Connecting Professionals…
DCSD Professional Mentoring Program

The Dubuque Community School District established the Professional Mentoring Program, which was first implemented during the 1999-2000 school year, to support our teachers, nurses, and counselors who are new to the district to function more effectively and to grow professionally. This non-evaluative program provides a transition for newly employed professional educators to become successful members of the DCSD.

The Dubuque Community School District, under the leadership of Nancy Bradley, Director of Staff Development and School Improvement, and members of the district’s Professional Mentoring Advisory Council, created this assistance and support program because we believe that:

• teachers, counselors, and nurses new to the DCSD deserve to be supported in their efforts to meet the high expectations of the district and to meet the educational needs of all students.
• in order to understand the complexity of our school system, professionals new to the district need information regarding the traditions, common practices, rules, regulations, expectations, values and core beliefs, and mission and vision of the district.
• this program provides growth opportunities for both the Instructional Mentor and the educator new to the district.
• providing a sound mentoring program will lead not only to greater retention of New Professionals but will also result in higher quality instruction for our students.

Therefore, the ultimate aim of our program is to provide greater consistency and quality of instruction for our students, which should result in increased student achievement, and to retain our new teachers, counselors, and nurses. With that in mind, the goals of our program are:

• to provide a positive and successful transition of professionals to the Dubuque Community School District.
• to promote the personal and professional well-being of professionals new to the district.
• to provide ongoing guidance, support, and reinforcement to professionals new to the district through an organized, well-defined program.
• to promote excellence in instruction to improve student performance.
• to build awareness of the culture of the community, district and school.
• to increase mutual respect and collaboration among professional educators through collegial activities.
• to increase retention of professionals new to the district.

The Three Levels of the Dubuque Community School District Professional Mentoring Program

This level of the Professional Mentoring Program provides a welcome and collaborative support system in the form of an extended orientation for teachers, nurses, and counselors who are new to the school district. This level of the program is provided to all educators new to our district. For teachers, counselors, and nurses with fewer than three years of experience (New Professionals), the orientation process is done with an assigned Instructional Mentor. The Instructional Mentor also works with the New Professional in completing Level Three of the Professional Mentoring Program. For teachers, counselors, and nurses with three or more years of teaching experience, the orientation process found in Level One is completed with an experienced colleague from the same building. This experienced person is called the Orientation Facilitator.

Level One consists of a checklist, with one section focusing on "People to Meet" at both the school and district level, and another section focusing on a monthly checklist of "Things to Do."

All files are in Microsoft Word

CHECKLIST: LEVEL ONE FOR ELEMENTARY COUNSELORS

CHECKLIST: LEVEL ONE FOR JUNIOR HIGH COUNSELORS

CHECKLIST: LEVEL ONE FOR HEMPSTEAD HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELORS

CHECKLIST: LEVEL ONE FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELORS

CHECKLIST: LEVEL ONE FOR NURSES

CHECKLIST: LEVEL ONE FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

Diversity Training of New Professionals is an excellent example of Level 2 Seminar. Check out the Online Training Opportunity by clicking here.

This level of the Professional Mentoring Program provides district-required adult learning sessions for all teachers, counselors, and nurses in their first and second year in the Dubuque Community School District. These training and learning opportunities focus on special topics such as equity and diversity, behavioral management, etc. The time for these sessions is provided through the district’s negotiated master agreement.

This level of the program also sponsors optional social opportunities for all of our new professional educators, such as our beginning-of-the-year picnic, plus other events throughout the school year.

The Pathwise Induction Program has been adopted and adapted by the Dubuque Community School District as the centerpiece of our mentoring process. It is based on the components of professional practice as identified in The Framework For Effective Teaching by Charlotte Danielson. The components of professional practice and the levels of performance scales found in Danielson’s Framework provide a road map for the New Professional’s growth as an educator. It enables our New Professionals to "frame" their understanding of their work and the complex art of education. Following the developmental cycle of "Plan, Teach, Reflect, Apply", this level of the Professional Mentoring Program provides a series of ten activities consisting of inquiries, observations, and conversations that facilitate the identification of each New Professionals’ teaching strengths and areas for growth through the collaborative coaching process.

It is important to note that the Pathwise Induction Program is a reflective support and assessment program designed to enable Instructional Mentors and New Professionals to share in professional conversations as they go through the activities of the induction program. Each of the ten activities is designed to help our New Professionals explore important aspects of education and relate each one to their own personal experiences. They become skilled at analyzing their own practice, sharing ideas with other New Professionals, and learning from more experienced colleagues.

Frequently Asked Questions about Professional Mentoring...

Answer: Teachers, Counselors, and Nurses with five or more yeas of experience may apply to become an Instructional Mentor. Applicants need to complete an application form demonstrating their desire to become an instructional mentor, and then must obtain the written approval of their school principal. Based on the needs of each individual school, applicants are invited to attend the five-day training series to become instructional mentors.

Answer: It is a decision made by the district’s Professional Mentoring Coordinator often in collaboration with the school principal. High priority is placed on the choice of the principal when multiple trained mentor options are available in the school.

Answer: An Instructional Mentor is matched with the New Professional for a two-year time period. The focus during this time period is Level Three of the Professional Mentoring Program described above.

Answer: Yes. The master agreement between the Dubuque Community School District and the Dubuque Education Association provides for two years of stipends for Instructional Mentors through the district’s general budget. Orientation Facilitators, as described above under Level One of the Program, do NOT receive any compensation at this time.

Question: Do Instructional Mentors receive any special training to work with the Pathwise Induction Program.

Answer: Yes, all Instructional Mentors participate in an extensive five-day training series that focuses on the Framework for Effective Teaching (Day 1) and the Pathwise Induction Program (Days 2-5.) Currently, the Dubuque Community School District has six in-district trainers of the Pathwise Induction Program to provide it’s own future training sessions.

Question: How is the Dubuque Community School District able to fund the five-day training program?

Answer: The school district is able to fund this training series because of a Goals 2000 Grant and a State Beginning Teacher Induction Grant. The State Beginning Teacher Induction Grant will enable our district to train an additional thirty mentors during the fall of 2001.

Answer: Yes. However, it is non-evaluative, and it is important that all information is kept confidential between the Instructional Mentor and the New Professional. Hopefully, this can occur because a trusting, collaborative coaching relationship has been established.

Answer: The Dubuque Community School District established the position of Professional Mentoring Coordinator during the 2000-2001 school year. The Professional Mentoring Coordinator provides leadership and coordination through training, supporting, and advising Instructional Mentors; and by working with Mentor--New Professional teams. The coordinator also provides professional development opportunities for Instructional Mentors and New Professionals throughout the school year.

Through its belief in a strong professional mentoring program, which leads to a more qualified professional staff and improved student learning, the Dubuque Community School District is providing leadership to other school districts throughout Iowa and the United States who are interested in learning about this program. Please feel free to contact us if you would like to learn more.

Jeff Haverland 5068
Mentoring Coordinator

First Year Teachers
Mentor Movie '07 Windows Media File requires free Window MediaPlayer Software and a fast connection to the Internet RealPlayer File requires free RealPlayer software and a fast connection to the Internet These files require browsers equipped with one or the other free media player software. Windows MediaPlayer is available for both PCs and Macintosh computers (it's standard issue on PCs with Windows software). RealPlayer is another option you may wish to consider, and it's available for PCs, Macs, and computers running Linux. You can download and install it free from Real.com's website.
	Meet first year teachers Mark Ressler, an English teacher at Hempstead, and Jennifer Hoffmann, a life skills teacher at Fulton. We followed their first year as teachers in our district, and focused our lens on their relationships with their mentors.

Click here for First Year Teacher, the Movie! a special documentary produced by Gary Olsen that showcases the Professional Mentoring Program.

Mentoring Movie I View the official Dubuque Community School District's The Value of Mentoring. It features interviews with mentors and their new professionals and provides insights into the success of this special program. Click on the button below for your appropriate connection speed. Works best with high speed access, DSL, cable modem, etc. The film is 15 minutes long. Instructions for viewing motion pictures in your web browser are below including free software to enable your computer to view our district's multimedia web content. The turtle downloads a complete movie, no streaming. This is best for telephone modems. After saving this file, you can play it with RealPlayer. The rabbit button is a streaming movie. If you have high-speed web access such as DSL, it will begin playing immediately. The rocket button is for high-speed networks (like our schools have), DSL, and cable modems. It's the largest size streaming movie file with full-stereo audio. Further instructions are below on how to play video and audio files that appear on our website.

How we Celebrate...

The school year ends and so concludes another year of Professional Mentoring. The award winning program that puts seasoned veterans with new professionals is more successful than ever. There is so much to learn about teaching in a district our size and complexity. The Professional Mentoring Program is best at bringing some order to what could be considered at times chaos. At this year's Mentor Recognition Event at Loras College, the highlight of the program was a short film that featured interviews with new professionals giving thier thoughts about their mentoring experience. It's not to be missed. Click here for photos and the movie, or click the appropriate button below:

Mentor Movie II For connections on anything but a high-speed network, like a phone modem. This is for DSL or higher-speed networks. Larger video, better audio. This is for cable modems and high-speed networks (like Mediacom). Download the non-streaming file if you prefer, to keep on your own system. Windows Media File for Windows Internet Explorer and operating systems equipped with Windows Media Player. High speed Web access preferred. If you need software to run our movies, a free copy of RealPlayer is available by clicking here, and an instruction window will appear at the top of your browser window.