Effective mentors can help novice teachers improve student learning in their first year on the job as much as teachers without mentors perform in their third year of teaching, according to an article in Education Week.
But many schools and districts design mentoring programs that can undermine these relationships, according to a new report by the nonprofit New Teacher Center, which works with school districts to develop and improve induction programs for novice teachers.
“A lot of people have moved away from this idea of a ‘buddy’ mentor to saying, we need someone who can really support our teachers with instructional focus, setting up optimal learning environments for students,” says Vera-Lisa Roberts, a program specialist with the center. “Having a full-time coach or mentor assigned to a teacher—meeting with them on a regular schedule to help them plan, observe instruction, provide feedback, analyze student learning, get to know their students has been the link that has helped a lot of teachers feel connected.”
“Just like you want your students to feel emotionally, intellectually, and physically safe, how do we provide that same experience for our teachers?” Roberts says.
Roberts suggests three critical practices for effective teacher mentoring:
1) Recruit the right people
Administrators should have a set process and clear criteria to choose mentors, the report says. Even those with content and classroom expertise also need relational skills: knowledge about how to collaborate, and the ability to address specific teacher needs.
2) Define clear roles
Without clear roles, mentors often get tapped to revise curriculum, administer assessments, and other tasks, according to Tracy Laughlin, the New Teacher Center’s communications director.
A 2012 study suggested teachers who mentored part time, in addition to other instructional or administrative roles, had “less connection with the goals of the program, and may be likely to do their own thing with novices.”
The teacher, mentor, and administrator need to understand their separate responsibilities, says Roberts. All should be informed of the same goals and work in support of everything, rather than “[the teacher saying], ‘Here’s the principal giving a message. Now my mentor’s giving me this message, and I’m hearing two different things,’” according to Roberts.
3) Carve out the time
A common mistake occurs when there is inadequate sanctioned time for the mentor and the mentee teacher to have one-on-one conversations, Roberts says.
About three-quarters of the more than 1,000 districts nationwide which the New Teacher Center works with set and protect time for mentoring and teacher collaboration as part of the normal school schedule.
“New teachers need community. Whether through professional learning time, office hours, coffee time, new teachers really need to come together with one another for support,” Roberts says. “If not, you can feel a lot of isolation. You can feel that you’re the only one who is experiencing this, when we know that that’s not the case,” says Roberts.
Education Week
