Mentoring New Teachers: A Framework for Growth

Pre-order now – Ships in early December

Real Support That Leads to Student Success

New teachers typically assume the same responsibilities as veteran teachers yet receive little meaningful support. Most learn by trial and error, especially when they enter the profession through non-traditional pathways or with emergency certifications. This is not only a recipe for teacher burnout and attrition but an unfair situation for students.

With more than 360,000 teachers not fully certified and one in 10 new teachers having no student teaching experience, students can’t afford for novice teachers to sink or swim. Instructionally-focused mentoring is a powerful way to change the pattern and provide the kind of instrumental and social support new teachers need to help students thrive.

A Proven Framework for Learning and Growth

Mentoring New Teachers: A Framework for Growth is a hands-on guide to creating a high-quality mentoring program that supports new teachers’ practice, promotes veteran teachers’ growth, and addresses students’ needs. This book delivers practical tools and research-backed strategies that improve teaching and learning in ways traditional “buddy system” approaches do not.

Inside You’ll Find:

• Step-by-step guidance to apply Learning Forward’s mentor cycle, a process for diagnosing needs, providing coaching supports, and monitoring progress
• Specific strategies for building mentors’ skills and competencies in six main areas: cultivating beliefs about learning, building relationships, communicating effectively, diagnosing mentee needs, providing coaching support, and monitoring progress
• Tools for navigating each step of the mentoring process, including partnership agreements, goal-setting frameworks, and observation protocols
• Real-world examples of impactful mentoring from Louisiana’s statewide program, where 95% of participating mentors reported feeling prepared and confident to mentor resident and novice teachers
• Advice about how to navigate common challenges

Written for All Educators Committed to Learning for All

For District Leaders and Decision Makers: You are key for new-teacher mentoring, particularly for allocating resources, integrating mentoring into the district’s larger strategic plan, and ensuring mentoring goals and plans are aligned. This book provides the framework for building a full-fledged system for improving educators’ practice that drives student outcomes and aids talent recruitment efforts.

For Principals and School Leaders: Your voice carries weight unlike any other staff member. When you make time to address the importance of mentoring, you send the message that it’s a core part of the school’s operations, not an extra or a “nice to have.” Use this book to contribute to new teachers’ success while building a thriving school culture.

For Teacher Leaders, Instructional Coaches, and Mentors: You champion the role professional learning can play in building educator effectiveness. This book gives you the latest knowledge and practices to support your people, along with guidance and resources to fuel productive collaboration. Learn how to model adult learning that shows novice teachers that collaboration within a culture of inquiry supports both their well-being and the success of their students.

Research Shows High-Quality Mentoring Works

A review of research on teacher mentoring and induction found that longer and more consistent mentoring programs result in higher teacher satisfaction, commitment, and retention, as well as improved instructional skills. Most importantly, these benefits for mentees translate into better outcomes for students.

Teachers with high-quality mentoring and induction supports tend to be more successful at classroom management and keeping students on task, developing lesson plans, using effective questioning techniques, and maintaining a positive classroom atmosphere.

An Investment That Multiplies Across Generations

It’s important to remember the return on investing in a high-quality mentoring program: It impacts not just a small group of teachers and their current students, but generations of their students to come as well as future teachers to whom today’s mentees will pass on their knowledge and skills. In other words, schools can’t afford not to spend the time on establishing support for new teachers.