State and district leaders should collect information from mentors about how they chose activities and topics, to decide whether variation reflects teacher needs or insufficient mentor resources¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Because mentoring activities and topics varied greatly across teachers, the report recommends that leaders gather evidence before acting: "state and district leaders might consider collecting additional information from a sample of mentors to learn about how they determined what activities and topics to address." If variation reflects new teachers' preparedness or needs, it may be helpful; if it reflects differences in mentors' training, guidance, or time, leaders "might consider investing in more supports for mentors."

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Access to mentors or mentoring records for follow-up data collection

Constraints¶

• The study cannot determine whether variation in mentoring was due to differing teacher needs or to mentors' capacity and skills

Target Learners¶

• First-year and early-career teachers in district mentoring programs

Target Learning Goals¶

• Teacher retention
• New-teacher instructional and noninstructional support

Related Strategies¶

• Conduct a larger-scale, statewide study of mentoring features and retention to detect small or moderate relationships
• Withdraw mentor support earlier than currently thought, and calibrate how closely mentors work with mentees

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Brodersen, R. M., Chiang, H., Coleman, K., Hitt, C., Li, J., Ritter, G., & Weston-Sementelli, J. (2025). Examining the mentoring experiences of first-year teachers in Missouri (REL 2025–014). U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/resource-library/report/descriptive-study/examining-mentoring-experiences-first-year-teachers-missouri