New Teacher Mentoring

Hopes and Promise for Improving Teacher Effectiveness

by Ellen Moir, Dara Barlin and Janet Gless

Edited by Jan Miles

248 Pages, 6.00 x 9.00 in

Paperback
9781934742365
Published: November 2009

$32.00

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In this practical yet visionary book, Ellen Moir and her colleagues at the New Teacher Center review what current research suggests (and doesn’t) about the power of welldesigned mentoring programs to shape teacher and student outcomes.

Teacher quality is the single most important lever schools have for raising student achievement. A substantial body of research indicates that new teachers are less able than their more experienced colleagues to help students fulfill their academic potential. Yet in many school districts—particularly those in urban settings—as many as half of the teachers may have less than five years’ experience. In addition, the students who face the greatest challenges are most likely to be assigned novice teachers. By supporting new teachers, increasing their effectiveness, and reducing turnover, school districts can give the children most in need of high-quality teaching a real chance at success.

The authors set forth the principles of high-quality instructional mentoring and describe the elements of a rigorous professional development program. Detailed case studies show how these principles can be applied at the district level and highlight the opportunities and challenges involved in implementing these programs in different contexts. The book makes a powerful case for using new teacher mentoring as an entry point for creating a strong professional culture with a shared, aligned understanding of high-quality teaching.

From Teachers College Record:

"New Teacher Mentoring: Hopes and Promise for Improving Teacher Effectiveness should be required reading for all school district human resource directors, mentoring and induction program coordinators, and other school leaders. Moir, Barlin, Gless, and Miles provide the reader with powerful and compelling evidence for the value of high-quality mentoring programs based on their work at the New Teacher Center. They also remind the reader of the importance of the bottom line: ‘When mentors help new teachers develop their skills in reaching the hearts and minds of students in the classrooms, new teachers remain in the classroom longer and are better able to help children, especially the most underserved kids, succeed at levels that defy expectation’ (pp. 2-3). And isn’t that what it’s all about?”
—excerpt from book review in Teachers College Record, June 2010.

Ellen Moir is founder and executive director of the New Teacher Center. For more than twenty years, she has pioneered innovative approaches to new teacher development, research on new teacher practice, and the design and administration of teacher induction programs. Moir has received national recognition for her work, including the 2008 Contribution to the Field Award, the highest honor given by the National Staff Development Council; the Harold W. McGraw, Jr., 2005 Prize in Education; and the 2003 Distinguished Teacher Educator Award from the California Council on Teacher Education.

Dara Barlin is the associate director of policy for the New Teacher Center, assisting state and federal policy makers in developing high-quality induction policies and improved working conditions for educators in our nation’s most impoverished areas. She previously served as the education reform program associate at the Ford Foundation, as a research officer at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London, and lead organizer/political consultant for the American Federation of Teachers. Dara presents regularly at education conferences and has coauthored U.S. and international articles focused on teacher retention.

Janet Gless is associate director of the New Teacher Center, where she oversees the center’s national teacher induction strategy and program efforts that span forty states as well as a number of international sites. She assists educational organizations, policy makers, administrators, and teacher leaders with the design and implementation of comprehensive teacher induction programs. Prior to cofounding the NTC, Janet served as a visiting educator with the California Department of Education. Janet presents regularly at national and statewide conferences and has coauthored articles and training on new teacher induction.

Jan Miles is northwest regional director at the New Teacher Center. After several years as a mentor and mentor professional developer, Jan now works with state departments of education leadership and induction program leaders across the country and internationally to create robust programs and policies. She is currently directing the NTC MetLife Foundation National Teacher Induction Network, a collaboration of fifteen national programs. As well, she is a regular presenter and speaker at national conferences.

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