Approve Agreements for Technical Services for District Based Mentors to Support New Teachers in Focus Schools with High Attrition Rates Through Teacher Training, Staff Development (Information and Technology Division)

The District is committed to providing support systems for new teachers. The District Based Mentor program is part of the teacher induction offered to new teachers at Focus Schools in the District. These schools have a high number of new teachers and not enough veteran educators to serve as Peer Assistants. Having this support system improves the effectiveness of new teachers. District Based Mentors are retired or on-leave teachers who have previously served as mentors in our district.

The District Based Mentors will work at schools with high attrition rates. Each mentor will provide eight hours per week of face-to-face mentoring and maintain a log of their activities. Mentors will observe and provide feedback on classroom teaching, and they will model best practices. The District Based Mentors will have a meeting in January to discuss implementation of the program, procedures, and record keeping.

We request approval of the Agreements for Technical Services to provide support to new teachers at selected Focus Schools from February 11 through April 4, 2008. Agreements have been prepared for the attached list of District Based Mentors. In order to effectively provide mentoring services to the high needs schools, permission is requested to add and delete mentors as needed, not to exceed the budgeted amount of $50,000.

Goal 3, Success Factor 2: Recruit and retain highly qualified teachers and provide an ongoing mentoring program. Goal 3, Success Factor 3: Align professional development with teacher needs as reflected by student achievement data.

The District Based Mentor program is funded through Staff Development Project 1380 in the amount of $50,000.

District Based Mentors complete an evaluation at the end of the school year. Principals are surveyed annually to determine the impact of the program. New teachers who receive support through this program are surveyed at mid-year and at the end of the school year, providing feedback to the Staff Development office concerning the level of support they received and the impact on their teaching effectiveness. The Staff Development office monitors the retention rate of the teachers who receive support from District Based Mentors. In addition, Staff Development will be working with the Assessment and Accountability office to determine a method for measuring the impact of this program on student achievement.