Lasting Impacts of a Mentoring Program: What Teachers Take With Them When They Move On

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Building a Mentoring Support System for In-Service Teachers

Abstract

Mentoring programs demand substantial resources from participants, their schools, and supporting organizations. Justifying high resource programs is complicated by the fact that teachers, for multiple and diverse reasons, leave schools and mentoring programs to move on to new positions. While past research has explored the impacts of mentoring programs on participating teachers, their students and schools, the current study followed teachers who participated in a multifaceted mentoring program designed to support student-centered teaching into new instructional settings. Qualitative methods were used to explore the perceived short-term and long-term impacts of the mentoring program on ten teachers in diverse urban secondary schools using interviews and observations. Critical findings document transferred practices, factors that facilitated transfer, and challenges to transferring mentoring lessons.

Authors

• Leslie Keiler, York College - CUNY

• Raffaella Diotti, Bronx Community College - CUNY

• Kara B Hudon, NYC Department of Education