Creating, implementing, and evaluating a teacher mentoring program for the Mary Bray Elementary and Raymond W. Kershaw schools in the Mount Ephraim School District

This paper describes key aspects of creating, implementing, and evaluating a teacher mentoring program and handbook. Novice and veteran teachers benefit from a district teacher mentoring program which provides an effective staff development approach for beginning teachers. A novice teacher benefits from a strong start in their career by belonging to a learning community, following a structured induction program, and being mentored by an experienced teacher. Veteran teachers benefit from the sharing, dialogue, and learning during the mentoring process. A mentor group provides a strong training framework that contributes to teacher retention in the school system. Districts are responsible for providing the mentors and mentees with the research, best practice, program design, expectations, support, training and opportunities, format for program evaluation, and correlating collaborative programs for a district teacher mentoring program. Joint analysis of ideas regarding learning to teach and mentoring includes teachers\u27 ideas about what makes a good professional and understanding of professional priorities. The findings are based on the results of interviews, surveys, questionnaires, and observations conducted between September 2003 and March 2004 to 14 elementary school teachers and mentors in the Mount Ephraim New Jersey School District