![[Photos of teachers and children]](/images/photos.jpg){kind=small}
Mentoring in Urban Schools
Why It Matters
We know that one of the strongest determinants of student achievement is teachers' knowledge and skills. Regrettably, it is the most challenged students in low-income, high minority schools that are likely to be taught by unprepared and inexperienced teachers.
These teachers are more likely to leave teaching or move to a school whose students are easier to teach, causing a constant, revolving door of novices serving our students whose needs are highest. Recent research shows that if new teachers had “helpful mentors” the chance of their leaving teaching after their first year was greatly diminished.
What We’ve Done
The Center for Teaching Quality (CTQ), in collaboration with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and with support from the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund, developed a research- and practice-based model for mentoring new teachers in urban schools with the aim of better retaining teachers in these schools.
Researchers set out to 1) learn about the conditions of "hard-to-staff" schools in a predominantly urban school district and, more specifically, 2) to identify the elements needed to create an effective mentoring model for new teachers in these urban schools.
Data collection strategies included a survey of new teachers in a sample of ten schools, several focus groups with new teachers, observations of school and district induction activities, and interviews with school and district administrators. The resulting data, plus a review of research on best practices in mentoring, informed CTQ’s development and pilot implementation of a new teacher mentoring model and contributed to bold actions by the district to put into place a more effective district-wide model of support for all new teachers.
What We’ve Learned
Our data collection process and review of research indicated that mentoring support for new teachers should be:
- Group-based at the individual school sites: Focus group members believed that working with other new teachers in small groups at their school would offer them tremendous support throughout the year.
- Comprised of teachers at a variety of levels of experience: Veteran teachers who are mentors are likely to have much to offer in the area of development of instructional strategies, but teachers also spoke of needs that could best be addressed by other teachers who have more recently been beginning teachers themselves.
- Led by well-trained mentor facilitators: Data from the surveys and focus groups indicated a need for more sustained preparation of mentors.
- Focused on developing new teachers' self-identities as educators: All of the new teachers that we interviewed discussed the need to talk to others about their experiences and to reflect on their decision-making.
- Held consistently and frequently (e.g., biweekly): A common feature of strong mentor relations was frequent, regularly scheduled meetings - ideally weekly and no less than monthly.
- Organized as a problem-solving approach with opportunities for sharing individual concerns and/or issues: Teachers interviewed were open to talking about problems and concerns in a group setting.