Beginning Teacher Mentoring and Induction

Goals

The goals are:

  1. To promote excellence in teaching as described in the Iowa Teaching Standards
  2. To enhance student achievement
  3. To build a supportive environment for beginning educators
  4. To increase the retention of promising beginning educators
  5. To promote the personal and professional well being of classroom teachers
  6. To support continuous improvement and growth of beginning educators and mentors.

Mentor Training

Journey to Excellence: An Iowa Model for Mentors of Beginning Educators will provide training and support for mentors and beginning educators. Mentors will be prepared to guide beginning educators through learning projects designed around each of the Iowa Teaching Standards.

To prepare mentors, we are using Mentoring Matters: Learning-focused Conversations. The book addresses the following modules with emphasis on both awareness and skill development:

  1. The Mentor as Growth Agent: Developing Learning Skills: Focused Relationship
  2. A Continuum of Learning – Focused Interaction: Consulting, Collaborating and Coaching
  3. Maximizing Time and Attention by Attending Fully: Offering Support, Creating Challenge and Facilitating Professional Vision
  4. Purposeful Paraphrasing: Planning, Problem-Solving and Reflecting Conversations
  5. Crafting Mediational and Questions
  6. The Planning Conversation Template
  7. The Reflecting Conversation Template
  8. The Problem-Solving Template

The initial training may be designed for mentors and beginning educators together or separately depending on the number of beginning educators. Participants will receive an overview to Journey to Excellence including program expectations for the beginning educator, an introduction to Mentoring Matters, and the Iowa Teaching Standards and Criteria, and a presentation of the Code of Ethics developed by the Board of Educational Examiners.

The remaining days of training will be for new mentors only and will address the modules as well as the beginning educator learning projects. Journey to Excellence training utilizes effective staff development practices and addresses adult professional learning needs that include awareness, demonstration, reflection and coaching. Feedback will be gathered at the conclusion of each session, as well as quarterly email surveys to identify mentor stress and needs. Survey results will allow us to make program adjustments and provide appropriate support. Journey to Excellence training addresses the roles of mentor, consultant, collaborator, coach, supporter, challenger and expert.

Journey to Excellence training addresses the personal and professional needs of the beginning educator as described in the research of Ellen Moir as the Phases of First Year Teaching and provides an understanding of the Iowa Teaching Standards

The training will include the local expectations for beginning teacher competencies.

Template and skills for coaching, collaboration and consulting are the center piece of the training of mentors. Annual renewal learning experiences will be provided to experienced mentors. Training of mentors will be provided only by certified Journey to Excellence trainers.

Mentor Selection Process

Anyone may apply.

Mentors must meet the following requirements:

  • Approval and support from building administration
  • Employed or a retired individual who holds a valid license issued under Chapter 272
  • Individual must have a record of four years of successful teaching experience unless building circumstances dictate otherwise
  • Must demonstrate professional commitment to both the improvement of teaching and learning and the development of beginning teachers

All candidates who meet the requirements will be interviewed.

If a mentor demonstrated successful implementation under the Pathwise structure, the interview will be waived.

Expectations of Mentors

Mentors must meet and communicate with the mentor coordinator throughout the two-year experience. Mentors are to maintain confidential role and act in a supporting fashion for the beginning educator. Mentors are not evaluators. Mentors will assist the beginner educator in assessing his/her performance, but must act as a firewall for formal evaluation.

New mentors are expected to attend three (3) half-days of mentor training and ongoing refresher training, as provided, that will vary based upon the needs of the beginning educator and mentor. This training will be provided within the Dubuque Community School District and may include resources provided by Keystone AEA.

Mentor Compensation:

  • Funded through the Iowa Department of Education
  • Initial amount of $1300
    • $1000 for each mentor
      • $644 per year (10 months) or $322 per semester (five months)
      • $356 paid additionally in March, April, and May ($178 if only completing one semester of mentoring)
    • $300 to cover payroll expenses and to partially fund initiatives within mentoring
  • Mentors are paid their hourly per diem for mentor training held beyond the contract day.
  • If training is provided during the day, substitute teachers will be provided.

Mentors work under the guidance of the building principal and in conjunction with the mentoring coordinator.

The mentor application will include:

  • Current assignment
  • Teaching history
  • Educational background
  • Describe your professional commitment to both the improvement of teaching and learning and the development of beginning teachers
  • Ethics and mentoring
  • Understanding of expectations
  • Other information

Support for Beginning Teachers

The mentor will direct and assist the beginning educator with the following learning projects over two years:

  • Setting goals and in defining hopes
  • Classroom management, ITS #6
  • Planning and Preparation, ITS #3
  • Instruction, ITS #4
  • Professional Responsibility, ITS #8
  • Content Knowledge, ITS #2
  • Monitoring Student Learning, ITS #5
  • Student Achievement, ITS #1
  • Professional Growth, ITS #7

While each Journey to Excellence learning project focuses specifically on an Iowa Teaching Standard, the beginning educator will have the opportunity to shape projects to meet his or her own needs. When needed and desired, learning projects can be completed a second time. The focus of action research on the Iowa Teaching Standards and those of formative performance assessments will help develop the competence of the beginning educator.

In addition to the Journey to Excellence curriculum, additional support to beginning educators will be provided through:

  • Two additional contract days at the beginning of each calendar year
  • Six hours of meaningful seminar instruction
  • Formal and informal support from the mentoring coordinator

Mentors and Beginning Educators need time to meet, conference, observe and learn. It is expected that some of this will occur before, after, and during the student day. To provide enough time for observation, the equivalent of a minimum of one half-day of release time will be provided to each mentor/ beginning educator pair per semester. These times must be approved by the principal.

Released time might be used:

  • By the mentor to observe the beginning educator teaching and provide feedback
  • By the beginning educator to observe the mentor teaching
  • By the beginning educator to observe successful/effective practice of other teachers
  • By the mentor and beginning educator to engage in learning-focused conversations

Supportive Organizational Structure

  1. Includes released time for mentors and beginning educators to plan.

    The district will provide each mentor-beginning educator pair the equivalent of at least one half-day of released time per semester.

  2. Supports the demonstration of successful/effective classroom practices.
  3. Allows for beginning educators to observe successful/effective teachers’ practices, and receive feedback.

    The focus of the program is based on action research projects centered on the Iowa Teaching Standards and Criteria. The beginning educator will have the opportunity to study and observe successful teaching of the mentor and others as well as be observed and coached.

  4. Allows for mentors to observe beginning educators’ classrooms and provide feedback.

    A critical role of the mentor is to observe beginning educator and his/her work, hold learning-focused conferences, and guide the educator in self-assessing performance using the Iowa Teaching Standards and Criteria.

  5. Determines who will be in the mentor/beginning educator partnership.

    Mentors will be assigned to beginning educators by the mentoring coordinator, in conjunction with the building principal prior to the beginning of the academic year or within two weeks of initial employment if this occurs after the beginning of the academic year.

  6. Supports the roles and responsibilities of the mentor.

    The district will provide a program facilitator, at least three half-days of mentor preparation, and at least one day of released time per mentor-beginning educator pair. School principals and staff are encouraged to design a building support effort for beginning educators that is more than the mentoring program (another take on “It takes a village to raise a child.”) During the new mentors’ second year of mentoring training, each mentor will participate in a book study with the mentor coordinator and will meet once during each trimester to discuss. The book may vary based upon needs of the mentors.

  7. Allows for the dissolution of the mentor/beginning teacher partnership. It is critical to monitor partnerships and address mismatches or conflicts as soon as possible.

    If the mentor/beginning educator partnership is not working, it may be dissolved. If either member asks for the partnership to be dissolved, it will be dissolved a new mentor assigned.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Mentor

Mentors are expected to:

  • Complete the Journey to Excellence mentor training and preparation
  • Guide the beginning educator through the Learning Projects
  • Provide assistance to the beginning educator as needed
  • Meet with the beginning educator at least weekly
  • Attend District mentor support meetings
  • Complete program evaluation surveys and progress reports
  • Develop a trusting relationship with the beginning educator and keep beginning educator’s concerns and issues confidential. (Except child abuse or other criminal-type of behavior)
  • Inform and help prepare the beginning educator for upcoming events such as open-house, parent-teacher conferences, grade reports, and etc.

Dissolution of Mentor/Beginning Educator Partnership

If the mentor/beginning educator partnership is not working, it may be dissolved. If either member asks for the partnership to be dissolved, it will be dissolved with a new mentor and beginning educator assignment.

District Facilitator

Each District or AEA must have a local program facilitator who coordinates the work of mentors with beginning educators. This person coordinates training and preparation of mentors, assists in the selection and assignment of mentors with beginning educators and completes needed reports.

District Facilitator:

Name: Crissy Johnson
Assignment: DCSD Equity and Mentoring Coordinator
Address: 2300 Chaney Road; Dubuque, Iowa 52001
E-Mail: chjohnson@dbqschools.org
Phone:563/552-5781

Program Evaluation

The program evaluation process will evaluate district success in meeting program goals, provide for program revisions, and include a procedure for how information will be shared with stakeholders. Beginning educators, mentors, and principals will complete a questionnaire annually. Feedback will be gathered at all trainings, each mentor meeting and each beginning educator session with results analyzed by the program facilitator.

Questionnaire and feedback results will be analyzed by the District Facilitator in preparation for training/meetings and to determine program revisions.

Goal #1: To promote excellence in teachers as described in the Iowa Teaching Standards.

At the end of the year, beginning educators will be asked to complete an open-ended survey about about each Iowa Teaching Standard addressed in the learning projects. Mentors will also be asked about their perceptions of what the beginning educator learned.

Goal #2: To enhance student achievement

The district and school monitor student learning and achievement data, but may have difficulty linking academic progress directly to the mentoring and induction program. However, samples of formative data used to inform instruction and discussed during learning focused conversations may provide snapshots of student achievement gains within units of study. These samples could provide some insight into the impact of mentoring efforts on student achievement

Goal #3: To build a supporting environment for beginning educators.

This topic will be addressed in the annual program questionnaire given to mentors, beginning educators, and principals. The District’s framework includes the Characteristics of Effective Instruction which will be woven into the new professionals’ training.

Goal #4: To increase retention of promising beginning educators.

Retention data will be collected annually with a report showing the retention pattern over time. Participant interviews will provide data about program effectiveness and determine reasons for transfers or resignations

Goal #5: To promote the personal and professional well-being of classroom teachers.

This topic will be addressed in the annual program questionnaire given to mentors, beginning educators, and principals.

Goal #6: To support continuous improvement and growth of beginning educators and mentors.

This topic will be addressed in the annual program questionnaire given to mentors, beginning educators, and principals.

Using the evaluation, changes will be made as needed.

An annual Mentoring and Induction report based on participant and program data will be prepared and be shared with District Administration, Teacher Quality Committee, and the Board of Directors and other upon request. Program adjustments will be based on the results of program evaluation data.