The Mentor Program

This Washington Post article shows the importance of a proper mentor program. Read it, leave a comment, share your thoughts on the topic.

Nationwide, schools in low-income communities lose 21 percent of their teachers every year, while those in more affluent areas lose 14 percent, according to the Education Department. Academic malaise and discipline problems drive many teachers out of schools in low-income areas. Half of all teachers quit within five years.

Mentoring is an unheralded but pervasive reform that has swept public schools during the past 20 years to stem the exodus.

In the District and Montgomery County, full-time mentors are dispatched from the central office to observe a new teacher's lessons and to offer tips on how to decorate a classroom bulletin board or build a class library. In Fairfax, Prince William and Arlington counties, the mentor is a specially trained teacher at the school.

Three months into her first year at Flower Valley Elementary, Lawrence had not yet divided her class into smaller groups for daily reading lessons, a cornerstone of instruction in Montgomery. She was nervous about managing the class while working with five or six students at a time.

Her mentor offered a suggestion: When teaching small groups, wear a firefighter's hat. Tell the class she is not to be interrupted at such times unless there's a fire . . . or someone needs a bathroom break.

"I can help you sit down and plan this," Robinson said.

Mentoring is available to virtually all new teachers. Since 1999, Virginia has required a mentor for every new teacher. The commonwealth also offers grant money to fund extra mentors at hard-to-staff schools. Fairfax schools use the money, about $2,000 per new teacher, to pay a team of about 30 mentors, mostly teachers who are retired or on family leave.

Good induction and mentoring programs have proven worth. But some programs are underfunded, with mentors who have multiple jobs or are "spread very thinly among many buildings," said Jennifer King Rice, an associate education professor at the University of Maryland.




Good news, Bermuda has this form of programming and should, for the most part be around for a while, many find their mentors rather effective and helpful-share your thoughts.