New teachers benefit when districts have a carefully developed collaborative assessment system focused on improving teaching practice and enhancing student achievement.
New Teacher Alliance Examples:
- Rochester School District has targeted observations by its mentors that focus on just one area of instruction. Mentors and new teachers decide together which skill or capacity the new teacher needs to work on and proceed to collect classroom data to inform the teacher’s practice. The follow-up conversation then focuses on what happened that would let the new teacher know that the students understood the concept being taught.
Great Ideas from Around the State:
- Ensure that new teachers receive input from their principals and mentors to help them align their professional growth planning with state Professional Certification standards.
- Provide the option for new teachers to ask their mentors to sit in on evaluation conferences. The mentor participates as a note-taker and second set of ears and is later able to help focus the mentoring work to support the teacher’s progress toward identified needs and goals.
- Provide time for new teachers to examine student work with colleagues from common courses or grade levels. Together they identify which students have met learning targets, which have not and what kinds of supports students need next.
- Provide time for mentors and new teachers to observe together an exemplary teacher at work.
Resources for Assessment for Teacher Growth:
