Standard 3.3: Protected time for mentoring
Program leadership, program partners, and all stakeholders allocate sufficient, sanctioned, protected time for mentoring to foster high quality mentoring for beginning teachers.
It is extremely important for a high quality induction/mentoring program to allocate sufficient time for mentors and beginning teachers to meet. This can be accomplished in different ways and will rely heavily on the size and type of induction/mentoring program that is being designed.
Issues to consider include the following:
- Expectations for mentor/beginning teachers meetings (how many and how often)
- Are there funds for release time?
- Will teachers be asked to use their prep time?
- Can a common planning time be arranged for the mentor and beginning teacher?
- Logging of meeting times and content
- While it is important that records be kept, how can mentor and beginning teacher conversations be kept confidential?
- Stakeholder commitment to sanctioned time
- Can mentor/beginning teacher meetings be held on different days than building staff meetings?
- How can district and mentor/beginning teacher staff development initiatives be aligned?
When sufficient time is found for the induction/mentoring program, it will ensure a high quality induction experience for beginning teachers and move their teaching experience forward.
