At the District Council meeting on September 29, Tracy Deavers of the Edgerton School District said she had a wake-up call after shared discussion with other districts about where their program stood on the continuum of high quality mentoring and induction. “We communicate well with mentors, but nothing to the school board, rest of the teachers, the community. Sharing that work would get more support.”
She was talking about the standards on the continuum involving institutional program commitment, communication and collaboration. Other DCNTP members approach these standards in different ways. Oregon and Monona Grove have induction committees with a variety of stakeholders, such as school board members and non-mentors; success depends on meetings that are carefully planned to follow protocol and have defined outcomes. McFarland reports to the school board every year. At the end of the District Council meeting, after more self-assessment of these standards, Tracy said she would be sharing out to the school board at the end of this year.
According to Tom Howe, DCNTP Chair, “Just thinking about one or two practices and standards is manageable, and useful. Programs that exhibit the characteristics outlined in Induction Program Standards show greater teacher retention and higher student achievement than those that don’t.”
The complete September 29, 2014 District Council Agenda with notes is available here, and the updated Induction Program Site Visits, which invites consortium members to experience induction tools and practices outside their district.