All right. Welcome to tonight's meeting. Um, I'll look for approval of tonight's agenda. Is there a second? Second. And a second. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify
by saying I. I oppose the same sign. Well, looks like we've got our study session in order. Tanya must be our presenter. Go for it. Good to see you. All right. Good evening, Chair Clott,
Dr. Hiles, school board. I'm here this evening to present our mentor program for the study session. Uh in front of you, we have provided a copy of the mentoring program handbook. Uh this is a has been a work in progress for the last
couple years, but it'll be the first year we're handing it out um as part of our onboarding process tomorrow. Uh so I'll be referring to various pages throughout the handbook uh tonight. So I wanted you to have a copy at hand as well. Our
program mission is that Albertly Area Schools mentoring program will provide physical, emotional, instructional, and institutional support for the success of educators new to our district.
Tonight we'll be covering an overview the components and program goals, the types of support provided for our new staff, the roles of these various stakeholders.
So the mentor, the mentee being the new teacher, our administrators and then also our mentor facilitators and then finally program evaluation. And those are the four topics we'll cover tonight.
Starting with our overview, if you want to follow along in the handbook, this information is on page four. It's the exact same information in your handbook. So, the program goals are to support our early career and developing teachers
with foundational guidance. And then we also recognize that at times we hire staff that aren't fresh out of school and they have experience. So it's also engaging our experienced teachers through mentorship. And then for all
teachers regardless of what licensed tier they're at, being able to foster continuous professional growth across the entire teaching continuum. program overview um is actually back on page two. The program overview it covers
what the mentoring program is as a whole onboarding the mentor mentee monthly checklists and then the professional development that we provide. So on that first bullet, the mentoring
program is that if you are a teacher new to our district, regardless of the tiered license that you have, you will be assigned a mentor for your first year of employment. Um, and the purpose of that mentor is really to provide
information and support, encouragement, uh, a co that coaching role in your first year. Uh with our mentor program at Albertly Area Schools, we have that official mentor assigned in year one. Um
in years two and three, if they're a new teacher, it really falls on our instructional coaches to provide that mentoring support. Um and then after they gain um continuing contract in our district,
then they begin that cycle of uh teacher development and evaluation onboarding. So tomorrow is the day. So we start new teacher onboarding tomorrow. Uh we will welcome our staff. Darcy, will you click
on that onboarding link, please? Thank you. And then scroll down to the CS page two. So this is what our onboarding schedule looks like for new staff and mentors. We worked really hard to um get feedback
last year on what do our new staff feel like they need. And the theme that came up over and over and over again was time. We want time to be in our classrooms. We want time to set up our classrooms. We want time to be familiar with our
curriculum. We want time with our mentor to better understand some of the logistics of the building. And so this past spring when I was working with our mentor facilitators, we really designed a schedule around that theme that came up repeatedly. So tomorrow we we will
welcome our new staff. Uh Dr. Hyle will do a brief welcome and then from there Ashley and I will lead some district information session uh related to what our departments uh can provide for new
staff in the district. We continue to provide the bus tour. Dr. Hy just told me he's planning on joining new staff on the bus tour tomorrow. Um, we're excited to welcome back Holly Babcock to be one of our MC's for the
bus tour, as well as Andrew Gustoson, our teacher of the year. So, the two of them will lead our bus tour around town tomorrow. Uh, they will be able to tour the well at work clinic, as well as stopping at each building. When they get to each building, the principles will
hop on, greet them, uh, give them a little blurb about their building, what they're most looking forward to this coming school year. Uh Holly does an absolutely wonderful job of highlighting um businesses,
recreation, uh and different opportunities around the Albertly community. So they will continue to do that. Uh while they're on the bus tour, I will be meeting with the mentors. Uh and then as each building
principal greets the new staff, then they'll head over to the fieldhouse to join me. and we'll be going through the mentor expectations, greeting new staff when they get back to the fieldhouse, and then we'll be going through the mentor mentee introductions
and program expectations together. From there, the mentor facilitators take over on day two and that's specific to their level. So, we have two elementary facilitators, we have one at the middle school, and two at the high school. They
will lead professional development with our new staff on day two. And then Ala provides a lunch for them to get them their ALA information. And then they have work time. And day three is solely dedicated to work time. Uh principles
will be available on day three to support new staff. They'll have their uh checklists that they go over and have lunch with them, but fully dedicated to to um work time in their classrooms. Darcy, will you go back to the
slideshow, please? Thank you. Yes. Teachers are We have tomorrow we we will be welcoming 15 new staff. Seven of them are elementary, seven of them are secondary
and one is from adult education. So 15 new staff tomorrow along with Dr. Hy. Okay. Another component of our mentor program is mentor mentee checklist monthly checklist. Darcy, please click on that link.
These have been revamped uh both last year and this year. Um, with our initial mentoring program, um, we had checklists that we went through every year. We're using a different resource called mentoring in action. This is the tool
we're using now. And with our mentoring and action, we've been looking at various ways to support our new staff. Um, and splitting it up into that physical support, emotional support, instructional, and institutional.
So each month when they complete a checklist, the mentor and the mentee complete a checklist together, it's really ensuring that we're hitting each of those four components of new teacher support. Can you scroll down a little bit, Darcy? You can see how it hits each
of them every month. And there's various topics that are covered. Each of the topics are also geared towards the time of year. So for example in October we might be talking about how to prepare prepare for parent teacher conferences because those will
be coming up at the end of the month or in November. Um as we're approaching assessment season topics would be around how are we preparing for assessments? How do we organize our spaces? Um anticipating questions a new teacher might have. So, each of the worksheets
are are laid out um to support our new staff and really follow the seasons of our school year. Like that one right there, Darcy just had up. Stop right there. December, look at the ALAS assessment calendar. So, that's really
preparing us for what do those two weeks before winter break look like? Thank you, Darcy. You can go back to the slideshow. And then mentor mentee professional development is also included in our
program. And that really looks like a schedule of ongoing support throughout the year. This year, the mentor facilitators again taking feedback that we had heard from new staff. Um we really talked about getting some
alignment between our elementary, middle, and high school. um and alignment in each of these categories. So the dates that we were providing the training, the time we found out some buildings were doing a 30 minute training, another was doing two hours,
they might have been doing two hours four times a year or we were kind of all over the board. So we worked really hard to determine um when we were providing the professional development, the time we were providing it and then we really also honed in on the what what are the
topics that we want to cover. Uh so this is the work of uh myself with the mentor facilitators and our ATPPS coordinator and again really following what the seasons of education are and what is timely in covering with that monthly
professional development. I mentioned the types of support. Uh those key terms are providing support within physical, emotional, instructional, and institutional. Um and each of those definitions are there as
well as in your handbook. But um all of the supports we provide are within one of those four key terms for our staff. The next area is looking at our mentor our our roles and responsibilities of those four stakeholder groups that I
mentioned at the beginning. So our mentors, mentees, administrators and then our mentor facilitators. Last year was the first year we started doing tiered mentoring responsibilities.
If you recall, we now have an um part of our agreement for mentorship is a tiered uh pay schedule. So, if a if a staff member is if a staff member is a mentor to a tier
one or two teacher, they receive a $1,200 stipend. If they're a mentor to a tier three teacher who's in year one through three, then they receive a $600 stipend. And if they're a tier three or four teacher with more than four years
of experience, um that's in theou for a $400 stipend. Um and that was again based on feedback from staff about the level of support that's necessary for our tier one and tier 2 teachers.
And so in laying out the mentor responsibilities which are on page five and six of your handbook um that was specifically um laid out um to recognize that your tier one and two
teachers take the most amount of support. So you're meeting weekly at the beginning of the year and then tapering off as your mentee um is seeing success. um you're doing more modeling in the
classroom or having the teachers observe in your classroom. Um it might be things like guided lesson planning that looks different if somebody doesn't have hasn't received teacher education from their college. They're tier one and two in another area. Um so that support
might look different. So it may be some guided lesson planning. Um so recognizing that each of those are are a bit different. But then on page six, that can taper off with your tier three and tier four teachers. So there we're
looking at facilitating monthly coaching conversations. Still making sure that we're utilizing those checklists for elementary, middle, and high school. Um, but also acknowledging that a tier four teacher with 12, 15, 20 years of
experience doesn't need a mentor right on top of them the whole time. So honoring that, yes, we need to learn Albertly area school systems and protocols and policy, but also recognizing that you have experience in
the classroom and might not need uh that weekly direct support that a new staff member would. Tanya, how are um or what's the process for recruiting people to to be mentors? How That's a great question. So, in in the
past, our mentor recruitment has uh teachers or not I'm my apologies, principles have reached out to individuals that they believe would be good fits to be mentors for our new teachers. Um, one of the things we tried
last year is we sent out a survey in the spring to see if other individuals who maybe hadn't been a mentor in the past would be interested in being a mentor. And so we were able to send out that schedule or survey and get some uh new
interest in being a men mentor. So this year um of the 15 uh new staff and mentors that are coming back, only three of them are repeat mentors. So what that says is it's really
exciting for us to grow our teacher leaders in the district. Um, so I'm I'm looking forward to working with a new group uh of teacher leaders to be mentors. So three of the 15 are returning, otherwise they're new.
Yeah. Uh, one other quick question. So do they if if if I'm a tier one mentor, then probably working with one new teacher and then if I get into the two and three tiers and I might be working with
multiple teachers. Is that fair to say or in the past we've had circumstances where one teacher may be working with more than one new teacher. This year we don't have any of those situations. So this year is all onetoone. Um I don't
have any duplicates but we've had duplicates in the past. Um this year not yet. Y mentee responsibilities. This is directly out of the handbook. Um, it starts on page seven in your handbook.
And again, it's laid out based on those tiers. So, your responsibility to the program may look different based on what tiered license you are. So, we ask that you're actively participating in those
mentor meetings. um that you are actively taking advantage of observations in both your mentors classroom or other observations that are available to you. Um we have a great process right now with our high
reliability schools to be able to get in and do observations in classrooms. So really encouraging staff regardless of what tier they're at to get in and observe their colleagues. Um, and the greatest part about that is you're really able to connect on instructional
strategies and how to make it work within the instructional model. Um, and then being able to reflect on when you've implemented those strategies and practices, is it impacting student outcomes?
um asking them to be prepared for those mentor mentee sessions and then just keeping um open communication and de demonstrating professionalism. For tiers three and four, we really talked about as the year goes on, it's
important to um think about how we are growing as educators, how we're growing as professionals. So helping our new new teachers but their tier three and tier four identify those focus areas um and
you know allowing them to pilot new strategies if they want to try a new strategy in their classroom and then asking them to be an active contributor to our professional learning communities on a weekly basis. Our mentor facilitator responsibilities,
they are on page eight in the handbook. This information is directly out of there. Um, our mentor facilitators, as I mentioned, we have two at the elementary. We used to have four, one per building. Um, but that team of
individuals chose to to do two and have really created a solid system around what that facilitator work looks like. Uh so two at the elementary level, one at the middle school and then two at the high school. Again um they work very
closely with our instructional coaches. Uh four of them are instructional coaches. So uh they are pulling in uh the other instructional coaches uh to really look at best practice and how to collaboratively design the mentor
program. Um and then just looking at what ongoing support there is. Uh working at coordinating with myself but also their building administrators on how do we support new teacher orientation but also our monthly professional development sessions as
well. Um, I think one of the things that our mentor facilitators have done a really great job of is on those monthly checklists, there's a spot that says, um, celebrations, but then also a spot that says areas where you need support. And so they're doing a great job of
following up on those areas of support that's needed and then connecting back, as it says here, connecting back with instructional coaches and building administrators uh to make sure that our new staff that we're um that those checklists don't
become a hoop that we jump through and something we do, but they're actually an active living document that we're committed to following up on. Uh, one of the things that, uh, facilitators asked me to do this year is follow up with, um, our building administrators the
first of every month. So, checking in, did did you follow up with any questions or concerns on your checklists at the end of the month? And then mentor facilitators uh worked on talking through what the
role of the building administrator is in the in the program. Um really wanting them to take an active role in these three areas. So an active role in support and guidance, monitoring and feedback, and then advocacy and
recognition. Um, I already mentioned how they they would like that followup on the monitoring and feedback with new staff. Just making sure that they're reviewing and following up with mentors and mentees. And then if it's anything instructionally related that our
instructional coaches can be addressing um that they're connecting, asking that our building administrators help make those connections as well. Uh the last part of the program is making sure we're doing an annual program evaluation. Uh that's on the
back page. Our annual program evaluation right now consists of surveys from our mentees and mentors. Um growth tracked through teacher self assessments and administrator input. and then uh making sure that we're making an making
adjustments annually based on the feedback that we've received. You did a great job of asking questions throughout which I appreciate because then we're on that slide and that topic. Uh what other questions do you have for me? So Tanya, so I'm just thinking of
what information the mentors are gathering and the teacher evaluation process. So a new teacher is going to be evaluated annually. Yeah. Until they reach tenure. Correct. And is there any sharing of information
between mentors and principles when it comes to the evaluation process or are they are they kept separate? I would say for the purpose of evaluation separate for the purpose of coaching there's collaboration
um because you want so best practice of both the alternative teacher performance pay system and teacher development and evaluation is to have a mentorship program. But you also want to ensure that that mentorship program feels safe for your new teachers. And if your new
teachers feel like their mentor is part of an evaluation process, then you've started to break down what that process looks like. Um, so for the purpose of mentorship program, it it's more of a coaching role and ongoing support and
the evaluation lies with the principal. In if a teacher has received uh continuing contract status in another district, they have one year to be evaluated by their principal. If a teacher has not received continuing
contract in another district, then they do three years of principal evaluation. That's actually when we look at adjustments made annually based on feedback. One piece of feedback that we're receiving continually is we
provide a mentor year one, but we don't have a mentor program for year two and year three. Because in year two and year three, they're not under the guidance of that mentor facilitator. They now fall under
the instructional coach just like every other teacher in the building. And then they've got their three times a year evaluations with a principal. The challenge of that, as you well know, is how do we fund a program beyond year
one. So, um, but that's been an ongoing question that both the coaches, mentor facilitators, and building administrators have brought forward. That was the reason for my question. I don't want to have teachers in the position of evaluating peers, right? I
mean, that doesn't sound like a good mix and and it's awkward and it's not their role, but uh Okay, good. We also have a template that we use for peer observations so that can just give non-evaluative feedback.
Yep, good question. What other um supports are given to or mentoring opportunities are given to like uh supports in the classroom like Paris? Do you have similar type programs for them? Because we we see that there's
some there's some turnover that in those roles so is have there been any conversations about those kind of opportunities? I'll defer to Sheila. When a um new parah is hired in the district, we do give them some training
and shadowing. Uh a mentor parah um a parah comes into the district and needs to meet the qualifications set by by MDE. Um if they do not have the 60 college credits, they take a master teacher assessment. Um, within that they
have training on PCA, that personal care assistant for our our students, but they also have time in the building before they work with students, whether that is a tour of the building, meeting staff, reviewing children's IEP plans, so they
know what that um that accommodation, that support that they are giving in what areas, and and then they're shadowing a veteran parah. um shadowing them, but we do that for a full day or a good eight hours, but we've continued that even even more. And then we're
blessed to have our academy days for that professional learning. I've done the same thing for success coaches this past year. Uh been able to provide an onboarding experience that allows them to shadow another coach. Um
kind of walk through uh what does it look like and feel like to translate for an IEP meeting. that's much different than just a parent teacher conference. Um and so uh that shadowing experience has been beneficial. Um so trying to
build some of that in. Um success coaches are also built into our professional development days uh as well when it's relevant to the work that they do. So they'll be built into our literacy training because they'll be providing interventions and literacy
supports for our students. So they're built into that professional development this year. Uh they're built into things like positive behavior supports and cultural uh competencies. So we make sure to build it in when it's relevant for them as well.
Other questions. I have fond memories of how I sat in my room in 1968 waiting for somebody to come and tell me what I was supposed to do. I I knew I
was teaching three classes of English 10 and three classes of English 11 and I just assumed that someone would appear and deliver exactly what I was supposed to do in those classes, but they never came. You know, it's like
waiting for GDAU. And uh so it d it finally dawned on me that I'm going to have to figure this out myself. And there's something to be said for that. But on the other hand, I I'm hoping that somewhere in this uh process, our new
staff are going to have someone who is very familiar with the curriculum and the organization of their class materials, the daytoday, uh what am I going to do on Thursday, you know, what what what are my students going to be
doing on, you know, every day of the course? um because that's really important especially if you've never done it before. Yeah, it certainly is. We've tried to at the elementary level um assign a mentor within the same grade level because that curriculum connection is really
important. Um learning how to navigate your curricular resources and understanding the standards. Uh so we've tried to assign same grade level um mentors. Uh at the secondary level, mentors are often within the same department. Um, but as you know, being a
former high school teacher, just because you're in the same department might not be the same class. Uh, so there's some tricks within that to to ensure, but we also want to find a good fit. Um, because that's important, too. We've talked so much about how relationships
matter. Um, so that that's taken into consideration as well. Having said that, I there were there was no program for for mentor mentee
and in 1968 or or until very late in my teaching career and then I I had the happiness of being one myself a few times and and it's it's a great experience but in spite of the fact that there was
no mentor program there were staff I distinctly remember absolutely people that showed up. I mean, not during that those because they were busy doing stuff, but eventually I had I had mentors. I had sort of confidants.
They were very helpful. Yep. And that'll be part of our work tomorrow when the mentors come. The mentees will be on the bus. The mentors will come. That's part of what we're going to identify is who were mentors in your life and what were quality things
that they brought to the table that made them an a mentor. Um and so identifying those things, I was in the same boat, new to the district in 2002. ATPPS was not yet adopted in Albertly. Um the
mentor program came on with that. Um so while we've had it for many years, I don't know the exact year. What do you think? 2005, six, somewhere in there. Best guess. Yeah. I I started in the 90s and we
certainly didn't have mentors, but I would say what we had was that sense of team. And I will say the first year that I was a teacher, no clue what I was doing, but my grade level team carried me through that year. And I think we still have that. This is
more just an official role of ensuring we're not losing somebody. um falling through the cracks here. So, I completely understand what you're saying. Now, we've all been mentors to each other or support, but this is just more official of making
sure and not making sure um we're supporting new staff because we don't want to lose new staff and we don't want them frustrated and support. And to Gary's question of um you know
that the mentors and instructional coaches are not evaluators, the principal will reach out to the the employee and say, you know, you really should work with the instructional coach on this. You should approach them. So it's not the instructional coach. Well, here's what you need to work on. I mean,
through their own observations, they might, but Agreed. It's a very it's meant to be a very collegial relationship. Agreed. Yeah. Yeah. And I think the ATPS program overlaps with this mentorship mentor mentee
somewhat. Uh there's, you know, collab collaboration in in both contexts. Yeah. So with UCMP, you do need a mentorship program that you submit to the state. Yep.
Good. Any other questions? All right. I thank you for your time this evening. Seeing no other business on our agenda, our next meeting will be on Monday, August 18th, 5:00 pm, regular session right here. Have a good night. Thank
you.