Blake: Work Priorities

This study draws from the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project (SCNTP), which began in 1988 and serves three medium-sized districts with high percentages of English Language Learner populations and underperforming schools. The model requires the full time release of experienced teachers for three years with the expectation that they will return to work in their school district upon completion of the mentorship. The mentors work with a caseload of approximately 15 beginning teachers in their classrooms. SCNTP is structured around the California Standards of the Teaching Profession (CSTP). To date over 120 teachers working in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara Counties have completed their mentorship.

The mentors are selected through a rigorous interviewing process and each year a cadre of new mentors joins the SCNTP staff. They participate in ongoing, weekly professional development in mentoring. Every Friday morning, approximately 30 mentors come together for “Friday Forum,” a time when exemplary teachers learn together about mentoring, beginning teacher development, formative assessment, standards, teaching, effective pedagogy for working with English Language Learners and subject specific content and pedagogy. The New Teacher Center’s Induction Model includes four key elements that are used to train mentors to effectively support the professional development of new teachers: 1) mentor articulation of best practices to help teachers make good pedagogical decisions; 2) balancing immediate and long term needs; 3) approaching teaching as inquiry by helping new teachers analyze and reflect on their own practices; and 4) building collaborative relationships to help build strong school communities.

Beginning Teacher Mentor is a relatively new position in education and The Santa Cruz New Teacher Project has produced what might be considered a critical mass of exiting mentors in the geographical area it serves. Our study looks at the skills, knowledge, and dispositions of mentors who returned to their school communities after three years and how that experience has influenced their professional practice.

Related Research

The study’s initial conceptual framework was drawn from research describing the benefits of the mentoring experience for mentors and our work sought to explore how those conceptions actualized in exiting mentors’ practices beyond mentoring. Although there has been a considerable number of studies documenting the value of mentoring for the novice teacher, few studies have focused on how mentoring contributes to the career paths of the experienced teachers who assume mentoring roles and the subsequent impact on the schools in which they work. Until recently, there have been few induction programs that have existed long enough to follow mentors’ career paths after they finish mentoring. Following exiting mentors is a relatively new field of research and we found it useful to deepen our perspective by including related research and policy regarding leadership cultivation, ongoing professional development, and enlightened conceptions of induction programs that produce learning communities in schools.

Mentor Programs
The attitudes and skills that exiting mentors take with them back to their workplace are likely to be influenced by their mentoring experience. Teacher mentoring programs as a vehicle to support and retain novice teachers are now the norm in many states. Not surprisingly with their rapid expansion, a large variation in programs, ranging from the traditional buddy system to transformational mentoring for instructional excellence, now exists. (Moir, 2003; Ingersoll, 2004; Achinstein & Athanases, 2006).

Programs vary in purpose, length, structure, intensity, as well as mentor’s release time, training and roles. For example, traditional mentoring programs may involve a part-time mentoring assignment, minimal mentor training and focus on emotional support, situational adjustment, and acculturating new teachers into the norms of the school district. (Wang & Odell, 2002). In contrast, “transformational mentoring” seeks to transform classroom practice and school cultures by developing mentors as educational leaders and change agents who can work with new teachers to challenge the status quo and transform school cultures to promote the highest quality classroom practice (Gless, 2006). Achinstein and Athanasas (2005) emphasize in their recent book, “Mentors are not born but made and continually in the process of becoming” (p. 10). The influence of mentoring on mentors and the schools in which they work is likely to be influenced by the mentoring program and context in which the mentors work.

Most mentoring programs stipulate that mentoring is a temporary position. Mentoring pulls accomplished teachers away from classroom teaching with the expectations in most districts that they should be retained and return to work in schools when their mentorship is completed. While it is generally agreed that experienced teachers benefit professionally from serving as mentors, there is little documentation of the effects of mentoring on the career paths of exiting mentors and the effect of mentoring on their retention. A mentor program must be in existence long enough that many mentors have returned to work to make such studies possible. One of the first studies to follow the career paths of exiting mentors was done by Frieberg, Zbikowski, and Ganzer (1996). They interviewed five mentors from a cohort of eighteen mentors from a three year, full release mentoring program and found that at the mentors’ tenure, all of them were offered unsolicited positions in their school district as a result of their experience in the mentoring program. This suggests that mentors may be perceived as having attractive skills and experience beyond mentoring that may influence their career paths.

Benefits Beyond Mentoring for Mentors
Huling & Resta (2001), in a review of the literature on teacher mentoring as professional development, found a number of papers reporting mentor benefits, often as unanticipated or secondary positive effects to a larger study. As mentor teachers assist novice teachers in improving their teaching, mentors report that mentoring contributes to their own professional competency by exposing them to new curriculum and teaching ideas, encouraging reflection about teaching and learning, and providing them with rich collegial interactions. Mentors report professional replenishment and renewed passion for teaching which strengthens their commitment to the teaching profession. (Ford and Parsons, 2000; Moir and Bloom, 2003).

Mentoring is seen as a way to engage, challenge, and retain accomplished teachers. This is particularly important given the fact that teacher turnover is now driving teacher shortages, rather than the previously held assumption that it is driven by an undersupply of entering teachers. (Smith & Ingersoll, 2004; NCTAF 2003, p.8). The extent to which mentoring contributes to the retention of experienced teachers serving as mentors has begun to receive attention. Mullinex (2002) in an ERIC Digest on selecting and retaining teacher mentors, suggests that “on-going training and support designed specifically for mentors often serves as an important mechanism for retaining mentors.” Strong (2005) in a review of research, reports that that the studies suggest “mentoring is correlated with the retention of new teachers in the profession and may also be related to decreased turnover from district to district and school to school.” (p. 192) However, he notes that most of these studies are limited in their implications by combining results from a range of different programs and not having comparison data.

The New Teacher Center’s Induction Program, founded in 1988, is one of the oldest full release induction programs in the United States. Moir and Bloom (2003) followed the career paths of 35 former teachers who returned to K-12 positions after being fully released to be a mentor in a northern California New Teacher Project for three years. At the time of the study, seven of them were principals or assistant principals, fourteen were serving in professional development leadership roles, and fourteen were teaching. They concluded, “Mentoring offers veteran teachers professional replenishment, contributes to the retention of the regions best teachers, and produces teacher leaders…” (p.58)

Most recently, Balthauser, Cox, and Randall (2005) did an action research project on exiting mentors from the same program to describe the effects of mentoring and professional development on exiting mentors. Their study included a survey of twelve mentors and a focus group with five of them who all returned to the districts from which they were originally released full time to be mentors. Following tenure from the mentor program, four of the twelve mentors returned to classroom teaching positions; nine of the twelve took support positions, and two became administrators; two held dual positions.

These studies suggest that it is not uncommon for mentors to move into leadership positions after being mentors. Mentor experience in classroom observation and coaching skills, along with structured professional development makes them good candidates for leadership roles.

Teacher Leadership Cultivation
Much has been written about the need to develop teacher leaders in schools. Leithwood, et al (2004), in a recent review of research on leadership in schools, stresses “leadership not only matters: it is second only to teaching among school-related factors in its impact on student learning, according to the evidence compiled.” Research of teacher leaders in high poverty schools where students demonstrate achievement levels above state norms on standardized tests, suggests that teacher leaders can make a powerful contribution in building a successful school culture (Patterson and Patterson, 2004).

Very few studies have systematically examined the impact mentoring has on leadership development in experienced teachers. Initial documentation of veteran mentors moving into positions of leadership (Moir & Bloom 2003; Balthauser, Cox, and Randall, 2005) suggests that mentors hold the potential well beyond their influence on new teacher practice to serve as a leverage for improving schools and influencing the teaching profession. Balthauser, Cox, and Randall (2005) found “systemic application of reflection and collaboration” by the exiting mentors they interviewed from a full release mentoring program in northern California which includes considerable professional development.

The important roles that accomplished teachers play within school communities is broadly recognized. National Board Certification provides another example of a movement to identify, nurture, reward, and strategically utilize the expertise of accomplished teachers to improve teaching and learning. Many funders (e.g. Chicago Public Education Fund) view National Board Certification as a systemic initiative with the potential to not only help catalyze school-and district-wide improvement, but most importantly to improve teaching at high needs schools.

Research by The Center for Teaching Quality regarding what it takes to recruit and retain accomplished teachers to high needs schools found that working conditions, including working with an effective and supportive principal who knows how to utilize teacher leaders were the highest priority of accomplished teachers (Berry, Feb. 2005). In another paper, Berry (Dec. 2005) adds that in addition to leadership, teacher empowerment and the quality of professional development, are highly predictive of teacher retention.” (p. 292)

Similar to mentors, National Board Certified teachers are accomplished teachers who are viewed as potential leaders with the potential to be key levers for accelerating school and student performance. Interestingly, a recent national study of board-certified teachers reveals that one of the factors that appears to be retarding the progress of involving board-certified teachers in school reform is “the critical need among board certified teachers for professional development in the area of adult leadership” ……(Berry, p 295)

Accomplished teachers also need to have the kinds of adult leadership skills that make them effective in building momentum for change among their colleagues. Very few of our best teachers have been fully trained to lead change and build collaborative communities of teachers.” Policy makers need to ensure that effective processes are in place to identify and train accomplished teachers as leaders. (Berry, 2005)

Developing leadership and working collaboratively with other teachers are both prominent issues in the professional development of mentors, particularly in transformational mentoring programs. Preliminary research suggests that accomplished teachers, including both veteran mentors and board certified teachers want to work in a “professional learning community” with like-minded, skilled colleagues who assess and improve teaching and learning in a systemic, strategic way. To reap the benefits of both national board certification and mentoring to attract, promote, and sustain quality teaching in schools, a comprehensive approach is needed that takes into account nurturing both teaching and leadership skills in accomplished teachers.

Enlightened Conceptions of Induction Programs to Produce Learning Communities

While the impact of induction traditionally had been measured by its effect on teacher retention, researchers now argue that induction focuses too narrowly on survival support for new teachers and that education is better served by viewing induction as an opportunity for new teachers to become part of a community of learners who critically reflect on their own practice to improve teaching and learning (Achinstein, 2006; NCTAF, 2005).

The new vision of teacher induction, advocated by The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF, 2005), highlights the importance of building a professional community in schools and districts in which induction is a stage of learning that continues throughout the evolution of a teaching career.

…The learning of intern or novice teachers should be part of a seamless continuum in which content knowledge and pedagogical skills move in tandem through teaching, observation, dialogue, and reflection. This requires the involvement of many players and stakeholders: teacher preparation programs, hiring districts, certification boards, schools, and professional organizations. (NCTAF, 2005)

This systemic perspective represents a major change from standard practice in most American schools, but it aligns well with recent research and policy literature suggesting that school leaders, including mentors, can help transform educational systems to be more equitable and educational.

This study expands upon previous, limited investigations of exiting mentors. First, it documents the career paths and attitudes of a larger number former mentors returning to work. Second, it provides portraits of how veteran mentors apply the skills and knowledge they acquired during their mentorship upon returning to schools and some of the challenges they face.

Modes of Inquiry

The study draws from one of, if not the, largest database of former, full release mentors in the country--72 former mentors who worked and exited the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project between 1990 and 2004. They worked as mentors for one to five years with the majority of them serving three years.

Two data sources were used in this study: a mailed survey and a sub sample of personal interviews. One of the biggest challenges in collecting survey data was finding accurate contact information for each former mentor, since all had exited the program and many had moved. Seventy-two surveys were mailed; eight were returned as wrong address, leaving 64 in our sample. Fifty completed surveys were returned.

The survey captures a history of each mentor’s work experience since mentoring as well as 30 questions about the extent to which their experience as a Santa Cruz New Teacher Project advisor contributed to their professional growth, leadership activities, and their work as a classroom teacher and/or an administrator/principal (if appropriate). Each section asked respondents to rank their experience using a five point Likert scale. The items reflect key elements from the New Teacher Center’s Induction Model as well as an open-ended item for them to add ideas at the end of each section.

The initial purpose of the study was to examine the effects of mentoring on the careers of veteran mentors. To trace the influence of their mentoring experiences on their beliefs and practices, 18 veteran mentors were selected for in-depth interviews according to three criteria. They currently work in schools or universities in a variety of roles; they were excellent mentors in the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project; and we expected them to be articulate, reflective informants. They included eight site-based administrators, four resource teachers, four classroom teachers, and two college professors. Each former mentor was interviewed for about 45 minutes. Respondents were asked questions about the effects of being a mentor on his or her career path, teaching, leadership, beliefs regarding professional development, and ways in which they currently support school improvement that might be tied to the skills or perspective gained as a mentor.

The 18 taped interviews were transcribed and coded according to preliminary topics discussed in the interviews. Selected quotes were organized into matrix categories for comparison. Emergent themes and patterns were noted; they were compared with the survey results, and matrices were refined. Summaries were written on each interview for easy reference. A case study approach was selected to portray representative roles, attitudes and activities of the mentors who were interviewed. Although the case study findings are not generalizable, they provide opportunities to generate hypotheses about the career paths of veteran mentors and their subsequent work in schools.

The study initially focused on following the career paths of veteran mentors to learn what roles they move into after mentoring and the influence of the mentoring experience on their careers. In conjunction the literature review and data analysis, the research evolved into an exploration of how and under what circumstances former mentors are able to use their new roles to apply the skills and perspectives they gained as mentors to support professional learning communities in schools.
Results

The survey results of fifty former mentors are reported first and they are followed by brief cases developed from interviews with four former mentors. Together they answer our two research questions regarding what mentors do when they finish mentoring and how they apply the skills they learned as mentors, beyond mentoring.

The Career Paths of Former Mentors

The simple answer to our first research question regarding what mentors do when they finish mentoring is that they return to work in education. Of the fifty survey respondents, 91% of them returned to work in schools or teacher training programs. In 2005, just over one third were classroom teachers, almost half held leadership positions, and just under one fifth officially retired from teaching.

What Mentors Do After Mentoring
Current Position Number
Classroom Teacher 17 (34%)
Support Teachers 12 (24%)
Principal or Assistant Principal 9 (18%)
College Professor 3 (6%)
Other 9 (18%)

The answer to our second research question, the extent to which former mentors apply the skills and knowledge they gained as mentors after they finish mentoring, is reflected in both the survey responses of fifty former mentors and in interviews with eighteen of them. The survey results are presented first. The survey measured former mentor perceptions regarding the extent to which key elements from the New Teacher Center’s Induction Model contributed to their professional growth, leadership activities, and their work as a classroom teacher and/or an administrator/principal. The quotes presented here are from the open-ended survey responses.

Effects of Mentoring on Leadership Development

Regardless of whether they held a formal leadership position, most former mentors have leadership opportunities in their workplaces. Former mentors unanimously reported that their experience as a mentor enabled them to be stronger leaders.

The leadership opportunities have been endless and varied. I have participated in the planning of most staff meetings for the past four years. I serve on several district committees. I am now working as a resource teacher which has put me in charge of assessment, textbooks, and professional development related to assessment driven planning and instruction.

The ongoing weekly professional development sessions built a foundation for comprehensive competence and confidence as a leader. Over time, this exceptional training equipped me to lead not only as a coach/mentor, but to consider leading a school.

The habits of mind that are part of the NTP culture have created my basis of leadership and facilitation.

High percentages of the survey respondents report that their experience as a SCNTP advisor had a high impact in the following areas:

• 90% Encouraging teachers to participate in reflective conversations about our teaching.
• 86% Improved meeting facilitation skills.
• 84% Working to create a learning community among teachers.
• 81% Coaching conversations about teaching among teachers.

Effects of Mentoring on Administrators

Mentors that became principals reported that being a mentor helped them develop a valuable shift in perspective from being a classroom teacher to a broader educational perspective that recognizes teaching and learning as the essential focus, while also understanding the importance of maintaining good relationships and high morale.

The experience of advising across so many sites and classrooms and with so many people has really supported an understanding of educational climate and culture variables. I also feel like it reinforced a deep belief that people can grow and change given support. The NTP experience has been invaluable in my own growth as a leader. (Principal)

Several principals indicated that they use teacher evaluations and staff meetings procedures as opportunities for inquiry and learning.

The evaluation process is greatly enhanced having been a coach versus solely an administrator. I see a difference in how I schedule and value preconferences and post conferences as a collaborative learning process!

Eleven respondents completed the section for those holding administrative positions. The results indicate that former mentors in administrative positions found their experience as a SCNTP advisor particularly applicable to their current work.

• 100% of the eleven administrators in the sample felt their experience as an advisor greatly contributed to talking with teachers about their teaching; working to create a learning environment; acting as a change agent at school; and becoming a school leader more quickly.

• At least 82% of the administrators in the sample felt that their experience as a mentor had a high impact on all ten leadership activities listed in this section of the survey.

Both respondents and interviewees made references to the weekly half-day forums they attended as mentors as a model for the kind of learning environment they wanted to develop as school leaders.

These positive attitudes do not indicate the ease or difficulty with which administrators are able to use the skills they learned. Some administrators suggest that they are often constrained by a system which will not let them do what they feel is in the best interest of student learning.

Budget cuts have made supporting sanctioned time for teachers to observe and coach one another” virtually impossible. District mandated pacing guides and timeliness of data results impede “creating support for teachers to analyze student work and use data for instruction” for many teachers.

Others were not as constrained and could apply the tools they had learned to use as mentors to their leadership positions.

I learned tools and skills that I continue to share and use in my current work as a district literacy facilitator (collecting classroom observation data, the analysis of student work, the language of cognitive coaching.) These are tools I will use for the rest of my professional life.

As a new principal, my learning curve is quite steep, but it is similar to that of a new teacher. I use many of the strategies I learned in the SCNTP on a daily basis.

Effects of Mentoring on Being a Classroom Teacher

Teachers were asked about the extent to which key elements from the New Teacher Center’s Induction Model contributed to their work as a classroom teacher. Twenty-nine former mentors completed a section of the survey regarding the extent to which their mentoring experience contributes to seven teaching activities. The activities with the highest mentor influence (i.e., rated as a 4 or 5) were:

• 86% ability to analyze student work
• 82% increased repertoire of teaching methods
• 81% using student assessments to guide instruction
• 81% increased ability to differentiate instruction for students with different needs

Teachers added notes about skills and attitudes they had acquired as a SCNTP mentor that they felt contributed to their being better teachers.

I learned the importance of reflection as a key to improve teaching.

I learned skills that helped me know how to improve teaching and learning… talking about equity issues in the context of analysis of student work rather than a topic by itself.

I accepted a bilingual assignment upon my return to teaching…my role and training as an SCNTP advisor gave me some incentive to accept this assignment.

NTP made me feel connected to all teachers and administrators in my district that I worked with.

Similar to principals, teachers also expressed in the survey their frustrations working within their school system:

I came away from the SCNTP with so much more knowledge, understanding, and awareness of the huge job we face as teachers. In a way it was almost crippling to know so much and have too little time to actually put it into action. It nags at me. The reality of full time teaching is that there is often no time to do basic prep for the next day due to staff meetings, SSTs, IEPs, committees, parent drop-in conferences, etc. much less creative, differentiated, assessment-guided, always standards-based, and engaging lessons.

Effects of Mentoring on Professional Development

All 50 respondents completed questions regarding the influence of being a SCNTP mentor on their own professional development. The three items out of twelve with the highest ranking (a 4 or 5) were:

• 94% Deepened my understanding of teaching and learning.
• 90% Increased reflection about my own practice.
• 84% Participation in a professional learning community.

Some more depth to what these items suggest is gained from the open- ended responses. These influences on professional development came up repeatedly in the interviews as well as you will see in the next section of this paper.

I am more convinced of the power of reflecting with a mentor or colleague.

It allowed me to develop a network of peers who share professional goals and experiences.

Helping new teachers make their yearly goals and reflect on their practice motivated me to do the same. Before my experience as a NTP advisor my teaching (and life) was very “in the moment.” Planning and reflecting are a way of life now. I also learned the power of collaboration.

The weekly advisor forums were the best staff development activities that I have had in 25 yrs of teaching.

Beyond Mentoring: Four Mini-Case Studies

The following four mini-case studies provide examples of how four former mentors have applied the knowledge and skills they gained as mentors upon returning to work in schools. Portraits of a resource specialist, a classroom teacher, a middle school vice principal, and an elementary principal illustrate the power of the mentoring experience to influence the career paths and the professional practice of educators and the schools in which they work.

Bilingual Resource Teacher

Jan is a Bilingual Resource Teacher in an elementary school. This full time position allows Jan to work with teachers at her school and to focus on English language learners.

It felt like it would be a more continuity for me as far as being able to influence collaboration and instruction. For me it’s instruction, planning, and collaboration. That’s what I want to be a part of.

As a mentor Jan was trained in how to help new teachers with the analysis of student work and she felt teachers really benefited from the structured collegial coaching process. Upon her return to work, she replicated the strategy with the teachers she was assigned to support.

People loved it and so we really integrated it into our plans, especially in the beginning with writing, but then we started moving it into reading and then I moved it into teaching English language development (ELD). I just adapted the NTC model.

Similar to what she had done as a mentor, Jan works with grade level teams using the ELD matrix to guide their discussion and push teachers to be specific about individual students’ proficiency regarding sentence structures, knowledge of parts of speech, and vocabulary.

Jan said that she and her colleagues working in the same large school district all use strategies and techniques they learned while working as mentors. Together they have become a critical influence for progress throughout the school district. That progress is reflected not only in expanding instructional strategies used by teachers to effectively teach every student, but also in the other areas of planning and collaboration which Jan cares very much about. Jan feels that one of the most powerful components of being a mentor was the weekly staff development meeting called “Friday Forum.”

On Fridays those three-hour staff development meetings were unbelievable because they don’t usually happen at schools…. The professional development staff meetings were really a model for me, as far as trying to bring that feeling back into the schools…The feeling of being honored as a professional, the feeling of being able to study something, discuss it with your peers, and maybe implement some tiny change in your practice from being kind of nurtured in that environment.

Now, as a member of the leadership team at her school, Jan shares many of the strategies she used as a mentor and she has become a valuable resource for new ideas. Jan successfully influenced her administration to appropriate resources to three off campus retreats where teachers could work collaboratively in a relaxed, productive environment that Jan hoped would resemble Friday Forums.

Former mentors unanimously reported that their experience as a mentor enabled them to be stronger leaders. Similar to other teacher leaders, Jan noted her increased confidence resulting from having new skills and increased status and credibility after being a mentor. Former mentors returning to schools are eager to help construct a professional learning community among their colleagues which includes norms of collaboration such as they experienced as SCNTP mentors.

Elementary Classroom Teacher

Mary returned to teaching the same grade at her school having gained a broader perspective about teaching and learning. It was quite an adjustment to return to teaching students, with much more assessment for which she is accountable, less time for integrated projects, and her own goals for being an effective teacher. Mary works long days from 7am – 6 pm or later in order to review student work and target instruction based upon needs.

I feel it every single day--how hard it is to meet the needs of 37 children in my classroom. And they’re all different…. I don’t know how you can do everything there is to do… Formative assessment, that’s what you have to use to meet the needs of the kids. If we don’t see what they did on Monday in order impact our instruction on Tuesday, we don’t get as big a bang for our buck.

Using a technique drawn from the Friday Forums, “Problem Posing; Problem Solving,” Mary hopes to create a professional culture of responsibility to all children at her school. She thinks strategically about how it can be successfully implemented:

We’ll start it perhaps at our grade levels first where there’s a relationship and there’s trust, so teachers can be heard. I think that’s Step 1 to establishing a uniform policy that we are a community and that all of these children are ours.
As a respected senior teacher, Mary was immediately placed on the leadership team upon her return. As team member, she was asked to help lead professional development days before school opened. Having led meetings as a mentor, she noted:

… I didn’t fret about it I just knew how to do it, whereas other teachers on staff who hadn’t done things like that found it was a huge commitment because they aren’t used to organizing a meeting or running one…We created the format… Another teacher and I put an assessment wall up so people can see. That’s how you share, that’s how you communicate, is to have that information up. That’s right out of the New Teacher Project!
Like other former mentors, Mary has increased confidence resulting from having new skills and increased status and credibility. Mary finds “the strategies of coaching and working with new teachers is exactly what you do when you come back on a staff.” She explained how the coaching skills are applicable at school:

It’s how to talk, how to work with other teachers at grade level meetings or at staff meetings. And how to listen. All those coaching strategies of paraphrasing and making sure that other people’s voices are in the room. Being so aware of that, which is probably not something I recognized as much before the New Teacher Project…. These are the things that help me to teach to others… What I didn’t have was the language, the labels. I can do it by modeling, but I also can do it by labeling.

Like other veteran mentors returning to schools, while Mary has had many successes as a teacher leader, she misses the reflective process with colleagues that she experienced as a mentor. Mary tried to develop a similar professional community at her school. She gathered five people together to read journal articles and discuss them, but after awhile “it sort of fizzled.” Her inability to create a collegial community focused on improving instruction was disappointing.

…I know enough about going back to the classroom to know that you can get so immersed in the routine of the classroom that there’s no chance to reflect. Not a moment to reflect, and that’s my sad thing that I haven’t taken back from the project.

Mary has the vision and skills to place teacher development at the core of school improvement, but she has found it very challenging as a teacher to influence new ways of working together within her school. She is representative of several mentors who returned to schools as teachers and found national and state policy changes since they left that impose curricula, teaching styles, and assessment schedules that leave teachers less room for initiative.

Middle School Vice-Principal

Nora was encouraged by her principal to apply for the vice principal position because he wanted someone strong in professional development and relationship building that might improve teacher retention. As a mentor Nora visited many schools and she gained an understanding of the range of policies and strengths across districts and schools and the importance of school norms. She started her first school year by primarily observing and listening. She followed the advice she had received as a mentor about entering new schools. “….Look at the culture. Learn, learn, learn. Don’t jump in and start making judgments. Look at what’s going on in the bigger picture.”

The staff meetings at her new school were nothing like the weekly gatherings of mentors at Friday Forums. Many teachers were passive participants in staff meetings and she witnessed some “pretty aggressive verbal stuff.” Beginning her second year as vice principal, Nora shared ideas for processes and structures which she felt could improve the professional school culture. Ideas she had learned from the weekly Friday Forum meetings guided her vision of new staff meeting norms:

…They talked about positive presuppositions and equity of voice. The whole notion that you don’t look at someone and just go, ‘Well, five years ago you made me angry, and so I’m still going to be angry with you.’ Instead, we should assume that everyone’s doing their best work and not look for grievances…. Don’t look for areas to criticize, but look at what it is and how can we improve together.

Working with the principal, Nora helped establish norms for the staff meetings that encourage teachers to respect each other as professionals. To implement her vision, Nora helped facilitate the meetings and she is proud of the changes she has witnessed.

It really has transformed the culture at this school in terms of what teachers do and expect from meetings…The tone of meetings, it’s not quite night and day, but it’s getting really close to night and day.

As a vice principal, Nora was able to improve the professional school culture by initiating a variety of new structures and processes. She was particularly eager to establish a professional learning community of teachers

…who would get used to talking about, not just what they’re teaching, but how they’re teaching and start having them learn from one another.... so that they could have a place to kind of debrief and set some goals for themselves as leaders…being a leader during times of change or advocating for an area that we need to start looking at as a staff….

Nora called her group the Teacher Leadership Collaborative (TLC) and initially invited four teachers whom she had observed were always tapped for everything. Before long, the teachers asked if they could bring their friends and now it has become a group of 12-14.

It’s similar to a Friday Forum. I just replicated that learning community. It was the first time in the school that I thought this is professionalism at it’s best. We had people who previously wouldn’t speak to one another and now they are starting to do some advocacy pieces with each other!

Nora’s perspective about teacher support that she gained as a mentor has also influenced her teacher evaluation responsibilities.

I look at it [teacher evaluation] as a way to improve practice. I ask them a lot more questions about what they want me to look for and how they’re going to align with the goals. I ask for that kind of information and it’s not just me coming in and judging them, it’s very different.

Nora’s passion for effectively supporting teachers and the importance of their feeling supported by the administration infiltrates all of work. Our survey confirmed that most veteran mentors who have become administrators give a high priority to supporting new teachers and Nora is no exception. Nora meets with new teachers once every five weeks to talk about site-specific things like report cards, open house, etc. and to ask them if they have needs. She worked with the administration to budget for every new teacher to take a full day to visit teachers’ rooms. Similar to classroom visitation procedures used by SCNTP, new teachers are provided guidance before their observations and encouraged to share their reflections:

I say, ‘When you’re in Susan’s room notice this and this.’ Then I have them talk to me about it. I want them to get used to learning from one another and talk about not just what they’re teaching, but how they’re teaching.

The standards for the teaching profession continuum that Nora used as a mentor has been a useful tool for initiating conversations with new teachers and struggling teachers about their performance.

Being a mentor was pivotal to Nora’s career because it “changed my perception of myself from classroom teacher who is really comfortable with kids to someone who can work with adults and make change.” As a coach she learned firsthand how to provide teacher support focused on improving teaching practices.

…. What I learned from the project’s version of coaching is that it’s not about judgment. It’s about taking data and then talking about the practice, and that’s huge. Being accountable to someone with that coaching piece… You have to make sure you’re doing the real work of advising…It’s about talking and improving your practice.

Nora “ walks the walk and talks the talk. ” Similar to what she asks teachers to do, she reflects upon her own work using the NTC Standards for Administrators and shares the results with teachers. “This year I really have to learn about budget. It shows on my continuum.”

Nora is a good example of a former mentor who has acquired a knowledge base about how effective instructional communities work and uses her leadership position to “provide structures, strategies, and support to help teachers hone their instructional craft knowledge” (Supovitz & Christman, May 2005). She uses her position as a vice principal to reproduce the collaborative model of support she experienced as a mentor and promote new professional relationships among teachers.

Elementary Principal

Janet transferred to a new district since mentoring to obtain an administrative position. She accepted a position as principal in an elementary school, which had five principals in the prior eight years. The has a 96% English as a Second language population, with approximately 80% of the parents speaking no English, and it has been designated a California Program Improvement School, with very low API scores. Perhaps as a result of so many new principals, Janet noted that “lots of old habits, such as teachers not making good use of instructional minutes” have gone unaddressed. Janet’s focus, simply put, is “supporting teachers so they can do a better job.” She plans to improve student achievement through building relationships, encouraging teacher leadership, and focusing on instruction, all important components of the SCNTP training.

Janet said that one of the biggest things she gained from being a mentor was improving her skill at building relationships.

There’s always a lot of business to do but if you don’t have relationships with people, whatever you do isn’t going to work very well. And we spent a lot of time in training on learning how to work with new teachers and work with principals and work with other staff building relationships…

The high turnover of administrators at Janet’s school has made it more difficult for teachers to trust that a new principal’s plan would have much impact. Janet noted the importance of moving slowly with her long range vision to develop teacher leadership and improve student achievement.

I didn’t bring in a lot of new programs this year. I’ve seen other principals do that. They go to a new school and they just say, “We’re not doing that anymore and they start something completely new….I think good principals, good leaders, take time to get to know what the culture currently is in the school, identify who leaders are within the school, identify who the leaders are in the district, and help you then take baby steps to make small changes with the help of the people within the school.

As a result, Janet reported I have had more buy-ins from both parents and the staff.

Like all the mentors we spoke with, Janet praised the weekly staff development meeting she attended as a mentor and spoke of the important influence they continue to have on her work:

For us as advisors, to have the time to talk, was critical to my success as an advisor and now I believe it’s critical for my success as a leader at my school.

Janet uses the New Teacher Center’s Friday Forums as a model to transform her staff meetings into a professional learning community. This involves an emphasis on time management, a focus on best practices drawn from research, and developing teacher leadership within her school community. To make the most of limited time together, she asks her teachers to check email every morning for business and logistics messages and does not put these items on the agenda. Instead, “We can spend the time at staff meetings on research, on lesson planning, on collaboration, things like that….”

For example, Janet appreciated the opportunity as a mentor to hear and read about recent educational research and then discuss it with her colleagues. The value of providing this opportunity to teachers goes beyond distributing new knowledge and helps to build a professional learning community.

I made some copies of some of the articles, brought them to staff meetings, had mixed grade level groups read them, and then talk about them--actually have the time to talk about and poster how this relates to what they’re doing in their classrooms. The conversations the teachers are having are at a much higher level than what they were before. As a leader you have to provide time for teachers to do that, and that’s what they didn’t have before.

I share some of the current research, so it isn’t just me saying, “Okay, we’re a Program Improvement School so we need to do this, that, and the other thing.” [Instead,] “This is what the research is showing…” Many of them have come forward and said, “ I really appreciate that because when you’re in a classroom you don’t have time to do that.”

Another component of Janet’s school improvement vision that that she attributes to her mentoring experience is her focus on developing distributed leadership within her school community. She contrasted her experience as a classroom teacher with her new understanding of the power of teacher leadership.

[At SCNTP] we talked a lot about developing teacher leadership within your school community and the fact that all of us there were teacher leaders of some sort in our schools and in our districts. I remember when I was in the classroom, there wasn’t very many times where they utilized resources of the people in the school, people who have experience, say in classroom management, or working with English learners or having a good ELD program. Most of my experience was the district paid a huge amount of money to bring a speaker in where there were people right there within the district, within the school community, that had enough strength to facilitate that development, but the district didn’t look from within….We talked about that a lot, that once you identify the strengths within your own community, those people can be groomed to be teacher leaders within their schools and their districts…..You have people right there within your school that could be the leaders. And, so that’s what I’m trying to do now, is identify the strengths within my school. I’m helping develop teacher leaders within my school, experts within the school, people who already were experts but nobody ever thought they were…

It’s going to take time but there are people now who say oh that was so great what Kristin did at the staff meeting, now I know I can go see her to get some more help with whatever it is. And that way it isn’t, “Janet, what are you going to bring us in now to do?” It’s more about we have people right here within our school. We have resources. We don’t have to pay thousands of dollars to bring somebody in. We’ve got it right here!

By building upon teachers’ strengths, Janet expects them to feel good about what they’re doing and want to share more for the benefit of everyone. Encouraging leadership among the staff has the added advantage of taking some of the burden away from Janet and helping her not feel like she as their principal has to do all the staff development. She shared:

I f you are the leader of the school you can’t do it all and that there are a lot of teachers within the school and staff members that have strengths that you can bring to be part of a shared leadership of this school… That happened a lot at the new teacher project…we could go to somebody for support for instance if there was an advisor that had a specialty in special ed and that wasn’t your area of strength. You knew you could go to them for questions and support to help you become a better leader, and I’m learning how to do that within my own site.

Janet recalled that a big part of learning to lead as a mentor was “to really think about myself and what I bring to the table and why I was chosen as an advisor.” Reflecting upon how the mentoring experience made her a stronger leader has enabled Janet to use a parallel process with her classroom teachers.

Now as a leader I’m doing the same things. I think it’s all tied into the relationship building, because, I see people, and they all have something to bring. A good leader is going to find a way to bring that out of them and that’s going to affect student achievement.

Janet progress in moving from a classroom teacher to a visionary school leader is evident. Her mentoring experience provided a deep understanding of the importance of cultivating relationships and collaborative leadership to build momentum for change at her school.

Conclusions: The Value of Veteran Mentors for Schools

The survey and the portraits illustrate the power of the mentoring experience to influence the career paths and the professional practice of educators and the schools in which they work.

Effects of Mentoring on Professional Attitudes and Professional Development

This study provides evidence that the knowledge, skills, and guiding principles offered by a mentor program can have a lasting influence on the professional development of the experienced teachers who work as mentors. Regardless of their positions following mentoring, mentors reported that having been a SCNTP mentor enhanced their professional practice, particularly in developing new habits of mind, leadership skills, and a vision for working in a professional learning community.

Habits of Mind: Reflection and Collaboration
In particular, habits of reflection and collaboration were highlighted in both the survey and interviews. Reflection became vital to the practice of mentors as they worked with new teachers and developed their mentoring skills. Former mentors naturally integrate reflection to improve professional practice as they go on to work in new positions and they recognize the need to integrate reflection with colleagues into their workplaces.

Collaboration was also identified as another key element of the mentoring experience that veteran mentors want to sustain in the workplace.” Regardless of which career path mentors followed, they found that their mentor experience significantly contributed to their ability to work collaboratively with adults. One mentor explained, “The project had a few things that were so brilliant. Nobody ever worked on anything alone.” Interviews and open-ended survey responses suggest that former mentors are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and desire to create new norms of collaboration. The cases provide evidence that mentors highly value the time and energy required to develop trusting, working relationships and that they look for systemic opportunities in their schools for collaboration. Examples drawn from the case study data include collaborative presentations at staff and grade level meetings, teacher evaluation procedures, reading groups, and improved self-confidence to advocate for collaborative norms at school sites.

Mentoring Supports Leadership Development

This study provides evidence that former mentors seek leadership opportunities and obtain leadership positions in schools. They shared the variety of skills and experience that makes them sought after as school leaders after mentoring which include: increased knowledge about teaching and learning, a broader perspective, coaching knowledge and skill, increased status as a mentor, and skills to implement research-based practices for school improvement. Educators returning to districts after mentoring have an increased capacity for leadership and for supporting change at the school site. Former mentors in principal and administrative positions found their experience as a SCNTP advisor particularly applicable to their current work.

Mentors as Classroom Teachers

Mentors who returned to classrooms after mentoring strongly believe that the mentoring experience contributed to their professional development as a teacher. They report having a larger repertoire of teaching strategies, knowing how to use assessments to guide instruction, and an increased ability to differentiate instruction for students with different needs. Mentoring helped these accomplished teachers gain new insight into teaching and those who were interviewed had anticipated trying new teaching techniques and incorporating reflection and collaboration into their work. Teacher leaders adapted the tools they used to coach novice teachers to their current work and shared them with colleagues.

Former mentors reported that returning to classroom teaching after several years of not teaching was challenging, despite their considerable experience. Teachers noted national and state policy changes since they left that impose curricula, teaching styles, and assessment schedules that leave teachers less room for autonomy and initiative. Teachers felt constrained by a system which often would not let them do what they felt was in the best interest of student learning. Some teachers expressed frustration that they could not find the time to facilitate the kind of coaching and reflective processes with teachers that they had come to value as mentors. Former mentors have the skills and the vision of how to help teachers grow, but several found the limited time appropriated to work with other teachers was often consumed by agendas that did not leave room for in-depth conversations about instruction.

Contribution of Mentoring to Building Professional Communities of Practice

This study provides evidence that teachers who take time away from classroom teaching to be mentors in an induction program are likely to return to school positions with an increased interest in working in a professional learning environment. The data concurs with Berry (2005) that “Accomplished teachers want to work in schools where they have like-minded and skilled colleagues.” For some former mentors, school culture was a primary factor in selecting where they sought work and accepted a position.

Mentors from the induction program used in this study report that the professional learning environment they experienced as mentors is the model for the culture in which they want to work. Returning mentors show strong commitment to integrating best professional practices in their new roles and they want to influence the school organizations in which they work. As teachers, leaders, and colleagues, they are eager to construct and sustain a school culture of professional practice that includes collaboration and inquiry to improve professional practice.

The roles, which mentors assumed during the years after mentoring as well as their school contexts, influence their ability to utilize the skills and perspectives they gained as mentors. Not all former mentors were able to successfully put into practice their vision of an authentic, collaborative community of practice that they had experienced as mentors.

Classroom teachers and some resource teachers had more limited opportunities to put into practice the coaching strategies and support they experienced as mentors. Site administrators reported the most success and satisfaction creating systemic opportunities to initiate practices that support a professional learning community that includes both experienced and new teachers working together. Former mentors in positions of school leadership are leading cultural shifts in their schools that place teacher development and distributed leadership at the center of school improvement.

Implications

The cases and survey findings have important implications for a new vision of the teaching profession, one that places teacher development at the core of efforts to improve student learning and holds the potential to positively influence school organizations at all levels.

Mentor programs such as the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project are successfully developing cadres of former teachers for which adult learning is at the core of their professional practice. This study provides examples of former mentors working as principals and school leaders developing school structures that support a community of learners. Some former mentors were proud of their accomplishments; other former mentors had difficulty putting into practice in their school settings the skills and knowledge they had used as mentors. The positions that former mentors moved into, as well as the political and economic context of their school, affected their ability to implement their vision. Finding themselves with greater capacity to improve school organizations but not the ability to implement new structures and ways of doing work, some former mentors were essentially "all dressed up with no place to go."

Induction programs can grow teacher leaders, but some schools may be unprepared to support former mentors as they return to the workplace as teachers, leaders, and colleagues. How do we restructure schools to take advantage of all that they have to offer? This study provides evidence that mentoring is part of a career of continuous professional growth that has powerful implications for practice beyond mentoring.

Mentor programs such as the Santa Cruz New Teacher Project are successfully developing cadres of former teachers for which adult learning is at the core of their professional practice. Joyce (2004) suggests “…teachers need to experience cooperative professional inquiry before they will commit to it”(p. 82). Former mentors featured in this research provide an example of such commitment. As teachers, leaders, and colleagues, they are eager to continue working in a learning culture that includes core elements of their mentoring experience.

This study demonstrates the importance of the type of professional development that we offer mentors. The SCNTP has a set of guiding principles and a philosophy that drives their program and specifically mentor development. By highlighting collaboration, leadership, inquiry, formative assessment, and communities of practice in the training, the evidence suggests that whatever path these exemplary teachers take following mentoring, they will carry with them a new set of beliefs and values that will ultimately create a better profession.

References

Achinstein Betty & Athanases, Steven (2006) New visions for mentoring new teachers in Mentors in the Making: Developing New Leaders for New Teachers edited by Achinstein Betty & Athanases, N.Y.: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.

Balthaser, Cynthia, Cox, Marney A., Randal, Pamela W. (2005). A Descriptive Study: Experiences of Mentors Who Return to Districts, San Jose State University, CA: Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership Program.

Berry, Barnett. (2005 December). Recruiting and retaining board-certified teachers for hard to staff schools., Phi Delta Kappan, Vol 87 #4 P 290 – 297.

Berry, B., Johnson, D., & Montgomery, D. (2005 February). The power of teacher leadership. Educational Leadership, 56-60.

Frieberg, Melissa R, Zbikowski, John, and Ganzer, Tom (1996) Where do we go from here? Decisions and dilemmas of teacher tentors. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Paper presented at AERA, April 1996.

Gless, Janet. (2006). Transformational mentoring in Mentors in the Making, edited by edited by Achinstein Betty & Athanases, N.Y.: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.

Huling, Leslie-Resta, Virginia, (2001). Teacher mentoring as professional development, ERIC Digest ED460125.

Joyce, Bruce (2004). How are professional learning communities created? Educational Leadership, 86(1), 76-83.

Kenneth Leithwood, Karen Seashore Louis, Stephen Anderson and Kyla Wahlstrom (2004). Review of Research: How Leadership influences student learning. Report commissioned by Wallace Foundation, N.Y. 2004

Moir, Janet, (2003). July Launching the Next Generation of Teachers Through Quality Induction, Santa Cruz, CA: New Teacher Center.

Moir, Ellen, (2005). Launching the Next Generation of Teachers: The New Teacher Center's Model for Quality Induction and Mentoring in Teacher Mentoring and Induction: The State of the Art and Beyond, edited by Hal Portner, Corwin Press.

Moir, Ellen & Bloom, Gary. (2003). Fostering leadership through mentoring. Educational Leadership, 60(8), 58-60.

Mullinix, Bonnie B. (2002). Selecting and retaining teacher mentors. Eric Digest ED477728.

National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. (2003). No Dream Denied, A Pledge to America’s Children, Summary Report, Washington D.C.

National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. (2005). Induction into Learning Communities, Washington D.C.

Smith, T. M. & Ingersoll, R. M. (2004). What are the effects of induction and mentoring on beginning teacher turnover? American Educational Research Journal, 41(3), 681-714.

Strong, Michael (2005). Teacher Induction, Mentoring, and Retention: A Summary of the Research. The New Educator, Taylor & Francis Inc. 181-198.

Suppovitz, Jonathan A. & Christman, Jolley Bruce. (2005). Small Learning Communities That Actually Learn: Lessons for School Leaders. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(9), 649-651.

Wang, J., & Odell, S.J. (2002). Mentored learning to teach according to standards-based reform: A critical review. Review of Educational Research, 72 (3), 481-546.