Special Education Teacher Mary Bean, left, and her mentee, first-year Special Education Teacher Erin Madigan, review instructional materials together.
Seven years ago, Special Education Teacher Mary Bean came from a 3,600 student school in California to Questar III BOCES’ 36-student John E. Sackett Educational Center. In addition to the normal uncertainties and nervousness of starting a new job, Bean says Questar III’s unique learning environment and program made it initially difficult to navigate.
In public education, many first-year teachers experience similar frustration and difficulties that, if not addressed, can prevent them from reaching their full potential and may even cause them to leave the school or the profession itself. Furthermore, Federal and State studies indicate that teacher retention rate affects student achievement.
Fortunately for Bean, the Questar III Mentor Program paired her with veteran teacher Mary D’Amico to familiarize her with the BOCES and the school.
“She steered me through all the channels,” said Bean. “I don’t know if I would have made it through my first year without her.”
The Questar III Mentor Program was developed in 2004 in an effort to improve student achievement and retain quality educators. This program is part of a New York State Department of Education (SED) mandate which requires the program to be overseen by a Mentor Committee consisting of both administration and representatives from the Teachers Association.
SED also requires new teachers to show documentation of successfully completing a mentor program in order to receive permanent certification.
According to Questar III Mentor Program Coordinator Barbara Levine, the goal of the program is to ease and support the transition for new staff to Questar III. This is done by pairing the first-year teacher with a mentor in a non-judgmental, non-evaluative and confidential environment.
The mentor provides the mentee with experience and guidance in instructional and behavioral techniques as well as to answer any questions they may have about the organization. The mentor can help their mentee with things such as setting up their classroom, understanding the calendar and deadlines, creating Individualized Education Programs (IEP) and simply answering questions.
“The program helps the new person feel comfortable, welcomed and supported,” said Levine. “Plus, it’s much less intimidating than having to go to your supervisor every time you have a question or need advice.”
Once she received her tenure, Bean decided to become a mentor herself and help her newest colleagues reach their full potential.
“Teachers at Questar III need to have experience themselves or they need the experience of someone who has been there,” said Bean. “Our Mentor Program gives the teachers right out of graduate school the fine-tuning they need to be successful.”
Mentors and mentee teams generally meet during the new employee orientation held in late August. They then meet once a week during the first three weeks of school and then twice a month after that. Mentor/mentee teams are also given 10 days of “release time” to take time to visit other programs, classrooms or other activities.
Levine says the Questar III Mentor Program is flexible enough to meet the needs of the various participants with consideration to location and specialty, yet structured to ensure the program is effective.
“We try to be as flexible as possible to meet the needs of our first year teachers and to make their first year a success,” said Levine.
At the conclusion of each school year, a dinner celebration is held to honor the mentor/mentee teams and to allow them to speak about their experience.
To be considered for the role of the mentor, the teacher must have tenure to ensure they’re familiar with Questar III programs and must receive a recommendation from their principal. Additionally, mentors are required to complete training every year.
For more information to apply as a mentor, please visit https://old.questar.org/infocenter/hr/mentor.php.
