Harvard Education Press

New Teacher Mentoring
Hopes and Promise for Improving Teacher Effectiveness

Ellen Moir, Dara Barlin, Janet Gless, and Jan Miles

Teacher quality is the single most important lever schools have for raising student achievement. A substantial body of research indicates that new teachers are less able than their more experienced colleagues to help students fulfill their academic potential. Yet in many school districts—particularly
those in urban settings—as many as half of the teachers may have less than five years’ experience. In addition, the students who face the greatest challenges are most likely to be assigned novice teachers. By supporting new teachers, increasing their effectiveness, and reducing turnover, school districts can give the children most in need of high-quality teaching a real chance at success.

In this practical yet visionary book, Ellen Moir and her colleagues at the New Teacher Center review what current research suggests (and doesn’t) about the power of well-designed mentoring programs to shape teacher and student outcomes. They set forth the principles of high-quality instructional mentoring and describe the elements of a rigorous professional development program. Detailed case studies show how these principles can be applied at the district level and highlight the opportunities and challenges involved in implementing these programs in different contexts. The book makes a powerful case for using new teacher mentoring as an entry point for creating a strong professional culture with a shared, aligned understanding of high-quality teaching.

Advance Praise:

“One of the biggest challenges facing educational leaders today is finding strategies to keep our best and brightest teachers in our nation’s classrooms. Mentoring new and veteran teachers is critical to meeting that challenge. New Teacher Mentoring: Hopes and Promise for Improving Teacher Effectiveness is a must read for educators who are serious about transforming America’s classrooms.”
—Beverly L. Hall, superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools and 2009 National Superintendent of the Year

“A combination of theory and practice makes this book particularly useful to educators who are responsible for the success of new teachers. The wisdom, experience, and dedication of the authors ensures that the field has a book that will endure as a valued resource for decades.”
—Stephanie Hirsh, executive director, National Staff Development Council

“Ellen Moir and her colleagues are world leaders in teacher mentoring. Tens of thousands of children and young people would be far worse off had it not been for the significantly better classrooms that their well-mentored teachers have created. Moir and all those at the New Teacher Center know how to do mentoring, how to improve mentoring, and how to achieve all this on an immense scale. Here, they show just how well they can write about mentoring too.

If you are a teacher or want to help one, then read this book! Its rigorous, evidence-based analysis and riveting prose will inspire you, inform you, and spur you on to do even greater things for your own and other teachers’ students.”
—Andy Hargreaves, Brennan Chair in Education, Boston College

About the Authors: 

Ellen Moir is founder and executive director of the New Teacher Center. Dara Barlin is the associate director of policy for the New Teacher Center. Janet Gless is associate director of the New Teacher Center. Jan Miles is northwest regional director at the New Teacher Center.