As staff shortages continue to fluctuate, K-12 school districts are getting creative with combating attrition and retaining quality educators. Strategies range from constructing affordable housing for teachers to launching on-site childcare programs. Though impactful, these methods may come with high costs and can take significant time to coordinate and launch.
However, one approach is quickly gaining momentum thanks to its high ROI relative to the costs and ease of implementing: staff mentorship programs.
Research has long demonstrated the benefits of educator mentorship programs for first-time teachers, but principals and other roles (like substitute staff) stand to gain from similar programs, too. Mentorship can even impact a district’s upstream recruiting, hiring, and onboarding strategy for the better.
Let’s unpack what factors contribute to an effective mentorship program, how this support improves teacher retention, and why mentorship is also a recruiting asset.
What does effective mentorship and coaching look like?
Mentorship comes in many unique flavors in K-12 education. The most common practices include:
- Peer mentoring, in which teachers give each other guidance and feedback in a structured process. For example, St. Lucie Public Schools in Florida provides every new educator in their district with year-long mentorship support, with many mentor-mentee relationships continuing after the official program ends.
- Instructional coaching, where an outside expert or in-house district coach supports staff at particular schools with improving specific instructional practices.
- Professional learning communities (PLCs) create informal opportunities for educators to learn from one another while collaborating toward a common goal.
All of these strategies aim to cultivate teachers’ growth and effectiveness in the classroom (and ultimately improve student learning outcomes). Here are just a few of the many ways that mentorship programs make a positive impact:
- In NCES’ Teaching and Learning International Survey in 2018, most teachers reported higher job satisfaction and self-efficacy when a mentor was available to support them (Renbarger & Davis, 2019).
- Retention rates increased among new teachers who participated in a mentorship program with retired teachers for at least two years. Student math achievement also rose in classrooms where mentored participants taught (DeCesare et al., 2017).
- Mentorship shows promise in supporting teachers of color by addressing the unique challenges they may face in schools. Recruiting, hiring, and retaining diverse teachers benefits all students, especially those historically underserved by U.S. education systems.
And yet, even with these benefits, mentorship isn’t readily available to all staff. The lack of support is especially noticeable among substitute staff.
Despite a strong desire for more training and professional development support, many guest teachers are left on their own to find and maintain coaching support. Amanda Yuill, an educational speaker and former classroom teacher, writes, “It is rare for substitute teachers to have a mentor their first year (or more) of substitute teaching, [yet] it is common for permanent teachers to have a mentor their first years of teaching… It is very important for all teachers to have a mentor when they first start.”
This gap in substitute support is an opportunity for K-12 educators to invest in these critical team members, not only to keep fill rates high but also to support more effective student learning when teacher absences inevitably arise.
Key qualities of effective educator mentorship programs
Though any professional growth opportunity for teachers should be designed to meet the needs of a district’s unique context, most high-impact mentorship programs share certain characteristics.
Engaged school leadership
First, effective mentorship needs continuous support from school leadership. We already know the powerful influence that principals have on school culture and teacher retention — that same impact extends to mentorship.
Amie Weinberg, a veteran in the teacher mentorship space explains, “While teacher-mentors and novice educator-mentees are [often] the focus of a school’s mentoring program, administrators have a dynamic role regarding the tone and implementation.” She points to five key practices that leadership should embrace to cultivate a culture of “building-wide sponsorship,” including:
- Purposeful matches: Weinberg emphasizes that matchmaking isn’t solely a logistical puzzle. Aligning mentors with mentees based on factors like personality and professional goals is often more critical than schedules, grade levels, or even subject areas.
- Frequent communication: Principals should create spaces where participants can express feedback, voice concerns, and share ideas for improving mentorship programs. In turn, administrators should communicate frequently with participants about the program as a whole, including important dates or upcoming changes.
- Celebrated excellence: Weinberg encourages districts to consider how to reward the hard work that both mentors and mentees put into their collaborations. Even informal recognition through shout-outs on social media or in district newsletters goes a long way!
Well-organized structures
A second element found in successful mentorship programs is a practical structure for both mentors and mentees. This factor can include everything from a consistent coaching cycle and dosage for mentees to clear training protocols and compensation for mentors.
Kara Loftin, a leader of an independent school in Georgia, helped her team design a comprehensive, multi-year teacher induction program, a form of intensive mentorship provided to first-year educators. Built into the program’s structure are reciprocal opportunities for mentees to observe mentors, carefully arranged with both educators’ schedules in mind.
She writes, “A novice teacher [will] grow and learn from constructive coaching and feedback during planned observation times, but… it is important to build in time for observations of the mentor by the mentee… To move from theoretical knowledge to real-world teaching, it’s critical that new teachers have opportunities to see exemplary teachers in action.”
Clear alignment with organizational goals and values
Administrators managing a mentorship program should ensure that all stakeholders — teachers, mentors, principals, etc. — understand its connection with their district’s values and strategic goals.
For instance, a district seeking to improve student reading scores across schools may want to highlight how working with a mentor can help teachers improve their literacy instructional practices. Administrators may even wish to design an entire mentorship program that adopts specific evidence-based reading instruction strategies. With a singular focus, mentors and mentees can work together to create goals specifically tied to these student outcomes.
Non-evaluative
The final factor is essential: Mentorship should not become an evaluative measure of teacher performance. Rather, it is more important that mentors and mentees focus on building a trusting relationship to drive teacher growth and confidence.
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for educators to initially view coaching or mentorship as precisely that. While performance indicators can help identify opportunities for teacher growth, the most effective mentorship programs remain separate from evaluative processes.
Program leaders should clarify how information or data gathered from mentoring relationships will be used for program improvement, resource allocation for staff, or progress made toward district goals. Principals can also help staff trust the crucial boundary between mentorship and teacher evaluation.
How to leverage mentorship as a recruiting resource
It’s easy to see how mentorship can improve teacher retention, but what about recruitment? Can these strategies help districts attract and hire quality candidates for the long run?
Absolutely!
Here are four creative ways that HR teams can incorporate their organization’s mentorship opportunities as part of their hiring and onboarding processes:
1. Create accessible pathways into teaching positions
Candidates applying to an open teaching position often come from a variety of backgrounds. Some may be fresh graduates of a teacher prep program or a four-year university. Others may be veteran substitute teachers ready for full-time instruction.
All of these individuals may also face unique barriers to successfully joining a school workforce and teaching in a classroom. Certification processes for full-time instructors vary by state and can be quite complex to complete. If certain steps are skipped, or mistakes are accidentally made, these barriers only grow taller.
Part of a recruiter’s job is to understand what qualifications a potential candidate already has, as well as what steps remain for them to gain the right certifications or skills needed for a particular position. Jamie West, Instructional Recruiter at Lake County Schools, explains why she makes an upfront investment in coaching candidates through these complex processes:
“As a recruiter, I know what the long, big-picture path is into a particular position… But I also need to understand: What has this candidate already done that might shorten their path… We want to make [things like] teaching certification as quick, effortless, and painless as possible!”
Some states are developing new entry points into teaching, such as apprenticeship programs that rely on partnerships with nonprofit organizations, universities, and K-12 school districts. Grow-Your-Own teacher prep and mentoring programs are becoming more popular too, especially to address common challenges like training costs and licensing complications. These benefits often help districts diversify their school workforce by engaging local community members and teachers of color.
2. Build advocates among teaching staff for your district
Employee advocacy is a powerful recruiting asset. A district does not need an official program (though that certainly doesn’t hurt!) to identify advocates among existing staff who can help recruit potential candidates for open positions.
West taps into stories of excellence among substitutes in Lake County Schools to attract new guest teachers. Many of her district’s substitutes come from the surrounding area. With this insight, her team developed a “Sub of the Year” program, in which schools nominate stellar guest staff to the district HR team, who then spotlights a substitute teacher via a news story and social media to their local community. It’s easy to see these substitute staff become advocates to other educators for guest teaching at Lake County Schools.
Educators can adopt the same approach within mentorship programs themselves. During phone screens or interviews, HR teams can share the success stories of participating teachers who demonstrate progress in their growth or highlight the impact that particular mentors have had on teaching staff. These stories may be just the motivation needed for candidates eager to join a supportive work culture in their next role.
3. Collect insights from mentorship programs to inform recruiting and onboarding
Feedback loops are essential for improvement, whether it’s the substitute teacher experience or the effectiveness of a mentorship program. Insights gleaned from both mentors and mentees also prove useful in shaping a district’s recruitment strategy.
For instance, let’s imagine that in addition to mentorship, new-teacher mentees want more self-paced learning materials about their professional growth goals (say, bolstering their classroom management skills). HR teams can examine their training materials for new staff to incorporate or expand resources about classroom management tips and strategies.
These materials can be extended to other staff, such as substitute teachers who also seek additional classroom management training. Organizations like Substantial and STEDI SubSkills are great starting points for HR teams looking to provide substitute teachers with professional learning.
HR teams can gather information from mentorship participants by:
- Sending feedback surveys throughout a program year
- Hosting in-depth focus groups that represent their schools
- Conducting reverse mentorship (in which participants advise HR leaders about what’s working or not working for them with onboarding)
- Having informal conversations with participating staff
4. Invest in mentors’ coaching skills — even hiring for them
Districts benefit tremendously when they proactively cultivate mentors’ skills and confidence, especially within peer coaching or in-house mentorship programs. Offering workshops or hosting PLCs specifically about coaching strategies or best practices for mentors are great starting points.
But let’s go a step further — why not also hire for these skills during the recruiting process?
Especially with veteran candidates with many years of teaching experience or deep expertise, HR teams can explore their potential and interest in becoming future mentors. This small step can become a great long-term investment for a mentorship program’s success.
Recruiters may want to consider which incentives would attract a candidate with strong mentorship skills, then work with administrators (if outside of HR) to incorporate them into the program structure. These may include compensation for mentors, professional learning credits, or unique growth opportunities for mentors.
Hiring great candidates in K-12 education shouldn’t be complicated, yet far too many platforms burden HR teams with cumbersome processes and tedious tasks. Let Red Rover Hiring ease your recruiting process — request a demo to learn more.
