Mentoring

1. Mentoring What the Professional Community is Saying Rocky Wallace Eve Proffitt

2. Major sources of stress for new principals • The need to master technical skills • The demands of a wide range of constituents • Personal feelings of inadequacy • The fast-paced environment • The task of supervising teachers • The sense of isolation in their new role

3. Why mentoring? • Job more complex and critical. • Demands are great, compensation per day is less • Teachers who go on to become principal are ill prepared for the job • Turnover, fewer are staying • Stressful work conditions • Lack of resources and support • Case of Lone Ranger • Thrown into job without a lifejacket----sink or swim

4. Mentoring • Seen as a tool for preparing and developing effective school leaders • Must be neutral and somebody who understands the challenges of the job • Districts trying to create support through leadership academies • Mentors work closely with protégés---must be confidential and able to answer any question, personal or professional • Coaches work with more than one principal and certain aspects of principal ship is addressed • Mentoring relationship must be authentic.

5. Mentoring • Mentoring relationships must be authentic, protégé must be willing to accept mentors feedback and incorporate it into practice. • Flexibility must be built in for relationships that might not work. • Great principals are not necessarily great mentors • Majority of mentors are white males, 73% of aspiring principals are female.

6. Benefits of mentoring • Mentors report: • greater overall job satisfaction, • increased recognition from peers, • greater opportunities for career advancement, and • renewed enthusiasm for profession. • Protégés • Have increased confidence about own professional competence • Ability to see theory translated into practice • Create a collegial support system • Have a sense of belonging

7. Issues with Mentoring • Studies focused on success of mentoring, not mentoring construct • There is lack of agreement on functions of mentors • Mentor relationships are usually informal • Issues of assigning mentors • Geographical closeness to mentee • Providing principals with strategies to confront specific needs of their school---not a general program • Availability fits new principals schedules

8. Issues of Mentor Programs • How to select principal mentors • How to train them • How to establish appropriate criteria for matching mentors and new principals • How to provide mentors adequate compensation so they have the incentives to put in considerable time and thought that good mentoring relationships require • How to focus the subject matter of mentoring so that it meets the individual needs of the new principal AND the goals and standards fo the district • How to secure and sustain the funding to do the above

9. Successful Mentoring Programs • Have clearly defined purpose and goals • Select mentors on basis of interpersonal skills and interest in developing young professionals • Have mentor training—formal training—not everyone knows how to be a good mentor • Mentors are accessible to protégés • Outline meaningful activities and ways to involve mentees in these experiences • Active endorsement by key stakeholders • Evaluate the mentor program

10. Elements of Effective Mentoring • Organizational Support • Clearly Defined Outcomes • Screening, Selection, and pairing • Training Mentors and Protégés • Learner-centered focus • An investment of time and commitment • The creation and maintenance of a mutually enhancing relationship • Mentor not an evaluator or supervisor

11. What We Don’t Want • Field based experiences that amount to little more than pointing an aspiring principal to a vacant desk and loading him/her up with busywork • Fake experiences • Just anyone available to mentor who has the time • Just access to one type of environment • Not just complete a list of tasks required by courses but actual projects focusing on school improvement and professional growth for leadership competencies.

12. How Can We Get Principal Programs Right? • Strong partnership between school districts and universities • How to lead change in school and classroom practices for higher student achievement • Well planned university programs that emphasize knowledge and skills in improving schools and raising student achievement • University programs with well planned and supported internships through a developmental approach, observe, participate, lead • University programs that incorporate rigorous evaluation of participants’ mastery of essential competencies