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Information Center | What's New? |
Previous chapters have laid out the major issues in designing, implementing, and evaluating mentoring. Now it is time to turn to the crucial role that agency commitment and support play in getting mentoring off the ground and making it successful. The Head Start Program Performance Standards underscore the importance of establishing a human resources system and providing agency support for staff development. For example, 45 CFR 1304.52(k)(1)-(3) requires grantee and delegate agencies to provide an orientation for all new staff, consultants, and volunteers, and to implement a structured approach to staff training and development. If mentoring is to become an integral part of grantees' staff development and continuous improvement cycles, then grantee and delegate agencies must provide leadership and support for mentoring programs.
This chapter discusses two ways in which agencies can initiate and support mentoring:
Integrating mentoring into other Head Start and Early Head Start systems
Committing resources - money, staff, and time - to support mentoring
Mentoring will have the greatest chances for success when -
Consider integrating mentoring into the agency's staff development system to enhance teachers' and home visitors' skills in fostering positive child outcomes, such as -
Content areas may be introduced in formal training and reinforced through mentoring.
Integrating Mentoring Into Other Head Start and Early Head Start Systems
To be effective, mentoring needs to be a part of ongoing staff development and human resource systems and part of the overall structure of agencies' programs. Agencies already support staff development in various ways. For example, they send teachers to National Head Start Association conferences or to regional or cluster training workshops provided by Head Start Quality Improvement Centers (QICs) or Disabilities Quality Improvement Centers (DSQICs). Many Head Start grantee and delegate agencies also offer training themselves. To integrate mentoring into the ongoing staff development system, try these approaches:
Consider mentoring, and particularly the coaching aspect of mentoring, as a way to enhance the learning that teachers gain from participating in workshops, institutes, and conferences.
Incorporate mentoring into the written plans that are developed to meet the Program Performance Standards on program planning (45 CFR 1304.51(a)(1)(ii-iii)).
Build on the informal mentoring activities that experienced teachers are already doing and provide these mentors with additional skills to enhance their mentoring.
As part of the human resource system, agencies can consider implementing a new step on a career ladder for mentors. This new step can be between a managerial or supervisory level and a lead teacher level. Such an action recognizes and rewards mentors for their expertise and experience in their profession and for their willingness to share what they have learned and serve as models for their colleagues.
The chart below provides examples of how some agencies have begun to implement career ladders.
| Career Ladders | |
|---|---|
| United States Army Child Care System (VA) | Plans to use mentoring to advance the career potential for front-line child care staff. Senior direct-care personnel will soon have the opportunity to qualify for pay raises and advanced professional training as they become mentors. |
| The California Early Childhood Mentoring Program | Created an "external" mentoring position for child care professionals. Child care teachers in either home or center settings may apply to the program to serve as mentors. They then qualify for stipends on the basis of the number of student teacher protégés placed in their classrooms and on their participation in ongoing professional training. |
| Community Action Program of Evansville (CAPE) Head Start (IN) | Created a "Mentor Teacher" top step in their five-step career ladder for teachers. Serving in this position involves additional professional training (including out-of-town workshops) and a $500 stipend. |
Certain activities and areas need to be supported to provide a successful mentoring program. The structure of the mentoring program will, in part, be based on the resources that agencies have to contribute to the development of mentoring. Resources include three things: money, staff, and time.
Money
Budgeting is essential in planning and designing a mentoring program. As a first step, agencies need to figure out how much money they have to put into their mentoring programs. Many Head Start and Early Head Start grantees include mentoring in their operating budgets or use local technical assistance funds. Other grantees request quality improvement funds to help start up the mentoring program and to improve teacher qualifications. Quality improvement funds may be earmarked for several things that tie right into the goals and outcomes of mentoring programs:
Increasing salaries to improve staff qualifications
Assisting with the implementation of career development programs
Recruiting and retaining qualified staff, with preference in awarding salary increases to staff who obtain additional training
Training classroom teachers to meet the early childhood development performance standards
Improving Head Start teacher training in center-based programs
Increasing the number of teachers who meet the statutory requirements of Section 648A of the Head Start Act.
"Agencies need to be creative in looking for additional funds if necessary." Some organizations fund their mentoring programs through grants from the state or local government, or through private organizations.
Financial resources are important in determining such things as -
Take Stock!
How can our agency integrate mentoring into our overall program? What financial
resources can our agency tap into to build and strengthen our mentoring program?
Section 648A of the Head Start Act states that by September 30, 2003, at least half of all Head Start teachers in center-based programs must have an associate, bachelor's, or advanced degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE) or in a related field with preschool teaching experience.
There are many things to think about in budgeting for a mentoring program, and some are easy to overlook. For example, if mentors are to observe their protégés and have feedback conferences, agencies need to budget for substitutes to maintain staff/child ratios. Agencies often operate programs at several different sites; therefore, they need to determine the costs for mentors to travel to different sites to meet with protégés. Also, agencies need to calculate the costs associated with training and supporting mentors.
To help agencies budget for mentoring, this guide provides two aids. The first, Financial Support for Effective Mentoring, on page 69, identifies some ways in which agencies may financially support mentoring. The second - Budgeting for Mentoring - is a budget template that agencies can use to work out the financial costs associated with mentoring in their programs. The budget template is found in Appendix E.
Funds are available for professional development. Mentoring can occur along with teacher enrollment in a degree program. In fact, success in applying theory to practice is enhanced if the teacher is mentored. It is important for program administrators to find out and let protégés and mentors know what state and Federal incentive and loan forgiveness programs they are eligible for if they enroll in a professional development program at a two- or four-year college.
Take Stock!
What are our potential monetary costs for mentoring?
Staff
Human resources are an essential part of mentoring. The size of a mentoring program depends in large part on the number of qualified mentors available. Agencies need to determine whether there are qualified staff within the program who have the content knowledge, skills, and educational experiences to mentor, or whether they need to collaborate with other Head Start programs, child care service providers, or teacher preparation institutions to provide mentoring. Smaller agencies, in particular, may have difficulty finding experienced staff with the time to mentor. Such agencies can consider teaming with staff from nearby Head Start or other early childhood programs to find and share qualified mentors. Agencies with few staff available to serve as mentors can use alternative mentor/protégé ratios, such as matching one mentor with several protégés.
Staffing Questions
Does the agency have staff who can serve as mentors to teachers, or will the agency need mentors from outside the organization?
Does the agency have a staff person who can coordinate mentoring activities? Will the coordinator's position become a part of another individual's job responsibility or will it become a new position?
| Commit resources to.... | |
|---|---|
| Enable protégés and mentors to meet |
Mentors and protégés often run into trouble because they do not have enough time to build a relationship. Provide resources to cover the costs of -
|
| Support preservice and orientation training and follow-up activities for mentors |
Make sure that the individuals who are selected to serve as mentors receive training and support for their new role. Consider providing resources for -
Ensure that follow-up activities are ongoing. |
| Reward and recognize mentors |
Agencies can recognize and support mentors in a variety of ways:
Involve mentors in the selection of incentives to ensure that the incentives are meaningful for them. |
| Reward and recognize protégés |
Good mentoring often means hard work for protégés. Consider acknowledging their efforts with -
|
Take Stock!
Who can be responsible for coordinating mentoring in our agency?
In addition to finding qualified mentors, for mentoring to operate smoothly, someone must have day-to-day responsibilities for coordinating the mentoring process. Coordination involves such activities as -
Overseeing the selection of mentors
Organizing training and follow-up support for mentors
Identifying funds to support mentoring
Working with mentors and protégés to strengthen relationships and help resolve difficulties
Serving as a "mentor to the mentors," guiding them through the mentoring process, and giving them feedback on their mentoring skills
Providing mentors with resource materials and information on workshops or journal articles that might help them improve their mentoring skills
Encouraging mentor networking by publishing a mentor newsletter, holding mentor retreats, and arranging release time for meeting informally.
Good communication and organizational skills are essential for this position. Therefore, the individual responsible for mentor coordination should have the minimum qualifications as outlined in the Head Start Program Performance Standards 45 CFR 1304.52 (d)(1) and have an associate, bachelor's, or advanced degree in early childhood education or a related field. The education services manager may be a possible candidate for this position.
Whether mentor coordination is a full- or part-time responsibility, agencies need to make certain to allocate sufficient funds in the budget and sufficient time in the coordinator's schedule to carry out his or her responsibilities.
Time
The amount of time that mentors spend on mentoring varies greatly from agency to agency. Time is one element that plays a role in determining mentor/protégé ratios. Agencies must not overload mentors with responsibilities to ensure that they are able to mentor effectively. Mentors need the time to develop solid and lasting relationships with their protégés. Like money, time is something that agencies must budget for, so consider "line items" that might be included in a "mentoring time" budget. Some examples are given in the sidebar.
Putting It All Together: Agency Commitment and Support
Mentoring requires grantee and delegate agency commitment and support to get the process off the ground and promote effective change. Agencies can support mentoring in a variety of ways, depending on their resources and organizational structures. The chart on pages 72 and 73 provides examples of how some agencies support mentoring.
Mentors and protégés need time for -
| Agency | Types of Support | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Training | Stipends/Rewards | Release time | Mentor Support | |
| New Horizons Training Center, Macon Program for Progress (NC) | There is a three-day orientation training of three to four hours each day. Mentors receive credit hours toward the credential they're working on. | The mentor stipend is based on the level of education
of the mentor and the amount of time spent mentoring. Protégés receive a gift valued at $350 that includes classroom materials and a curriculum that suggests ways to use the materials. |
Release time is granted for both mentoring and training activities. | The training director serves as "Mentor of the Mentors." |
| The Greater Boston Early Childhood Mentoring Program, Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston (MA) | There is a weeklong orientation training, for which mentors receive two college credits. | --- | Release time is granted for training seminars and for two days of mentoring each month. | There is a monthly three-hour seminar for which mentors receive two college credits and release time. Protégés participate in four of the seven seminars. |
| Impact II/The Teachers Network (NY) | Mentors are trained annually. | Mentors receive $1000 each year, training materials and publications, and an annual trip to New York City to the Network Center. | --- | Contact is maintained with mentors through an ongoing listserv and through monthly conference calls with the program coordinators. |
| Homes Uniquely Giving Support (H.U.G.S.), Northwest Arkansas Family Child Care Association | A six-week, two-hour training is provided through the University of Arkansas School of Human and Environmental Science. | $100 is awarded for mentoring support to protégés awaiting accreditation. Mentors receive continuing education credits and $100 for participation in mentor training. | --- | Accreditation training is offered for mentors and protégés on one Saturday a month over six weeks. Support-group meetings for mentors are held once a month and are facilitated by the program coordinator. |
| State of Wisconsin, Department of Workforce Development, Child Care Careers Project | The program has a two-credit mentor seminar, for which sites generally pay tuition. | Mentors receive a $400 to $500 stipend. | --- | Field instructors work with mentors on an ongoing basis. |
| Stanislaus County Office of Education Teaching Center (CA) (formerly Stanislaus County Migrant Head Start) | Mentors participate in professional development workshops to enhance their effectiveness as teachers of adults. | Mentors work in one of three Teaching Center sites as part-time teachers/part-time mentors. They receive additional pay for their added mentoring duties. | Mentoring is built into the job description - no additional release time is necessary. | The agency holds mentor workshops regularly. |
| Putting the Pro in Protégé Contents | Appendix A |
|
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