Culturally Relevant Mentorship for Early Career Teachers of Color

• In Event: Critical Approaches to Mentoring and Teacher Residency

Abstract

Preservice teachers of Color (TOC) often experience feelings of isolation and/or marginalization within their teacher preparation programs (Brown, 2014). TOC often continue to feel isolated upon entering the profession and a racial mismatch among colleagues as the teaching force is predominantly White (Grooms et al., 2021). This study is an evaluation of a pilot program which provided culturally relevant mentorship for preservice TOC during their final year in the college of education. Preservice TOC were paired with five educators of Color in the local school district, in a state where 3% of the teachers are TOC. Using interviews, the study examined how culturally relevant mentorship served as a mechanism for professional and personal survival for the early career TOC.

Author

• Amira Nash, University of Iowa