Chapter 9: The Mentoring Pyramid: A Case Study of Mentorship Available to Purchase

Traditional mentoring programs have focused on the induction of new teachers rather than more experienced teachers. With the increasing demands on teachers, more rigorous teaching standards, and research connecting teacher quality to student achievement, more experienced teachers may also benefit from mentors. This qualitative case study examines the impact of a doctoral graduate student serving as a mentor to a veteran second grade teacher and the impact of the graduate student being mentored by a professor. Artifacts from the mentoring experiences, including blog posts and interview transcripts were organized and coded until themes emerged. The mentoring experience impacted the graduate student by providing feedback, building confidence, and professional networking. The teacher’s instructional practice was impacted through goal setting, support, change in instructional practices, seeing evidence of success, building confidence, and maintaining change.Despite the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2002 that emphasized academic accountability though improving achievement of all students, gaps between racial and socioeconomic groups persist (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). The closing of the achievement gap requires the disruption of patterns of historically entrenched inequity and the establishment of permanent quality instruction to secure educational opportunities for all students (Bromberg & Theokas, 2013). Without effective teachers, instructional quality suffers, and therefore, student achievement suffers. Teacher effectiveness is a powerful predictor of student achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2004; Sanders & Rivers, 1996). In fact, teacher quality was reported to have a more significant impact than students’ socioeconomic levels, the school, or student-teacher ratio on student success, and a contributing factor to the wedge in the student achievement gap (Darling-Hammond, 2004; Sanders & Rivers, 1996; U.S. Department of Education, 2009b). Mentoring programs have traditionally focused on the induction of new teachers, leaving out more experienced teachers who could benefit from ongoing support. Therefore, this research study was designed to explore the impact of mentoring experienced classroom teachers and teacher leaders to develop quality teachers and teacher leaders.Agents of Change For experienced Kindergarten through 12th grade teachers, opportunities are opening to act as agents of change in school systems nationwide (Valencic Zuljan, & Marentic Požarnik, 2014). As teachers move from exclusively working in the classroom and into the wider sphere of performing educational duties throughout schools, they are called upon to develop new professional knowledge, skills, and abilities. Obtaining the opportunities to be effective teacher leaders requires the buy-in and cooperation of all stakeholders including the school administrators, staff, parents, and students as well as professional development training programs (Valencic Zuljan, & Marentic Požarnik, 2014). In addition, as teacher leaders emerge, the question also arises as to who provides the mentorship they need in their new roles. The umbrella terminology teacher leader includes formal and informal positions, such as instructional coach, reading specialist, mentor, and learning facilitator. Regardless of the title, the common denominator for continuing and spreading progress is the successful cultivation of cooperative relationships (Holmes, Polhemus, & Jennings, 2005; Walpole & Blamey, 2008). The weaving of professional, emotional bonds between mentor and teacher is a uniquely individualized process; when the normal movement of personnel within the school system alters these relationships, the impact to the progression of change may often resonate beyond those professionals (Hamel & Jaasko-Fisher, 2011; Holmes et al., 2005). Authentic training experiences are required for teacher leaders to foster such vital leadership and interpersonal mentoring skills (Bean, Swan, & Knaub, 2003). Despite the possibilities of increasing the quality of classroom instruction and student achievement, mentoring programs may struggle to maintain and survive. School systems labor to provide adequate funding for recruitment and retention of qualified mentors (Holmes et al., 2005). Pacing the decrease in availability of qualified mentors, the demand for their services and assistance are increasing (Holmes et al., 2005; Smith, 2011). Research (Brownhill, Wilhelm, & Watson, 2006) on classroom teachers underlines the disconnection between traditionally required professional expectations, attributes, and duties, not to mention the addition of compulsory administrative responsibilities. Add on the ultimate responsibility for student academic development and the tasks of a teacher may be considered daunting. The lack of professional development and effective training for these teachers worsens frustration and workplace discontent (Valencic Zuljan & Marentic Požarnik, 2014). Literacy Leaders as Agents of Change Becoming an effective agent of change may require specialized pedagogical knowledge and abilities to effectively mentor and achieve goals (Hudson, 2004). However, literacy coaches vary in their professional backgrounds, ranging from graduate level training to simply being selected by the school principal (Boyles, 2007). Despite the variance in preparation for their role, literacy coaches are often tasked with the responsibility of managing schoolwide literacy programs, as well as directly mentoring teachers in data assessment and instructional methods (Massey, 2013). In addition, they appear to be highly valued by administrators, as reading specialists were cited by over 97% of principals as “important or very important to the success of the reading program” (Bean et al., 2003, p.447). The primary responsibilities of literacy coaches vary. In a nationwide survey, over 90% of reading specialists reported daily teaching of students and near daily service as a teacher resource; most described additional collaborations with specialized staff such as psychologists and input in the development of curriculum (Bean, Cassidy, Grumet, Shelton, & Wallis, 2002). Later in the decade, literacy coaches identified mentoring individual classroom teachers through building positive, personal relationships as their primary duty (Walpole & Blamey, 2008) Teacher Leader Education Recognizing the deficit in numbers of proficient teacher leaders and necessity for proper preparation for them to provide quality assistance and mentorship, there is an effort to pair school systems and higher education preparation programs (Clayton, 2014; Paris, 2013; Valencic Zuljan & Marentic Požarnik, 2014). When preparing teacher leaders to be mentors and provide knowledgeable support to classroom teachers and students, the administration and professors in such programs must ascertain which proficiencies must be mastered for the successful execution of disparate tasks and responsibilities for the betterment of students and teachers within diverse school systems. For example, Bean et al. (2003) acknowledged that future reading specialists needed authentic learning experiences to hone their abilities in workplace leadership as well as new pedagogies. To obtain the proficiencies in mentoring, training, guiding the professional development of others, and increasing student achievement, teacher leaders need competencies in adult education, sensitive interpersonal communication, and emotional support to build and maintain professional relationships, particularly when working with newly inducted teachers (Valencic Zuljan & Marentic Požarnik, 2014). While in these training programs, teacher leaders require mentoring of their own. Marker and D’Onfrio (2010) found that reading specialists need to be mentored by the clinical supervisor just as much as struggling K–12 students require support. Such support includes concentrating on individualized requirements for success, emphasizing self-reflection, connecting theory to practice, and recognizing the value of continued reflection in the outcomes. One graduate program mentored literacy professionals and tracked the effects on alumni employed in school systems (Haid, Fischer, Masztal, Warner, & Marasco, 2010). The results included an increase in the development of positive professional relationships, the classroom teachers’ daily practical usage of instructional literacy strategies, and recognition of the worth of diagnostic and corrective measures in progress of literacy learning and achievement for students (Haid et al., 2010). Despite these results, there is a dearth of research on the impact of mentors in higher education on the development of teacher leaders and the subsequent cycle of mentoring and its impact on student achievement (Haid et al., 2010; Smith, 2011). The idea of professors serving as mentors is not without debate. Discussion continues on the cross-institutional legitimacy of professor mentors (Smith, 2011). In addition, the mentoring behaviors of those in higher education are questionable. Research conducted by Alvermann and Hruby (2000) found that professors guided their mentoring behaviors for graduate students in literacy teacher education by personal life experiences whether positive or negative. There are growing concerns over the standardization of mentoring techniques and attempts to create an all-encompassing mentoring formula or program to guide development for teachers, as the results of such efforts could prove harmful to teacher innovation, career satisfaction and retention, and student achievement (Devos, 2010). Without fostering reciprocal, flexible professional relationships for learning between mentor and mentee, administrators might unknowingly contribute to the school system stagnation (Tuli & Tynjälä, 2015). As newly inducted teachers enter the profession with fresh strategies and enthusiasm and experienced classroom teachers face changing duties, they need the guidance, support, and training of effective teacher leaders, who are experts in pedagogy and mentoring, with the crucial ability to assist in delicate developmental processes of diverse learners. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of a mentoring pyramid, whereby a literacy professor mentored a reading specialist graduate student, while the reading specialist graduate student mentored an experienced classroom teacher.