Caring for teachers Caring for teachers (April 30, 2004)

Mentoring program aids nearly 40 beginning educators

By Julie O'Shea

The Silicon Valley New Teacher Project is ending its first year at the Mountain View-Whisman School District with high marks and a lot of fanfare.

In a recent presentation to the school board, program participants explained how the year-long support network benefited the district's 38 new teachers.

"It was a wonderful experience for me," said Carol Packer, a second-grade teacher at Bubb Elementary.

Added Mary Elizabeth Robinson, a fourth-grade teacher at Monta Loma School, "I do appreciate the support, and I do feel it's a benefit to my classroom."

Packer and Robinson are two of hundreds of teachers from around Santa Clara County who have nothing but kudos for the 16-year-old program. A January survey has county teachers raving about how the program has helped improve their teaching strategies and classroom management techniques. Additionally, new teachers noted they are learning to work collaboratively with their colleagues in the district and are handling job-related stress better, among other things.

The program pairs beginner teachers with a teacher adviser, a veteran educator who has decided to leave the classroom and devote time mentoring those new to the profession. This year's Mountain View-Whisman advisers -- Jan Wright, Allison White and Penny Herman -- mentor between 12 to 14 new teachers each, meeting with their charges once a week to talk about the things going on in their classrooms.

"This program stands on its own when you look at the data," White said.

The Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley New Teacher Project was started in 1988 with the goal of curbing the alarming rate of teachers dropping out of the profession.

Statistics show that about 600 teaching students enter four-year, state teaching programs on an annual basis. Of that number, 180 actually complete the programs, and 72 go on to become teachers. Only 40 are still teaching several years later.

"We see a huge number going in but not a lot staying," said Wright. "We are going to need the new ones (to stay) with us."

The Silicon Valley New Teacher Project became a part of the state-funded Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment projects in 1993. The Mountain View-Whisman district receives $100,000 from the state to run the program. The rest of the money needed to run the program, $85,000, comes from restricted district categorical funds.

The program is in 16 school districts in Santa Clara County and 100 districts around the state. Twenty-two states, including Alaska, Hawaii and all the districts in New York, have implemented the program.

"She completely changed the way I plan my daily lessons," said Callie Rose of her teacher adviser, Wright. Rose is a seventh-grade math teacher at Crittenden Middle School.

But more important than lesson plans, Wright reminds her advisee that she must never give up.

"'I cannot give up on this student' -- I continually hear (Wright's) voice in the back of my mind," Rose said.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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