Rookie teachers receive help from new mentoring program

Rookie teachers receive help from new mentoring program

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SALT LAKE CITY — This summer, Heather Parrish is preparing for a new group of students at Parkview Elementary School, where she finished her first year as a teacher last month.

Not long ago, Parrish was a student, graduating at the end of 2013 with a degree in education. During her first year of teaching, however, she said she discovered some skills as a teacher, such as keeping 30 or more youngsters engaged, can only be gained through experience at the front of the classroom.

The road for new teachers can be a rocky one, especially at Title I schools such as Parkview. Historically, the Salt Lake City School District's turnover rate for new teachers has mirrored that of the nation, where about half of all teachers quit within the first five years on the job.

But a new mentoring program is designed to change that.

"When someone walks in to be a teacher at Parkview Elementary, it's intense. They feel pressure," said principal Valerie Shaw. "You try to make them not feel that and to give as much support as possible, but they still do. So in Title I schools and in lower socioeconomic status schools, we see a lot more turnover than we do in our east-side schools here in Salt Lake. We have a lot more first-year teachers."

Next year, Shaw expects 16 of the school's 21 teachers will be "provisional," or in their first three years of teaching.

But school leaders in the district hope a new mentoring program will help novice teachers hone their skills and become permanent educators, as well as provide assistance to underperforming career teachers.

This year, the Legislature voted to provide ongoing funding for the Peer Assistance and Review Program, which assigns highly skilled educators to work full time with novice and struggling teachers by observing, mentoring and demonstrating effective teaching practices.

Lawmakers' support for the program foreshadowed a renewed focus for the state on professional development for teachers. Last month, members of the Education Interim Committee voted to begin drafting a bill to award qualifying grants to schools to provide training for teachers specific to their area of instruction.

The Salt Lake City School District has been piloting the Peer Assistance and Review Program during the past two years, and has provided one-on-one assistance to more than 60 teachers. During the program's initial two years, the district has retained 80 percent of its new teachers.

For Parrish, working with a consulting teacher has helped smooth out some of the inevitable bumps in the road during her first year as a teacher.

"I think just having someone to go to and have questions answered and kind of find information for you and give ideas about certain things, that was helpful," Parrish said.

Nikki Malcolm, who also started her teaching career at Parkview Elementary last year, said getting help from a fellow teacher who was outside the school's administration was "invaluable."

"Just having that consistent, objective support outside of my administration and other teachers was really nice," Malcolm said. "I knew that I always had somebody to sort of fall back on if I needed it, and the support she provided throughout the year was consistent, it was positive, constructive and she helped me reflect on my own teaching in a very constructive way."


Just having that consistent, objective support outside of my administration and other teachers was really nice. I knew that I always had somebody to sort of fall back on if I needed it, and the support she provided throughout the year was consistent, it was positive, constructive and she helped me reflect on my own teaching in a very constructive way.

–Nikki Malcolm, first-year teacher at Parkview Elementary


Logan Hall, program coordinator for the Peer Assistance and Review Program, said much is asked of teachers in Utah, especially at a time when student enrollment is increasing statewide by 8,000 students each year, new academic standards are being implemented and teacher salaries remain fairly stagnant.

But he hopes the program will continue to expand and provide needed assistance. Next year, the program will employ five consulting teachers — two more than last year.

Laura Wheeler is one of them. She said her experience as an educator for 35 years has helped her identify with some of the challenges teachers face that require outside help.

"That is the value of this program because we are career classroom teachers, so we've done this job. This is our focus, this is our love, this is what we do," Wheeler said. "We understand the highs and lows of the classroom and help novice teachers ride through that. It's very exciting to see the talented and dedicated people choosing to enter this profession. It's important to try to kep them."

The program is also designed to provide interventions for teachers whom principals identify as not meeting expectations. Sometimes it's a matter of changing practices, but it also serves as a way to identify those who aren't suited for teaching, Hall said.

Of the seven career teachers who participated in the program in the past two years, only one of them was allowed to continue teaching.

Hall calls it "a mixed blessing."

"Ultimately, we're making sure that we're putting the right teachers in the classrooms so that the kids can get what they need," he said.

Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Salt Lake City, said she hopes to use Salt Lake City's Peer Assistance and Review Program as an example of successful professional learning to ensure more funding for such initiatives.

"I think this program has so much," Moss said. "For a professional to be assisted by and evaluated by their peers is a much more acceptable means for teachers to feel like they're getting an honest evaluation, and someone who really understands their profession. It fits in with the need for professional development, for mentoring, coaching, and it has that evaluation piece."

Parrish said as the program continues, the focus on mentoring should be stronger than the focus on evaluation for first-year teachers.

"I think it's a great program that they have going. I just think there's some tweaks and things they might want to contour to first-year teachers to not overwhelm them so much," she said.

Overall, the program was helpful, she said.

"I established a really good relationship with my mentor. She was fantastic. She was willing to help me out and be there whenever I needed her."

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Morgan Jacobsen

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