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January 1, 2003
Vol. 45
No. 1

Designing a Mentor Program

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While in many contexts the mentoring process may be informal, an organization may decide to institutionalize the process. The following suggestions can guide educators as they create a formal mentor program.

Figure

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Getting Started

  • Convene a committee of stakeholders who represent a variety of perspectives on the role of mentor. Be sure to include union representatives, if appropriate, as well as a diverse group of teachers and administrators representing elementary, middle, and high school levels as well as a broad range of experience.
  • Clarify the role of mentor as one who supports and facilitates learning, resource sharing, problem solving, feedback, and reflection that is separate from evaluation.
  • Decide on the mentor's role and responsibilities. Create a T-chart: On the left side, list mentor responsibilities. On the right side, list things a mentor should not do.
  • Agree on a structure or structures for mentoring. Some districts have elected to pair mentors and newcomers. Others have decided to have a "mentoring pool" or "team of mentors" who can be consulted. Other districts have designated mentors as "resource brokers" who put newcomers in touch with appropriate administrators/faculty members based on needs.
  • Study options and decide when mentors will find the time to mentor. Consider including a variety of options that involve face-to-face interaction, shadowing, phone conversations, and electronic communications.
  • Identify key competency areas and design a responsive selection process that reflects the vision for mentoring and mentoring responsibilities.
    • Decide on a term of service.
    • Create processes for advertisement, recruitment, and application; selection criteria; and processes for evaluating mentors.
  • Although many districts invite mentors to volunteer, consider a selection process in which those who apply are asked to demonstrate competencies in a variety of areas—cognitive, social, and emotional. For example:
    • vision building
    • school culture
    • learning communities
    • supervision
    • data-driven decision making
    • staff development
    • budget
    • legal issues
    • using faculty meetings as a tool for capacity building
    • emotional intelligence domains (Goleman, et al., 2002)
    • self-awareness
    • self-management
    • social awareness
    • relationship management
      This last area is based on findings by Daniel Goleman, in Working with Emotional Intelligence (1998), that suggest success in the workplace is related to cognitive, social, and emotional competencies.
  • Consider a selection process that includes
    • A written application in which knowledge can be demonstrated as well as one's incentive to be a mentor.
    • A performance in which the applicant demonstrates competence in a specific area, such as supervision.
    • A formal interview in which the applicant can demonstrate critical social and emotional skills.
  • Discuss and come to consensus about mentor compensation.
  • Generate a framework for mentor training.
  • Identify a variety of delivery options for training that reflect variations in learning preferences, such as workshops, e-learning, study groups, book clubs, journaling, article reviews, action research, case studies, simulations, observations, site visits, shadowing other mentors, and peer coaching.
  • Discuss and agree on standards for performance and accountability procedures for the mentor. Feedback about a mentor's performance may come from a variety of sources: self-reports, observations by a third party, written questionnaires completed by those the mentor has served, and interviews with newcomers.
  • Develop a process to assess the mentoring program. This may include focus groups made up of participants. It may also include action research, written questionnaires, and interviews. The assessment should address this question: "In what ways does the mentoring process enhance the capacity of mentors to support the newcomer in developing, enhancing, and polishing those competencies closely tied to effective leadership, organizational capacity building, and student learning?"
  • Identify ways to reward, recognize, and celebrate mentoring success.
Source: From “Mentoring,” by Pam Robbins, 1999, Journal of Staff Development, 20(3), p. 24. Copyright 1999 by Pam Robbins. Adapted with permission.

Pam Robbins is an independent educational consultant who works with public and private schools, school districts, educational service centers, state departments of education, leadership academies, principal centers, professional organizations and associations, universities, and corporations throughout the United States and the world. Robbins's professional interests include peer coaching, mentoring, brain research and effective teaching, instructional strategies for the block schedule, learning communities, leadership, supervision, the leadership practices of Abraham Lincoln, and presentation skills.

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