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Part of rethinking schools is rethinking how teachers are trained and mentored.  Teaching is a profession where novice teachers are put in the same position as 20-year veterans.  We need to support our new teachers, which will, in turn, impact student achievement.

I am one of the project coordinators of the Forest Grove and Hillsboro School Districts’ joint mentor program.  Our goal is to build better teachers faster and keep them in the teaching profession, with the goal of greater academic gains and we are all about student success!

New teachers get a veteran mentor who does collaborative planning and co- or model-teaching, observes the new teacher and provides meaningful feedback, and allows opportunities for the new teacher to observe their colleagues. 

As new teachers face drop-out rates higher than any high school in the state (50% quit in the first five years), we must be committed to teacher mentoring to improve quality instruction and student achievement!  We definitely encourage funding of a state-wide mentoring program for beginning teachers (and administrators)!

posted 3 years, 2 months ago
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