.
The site visit usually lasts about 2-3 hours. However, we recommend setting aside a half day so you can fully engage in the onsite review.
We will do our best to accommodate the program’s funding and reporting deadlines so please talk to one of our staff about your needs. The NQMS process takes a minimum of 4-6 weeks from start to finish.
A MENTOR Colorado staff member from our Program Services team will complete the review. Another MENTOR Colorado staff may be present as well to assist with the review.
Anyone who played a significant role in completing the NQMS self-assessment should be present at the onsite review. You may also want to include anyone who plays a key role in program leadership, development, or evaluation. You will get a detailed written summary of the visit, called an Innovation and Improvement Plan, to share with anyone not present who may play a role in implementing changes going forward.
At the site visit, we will ask some general questions about your program history and then we will walk through the NQMS section by section and ask clarifying questions to get a better understanding of your program.
Come ready to discuss your responses to the NQMS program management, operations, and evaluation questions. Please bring any additional materials you think would be helpful for the reviewers such as program brochures, program planning documents, or participant forms.
Within two weeks of the site visit, we will provide you with an NQMS summary that includes a letter from our Executive Director, Hannah Krieger; an Innovation and Improvement Plan detailing both the strengths and areas of growth for the program, as well as 3-4 priorities to work on over the next 6 months; a Statement of Accuracy; and a list of benefits and recognition for becoming a Quality Partner. The Statement of Accuracy is a document to be signed by a key leader at your organization to create organization wide awareness of the programs participation in NQMS, to verify that we have the most updated information from your program, and to ensure that you will have leadership support as you begin to implement your Improvement and Innovation Plan.
In addition, we will follow up with any resources that we talked about during the visit. A MENTOR Colorado staff member will check in at the 3, 6, and 9 month mark via e-mail or phone to offer any additional assistance and support that is needed. After 12 months, MENTOR Colorado staff will set up a mini-review of the NQMS to make any necessary changes and update your Innovation and Improvement Plan. The MENTOR Colorado staff is available at any time to offer assistance and resources. We encourage you to contact us at any time with questions or to make changes to your NQMS.
During the site review, MENTOR Colorado staff will go over your NQMS results with you and help you develop a 12-month Improvement & Innovation Plan. At this point, program leadership will be asked to sign a Statement of Accuracy and your program will become one of MENTOR Colorado’s Gold or Silver Partners, granting your program access to exclusive benefits. The length of this process varies depending on your our NQMS reviewers’ schedules and capacity. Gold or Silver Partner status will not be granted until all documents, including the Statement of Accuracy, are completed and returned to MENTOR Colorado.
Click here to download more information on Gold and Silver badges.
Programs complete the NQMS tool every three years so MENTOR Colorado can accurately portray program changes, track progress, and recognize your program’s achievements. This also provides an opportunity for programs to engage in the continuous learning philosophy that is central the NQMS process. You will be notified two months before your three year mark and will be able to access your NQMS at that time. MENTOR Colorado staff will set up a site review and take time to celebrate all you have done and make a new Innovation and Improvement Plan detailing where you want the program to go next.
We are here to support your program at any time. Please don’t hesitate to contact a staff member at MENTOR Colorado 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!
