Mentoring and Induction in Underserved Schools
In a review of locally collected teacher retention data, the Kokomo School Corporation in Kokomo, Indiana, learned that nearly half of those teaching in the district either moved to another district or left the profession within their first five years of service.
The leadership team explored the data and determined that the lack of intentional and focused support after the first year, the low connection between new teachers and the community, and the limited opportunities for advancement were the primary causes of Kokomo’s low retention rate.
Our Opportunity
With the support of the Talent for Turnaround Leadership Academy's cross-state Mentoring and Induction Affinity Group, the Great Lakes Regional Comprehensive Center, and the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), the leadership team decided that a comprehensive multi-year mentoring program would address those three causes. Through multi-year mentoring, teachers continue early career professional development with the close attention of seasoned educators. The mentoring program includes features intended to help new teachers find connections and take root in the school community. Finally, Kokomo is offering mentoring responsibilities to established teachers, providing valuable leadership opportunities not previously available.
Our Approach
As part of the Mentoring and Induction Affinity Group, the Kokomo team participated in a series of six in-person and virtual workshops that supported the development of resources and processes to develop and implement a comprehensive teacher induction program. Outside the workshops, the team met regularly and used knowledge-building activities and resources from the GTL Center's Mentoring and Induction Toolkit 2.0 to facilitate a data dive, root cause analysis, induction program inventory, and other activities.
These activities led to:
- the discussion and development of program goals;
- concrete mentor selection criteria;
- targeted professional learning materials for new teachers and mentors;
- mentor and new teacher assessment plans based on teacher and mentor standards; and
- a monitoring plan that includes unique surveys of mentors, teachers, and administrators to assess the quality and fidelity of the program.
Project Outcomes
It's great to be sitting at the table with partners who understand how important this is and how they impact our work in Indiana. We simply could not do this work without their help and we look forward to our continued partnership down the road.
—Staff Member, Indiana Department of Education
The Indiana team piloted the new mentoring program during the 2017–18 school year at four high-need schools in Kokomo. At the end of the pilot year, all four schools retained all their new staff. As a result, the new mentoring program was expanded to all 13 instructional sites in Kokomo in the 2018–19 school year.
Beyond Kokomo, the state team at IDOE developed a comprehensive online toolbox through Moodle that draws on the GTL Center's Mentoring and Induction Toolkit and aims to support the scale-up of comprehensive mentoring and induction programs across the state.
IDOE is piloting this course with four new districts committed to addressing teacher attrition in high-need schools with the goal that each district will be prepared to implement a comprehensive induction program in 2019–20. Once these four districts gain traction, the state team anticipates supporting additional districts through the course for statewide scale-up.
