needs to teach biology. To best support
new teachers, keep them in the profession, and improve their instructional
effectiveness, schools need to make sure
that the mentoring they provide is a
good fit for each novice teacher’s individual background, needs, and school
context.
What Determines Success?
Teaching is complex work that cannot
be fully learned in the short period of
preservice teacher education (Feiman-
Nemser, 2001; Ganser, 2002; Gold,
1999). Like other professionals, such
as doctors, lawyers, and architects,
teachers continue to learn on the job,
especially in the crucial early years. Just
as new physicians go through residency
induction (Strong, 2009); in fact, the
terms induction and mentoring are often
used interchangeably. Both empirical
research and anecdotal evidence
indicate that beginning teachers who
receive some type of induction and
mentoring generally have higher levels
of job satisfaction, commitment, and
retention within the profession (Cohen
& Fuller, 2006; Fuller, 2003; Kapadia,
Coca, & Easton, 2007) as well as larger
student achievement gains (Fletcher &
Strong, 2009; Fletcher, Strong, & Villar,
2008; Rockoff, 2008).
New teachers need
support focused on
teaching and learning.
programs and new law associates often
go through training offered by their
law firms, new teachers benefit from
structured opportunities to continue to
develop their professional knowledge
and skills.
In the teaching profession, this
structured support is usually pro-
vided in the form of mentoring from
veteran teachers. In the last 20 years,
mentoring programs for teachers have
become the dominant form of teacher
elements interact with the specific back-
ground, strengths, and needs that the
new teacher brings to the classroom, as
well as the school context in which he
or she is teaching.
Features of Effective Mentoring
High-quality mentors. Many mentors
are chosen initially because they are
strong teachers. Being a good teacher
of students, however, does not automatically mean that one will be a
PHOTO BY KEVIN DAVIS
on instruction (Gold, 1999). Most
mentoring seems to focus on providing
emotional support, helping teachers
navigate the challenges of the first year.
Such emotional support is valued by
beginning teachers and may help reduce
teacher attrition. However, to improve
their pedagogical knowledge and skill,
new teachers also need support focused
on the core of education—teaching and
learning of content. In fact, a number
of studies (for example, Wechsler,
Caspary, Humphrey, & Matsko, 2010)
have found that mentoring focused on
instruction is related to positive outcomes for teachers.
This focus means that, ideally, new
teachers should be matched with
trained mentors who are knowledgeable
about their subject matter (Rockoff,
2008). Although nonmatched mentors
can provide emotional support and
coaching on classroom management, it’s
hard for someone who’s never taught
history to guide a new teacher in using
