Evaluating the effectiveness of differentiated capacity building for teacher mentors: insights from applied research across three Indian states.

• In Event: Leading from the middle: new evidence about the role of the middle tier of education systems to improve foundational learning outcomes

Proposal

In the Indian education systems, Teacher Mentors are experienced teachers assigned the responsibility of mentoring and coaching teachers in their respective clusters. Teacher Mentors are intended to play a critical role in improving instructional quality and education outcomes in India and their official responsibilities include conducting classroom observations, providing feedback to school leaders and teachers, facilitating training sessions, and delivering professional development workshops. Diagnostic reports have found significant barriers to effective delivery of these responsibilities (Ashoka University, 2024). These barriers include extensive administrative responsibilities, misalignment of subject-matter expertise and job responsibilities, infrequent and non-applied training, inadequate rapport-building and coaching skills, and a lack of clarity about job responsibilities leading to low motivation.

Building from these diagnostic data, an applied research study was conducted in three states across India. The study began with a detailed profiling of 878 Teacher Mentors, which included surveys of Teacher Mentors’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes as well as independent observations of training and coaching as delivered by Teacher Mentors. The results of the profiling led to a differentiated capacity building program for Teacher Mentors aiming to strengthen their capabilities through targeted interventions and professional development. The differentiated capacity building program included tailored behavior change strategies, soft skills development, FLN knowledge and pedagogical skills development, and capacity building for the analysis and use of data to inform instruction and support students.

This paper presents the findings from an evaluation of the effectiveness of this differentiated capacity-building initiative. The study design includes a sample of 100 of the 878 Teacher Mentors engaged in the program as well as qualitative data about the intervention design and delivery approach. The findings indicate positive emerging practices including an increase in lesson observation frequency and time, a shift from compliance and administrative topics to instructional quality topics in feedback conversations with teachers and cluster meetings, as well as strengthened relationships between Teacher Mentors and teachers. The presentation will discuss the implications of these findings, strategies for improving the effectiveness of this intervention and an assessment of the scale and sustainability potential of the initiative.

Authors

• Dhir Jhingran, Language and Learning Foundation

• Shveta Lall, Language and Learning Foundation