How do school districts mentor new teachers?

This report provides a snapshot of school district policies for mentoring new teachers in five Regional Educational Laboratory Central states (Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota). State education agencies collected survey data from school districts on who provides mentoring, how time spent mentoring changes after the first year, whether mentors are required to observe mentees, whether mentors are required to receive training, whether districts provide stipends to mentors for their work, and what barriers districts identify to implementing mentoring programs. Respondents from nearly 1,000 school districts, including superintendents and other district administrative leaders, completed the survey during the 2013/14 school year. The study found: (1) In most districts mentoring is provided primarily by full-time teachers without release time; (2) In most districts mentoring ends or mentoring time declines after the first year; (3) Roughly half of districts require mentors to observe mentees teaching; (4) A minority of districts require mentor training prior to starting mentoring; (5) About half of districts provide stipends to mentors; and (6) Across all districts lack of funding, lack of time, and lack of stipends were most commonly identified as a barrier to implementing adequate mentoring programs.