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Many organizations focus on orienting new team members to the technical aspects of a job and their roles and responsibilities. That's necessary. Few organizations focus on intentionally bringing new teammates into the organization's culture.

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You are here

This page provides a central access point for various resources that schools and districts can use to improve local mentor development programs. Resources contained on this page are not expressly recommended by CDE but rather represent a range of options available.

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This page provides a central access point for various resources that schools and districts can use to improve local mentor development programs. Resources contained on this page are not expressly recommended by CDE but rather represent a range of options available.

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MM_ Calendar of Options - Google Sheets.pdf

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CDE Sample Calendar - Mentee Support Resources

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CDE Sample Calendar - Mentee Support Resources

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In education, the collaborative efforts between building administrators and instructional coaches support teacher growth and enhance student learning outcomes. Despite sharing a common goal of improving educator effectiveness and student achievement, the roles of building administrators and instructional coaches differ significantly.

Drawing a parallel to sports, where games like football and basketball share the objective of winning but differ vastly in rules, equipment and strategies, instructional coaching and administrative leadership exhibit similar disparities despite their shared goal of educational improvement.

Yet, people often overlook the depth of these differences, leading to misconceptions and blurred lines between the roles of instructional coaches and administrators.

Central to understanding these disparities is the distinction between positional authority and relational influence, which serve as the foundational principles guiding the roles of administrators and instructional coaches, respectively.

Positional authority vs. relational influence

While positional authority and relational influence are essential for driving educational improvement, they operate from different sources and approaches within the school leadership framework.

Positional authority

Source of influence. The organizational structure bestows positional authority through formal titles and roles within the hierarchy.

Decision-making power. Building administrators have the authority to make decisions that impact school operations, policies and procedures.

Enforcement. Administrators often focus on enforcing policies and ensuring compliance with regulations.

Top-down. Positional authority may be exercised top-down, with administrators providing directives and expecting adherence.

Scope of influence. Building administrators have a broader scope of influence that extends across the entire school community.

Relational Influence

Source of influence. Relational influence is earned through interpersonal connections.

Decision-making power. Instructional coaches do not have decision-making authority but influence teaching practices and professional growth through collaboration and support.

Empowerment. Instructional coaches empower teachers by providing support, guidance and opportunities for professional development.

Collaborative approach. Collaborative partnerships build relational influence by coaches working alongside teachers to co-create goals and strategies for improvement.

Scope of influence. Instructional coaches have a more focused influence on teachers and instructional practices within specific classrooms or grade levels.

Since instructional coaches must ensure they don't unintentionally overstep their role into positional authority, what are some guiding principles to remember?

10 commandments of instructional coaches

1. Focus on teacher empowerment.
Thou shall not issue directives about how teachers should professionally grow or act as a decision-making authority over teache r practice.

2. Guide problem-solving.
Thou shall not direct problem-solving processes or provide solutions and directives based on positional authority.

To ensure clarity, instructional coaches and administrators must understand their unique roles. With their positional authority, administrators offer insights into school-wide goals, and instructional coaches, operating from relational influence, provide tailored support to teachers. While both roles operate from different sources and approaches with school leadership, by working collaboratively, administrators and coaches can leverage the strengths of both roles to create a supportive environment that empowers teachers, fosters continuous improvement and ultimately benefits student learning.
Opinions expressed by SmartBrief contributors are their own.
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Subscribe to SmartBrief's FREE email newsletter to see the latest hot topics in education. It's among SmartBrief's more than 250 industry-focused newsletters.

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10 commandments for instructional coaches - SmartBrief

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Instructional coaches have relational influence rather than positional authority and focus on collaboration, empowerment and support.

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7 ways to measure instructional coaching for impact, not activity - SmartBrief

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Coaching impact can be measured in several ways. Measurements are important to prove value to stakeholders and ensure continued funding.

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CSI Consultancy Preparation: Unpacking Your Dilemma

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Did You Make it Through? | Bright Morning

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Congratulations. It’s the end of October! I want to say, you made it through, but what does it mean to “make it through?” Also, perhaps we should aspire to more than just “making it through.” So here are some Look Back reflection prompts to expand your notion of what it means to successfully reach t…

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Welcome to your first year of teaching. This year will test you more intensely than just about anything you've done up to now. It will deplete all your energy, bring you to tears, and make you question every talent or skill you thought you had. But all these tests, if you approach them the right way, will leave you better and stronger than you are today.

Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. Still, with everything you have to do right now, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all. And the fact is, a lot of those tips won't work very well if you fail to follow this one essential rule:

Surround yourself with good people.

By finding the positive, supportive, energetic teachers in your school and sticking close to them, you can improve your job satisfaction more than with any other strategy. And your chances of excelling in this field will skyrocket. Just like a young seedling growing in a garden, thriving in your first year depends largely on who you plant yourself next to.

Many experienced gardeners follow a concept called companion planting: placing certain vegetables and plants near each other to improve growth for one or both plants. For example, rose growers plant garlic near their roses because it repels bugs and prevents fungal diseases. Among companion plants, the marigold is one of the best: It protects a wide variety of plants from pests and harmful weeds. If you plant a marigold beside most any garden vegetable, that vegetable will grow big and strong and healthy, protected and encouraged by its marigold.

Marigolds exist in our schools as well - encouraging, supporting and nurturing growing teachers on their way to maturity. If you can find at least one marigold in your school and stay close to them, you will grow. Find more than one and you will positively thrive.

Few teachers will be lucky enough to be planted close to a marigold - being assigned to one as a mentor, co-teacher, or team leader will be rare. You will have to seek them out. You can identify them by the way they congratulate you on arrival, rather than asking why anyone would want this godforsaken job. Or by the way their offers to help sound sincere. Or just by how you feel when you're with them: Are you calmer, more hopeful? Excited to get started on a teaching task? Comfortable asking questions, even the stupid ones? If you feel good around this person, chances are they have some marigold qualities.

Once you've identified your marigolds, make an effort to spend time with them. Having a hard day? Go to your marigolds. Not understanding how to operate the grade reporting system? Go to your marigolds. Confused by something the principal said at the faculty meeting? Marigolds. They may be on the other side of the building, out of your grade or subject area, or otherwise less convenient to reach than others. If your school is especially toxic, you might have to find your marigolds in another school, or even online. Make the effort. It's worth the trouble.

While seeking out your marigolds, you'll need to take note of the walnut trees. Successful gardeners avoid planting vegetables anywhere near walnut trees, which give off a toxic substance that can inhibit growth, wilt, and ultimately kill nearby vegetable plants. And sadly, if your school is like most, walnut trees will be abundant. They may not seem dangerous at first. In fact, some may appear to be good teachers - happy, social, well-organized. But here are some signs that you should keep your distance: Their take on the kids is negative. Their take on the administration is negative. Being around them makes you feel insecure, discouraged, overwhelmed, or embarrassed.

WALNUT TREES ARE POISON. Avoid them whenever you can. If you don't, they will start to infect you, and soon you'll hate teaching as much as they do.

Doing this may be a challenge: Your supervisor might be a walnut tree. You may be co-teaching with one. You might work on a whole team of walnut trees, spending hours with them every week. Touching base with your marigolds will help flush out the toxins that build up from contact with the walnut trees. On top of that, simply identifying certain co-workers as walnut trees can help dilute their power over you. If I'd had a label I could mentally place on certain people in the schools where I worked, they would have had far less of an impact on me.

So in the spirit of identification, here are some common walnut tree varieties to look out for:

Kid-Hatin' Kate, who will snort every time you share a positive anecdote about your students. Spend enough time with her and you'll believe every single one of them is a lying, cheating little sneak and you're a fool if you think otherwise.

Retirement Dan, who regularly reports on how many years he has left before he's "outta here." He then adds with a chuckle that you have about thirty, right? Dan will find your enthusiasm about school "cute," but will then tell you to "just wait...it'll wear off."

Twenty-Page Tina, who sets impossibly high standards for her students and brags when kids fail. You had your kids write a five-page paper? Tina assigned twenty. Your mid-term had fifty questions? Tina's had a hundred and fifty, and only a dozen kids passed it. The students say her exams are the only ones they ever have to study for. After talking to Tina, you'll feel the urge to triple your kids' workload and add at least ten trick questions to your assessments, just to get your average down.

Badass Bobby, who overhears you talking about your students acting up in class and says, "They would never try that crap in my room." Whenever you leave a conversation with him, you go and scream at your kids.

Hattie-Who-Hates-the-Principal. Self-explanatory.

Lawsuit Steve, who sees you touch a student's forearm and says you better watch out. He "had to give up hugs years ago" and is always reminding you to "be careful."

My-Time Margaret, who counts the number of minutes she got for lunch, complains about serving one more day of car-rider duty than anyone else, and knows precisely what time she's legally required to be in the building each day (not a minute earlier).

And Good-Old-Days Judy, who hates anything new and never fails to mention how much better things used to be.

Be especially vigilant during PDs, when you'll find yourself in a veritable forest of walnut trees. It will be the worst when the presenter asks you to perform some task - read student work, for example - in groups. The trees will slowly turn toward the center, leaves rustling, snarky comments dropping off their branches like walnuts whacking the table. It won't matter how potentially interesting the activity might be, as soon as they huddle up it will be snark, snark, ugly, ugly, hate, hate. When this happens, recognize that you are surrounded, hold tight to your roots, and remember your marigolds.

Your search for marigolds will yield imperfect results: Not everyone is all-marigold or all-walnut tree. There will be some in the building who just make you happy - go to them for a mood boost. Some who aren't terribly good at the teaching part, but love the kids to death - seek them out when you need to be reminded of how much you love them, too. Others will take care of you - encourage you to rest, slack off a little, not beat yourself up. And some who are intensely into the craft, who always have a great strategy on hand and keep up on current research - they can really help you stretch your abilities. Learn who has what marigold qualities and get what you can from each of them.

Finally, try to find some compassion for the walnut trees. Their toxicity comes from a place of real pain, and they themselves probably fell under the influence of the walnut trees who came before them. Plus, it's not like their complaints have no basis in reality. Teaching is a ridiculously hard job, some say almost impossible.

Before you climb that peak, you'll need to choose a sherpa to escort you through the trek. The first option is Walter Nutt, who starts by asking why in the world you'd want to do something like this. He describes the many others who have died trying to do this climb, how sick you'll get, how people have polluted the trail, all but destroying what was once a pristine and beautiful mountain. The second option, Mary Gold, congratulates you on your courage, sits down with you to map out some important strategies, and finishes off by saying It's a crazy-hard, mammoth task, but you know what? We're going to kick that mountain's ass.

Who do you want leading you up that peak?

Find your marigolds and stick close to them. Grow big and strong. Kick that mountain's ass. ♦

Download a PDF of This Article
You may want a copy for yourself or to give to your Marigold (something from the Marigold Collection in our shop would make a great gift!). To download your own copy, click here to sign up for our mailing list, and the PDF will be on its way to your inbox.

Give a gift to your Marigold

Do you have a Marigold in your life? Show your gratitude with a t-shirt, coffee mug, or other Marigold-inspired gift. Browse our whole Marigold collection here.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers

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Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. But a lot of those tips won't work if you fail to follow this one essential rule.

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Welcome to your first year of teaching. This year will test you more intensely than just about anything you've done up to now. It will deplete all your energy, bring you to tears, and make you question every talent or skill you thought you had. But all these tests, if you approach them the right way, will leave you better and stronger than you are today.

Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. Still, with everything you have to do right now, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it all. And the fact is, a lot of those tips won't work very well if you fail to follow this one essential rule:

Surround yourself with good people.

By finding the positive, supportive, energetic teachers in your school and sticking close to them, you can improve your job satisfaction more than with any other strategy. And your chances of excelling in this field will skyrocket. Just like a young seedling growing in a garden, thriving in your first year depends largely on who you plant yourself next to.

Many experienced gardeners follow a concept called companion planting: placing certain vegetables and plants near each other to improve growth for one or both plants. For example, rose growers plant garlic near their roses because it repels bugs and prevents fungal diseases. Among companion plants, the marigold is one of the best: It protects a wide variety of plants from pests and harmful weeds. If you plant a marigold beside most any garden vegetable, that vegetable will grow big and strong and healthy, protected and encouraged by its marigold.

Marigolds exist in our schools as well - encouraging, supporting and nurturing growing teachers on their way to maturity. If you can find at least one marigold in your school and stay close to them, you will grow. Find more than one and you will positively thrive.

Few teachers will be lucky enough to be planted close to a marigold - being assigned to one as a mentor, co-teacher, or team leader will be rare. You will have to seek them out. You can identify them by the way they congratulate you on arrival, rather than asking why anyone would want this godforsaken job. Or by the way their offers to help sound sincere. Or just by how you feel when you're with them: Are you calmer, more hopeful? Excited to get started on a teaching task? Comfortable asking questions, even the stupid ones? If you feel good around this person, chances are they have some marigold qualities.

Once you've identified your marigolds, make an effort to spend time with them. Having a hard day? Go to your marigolds. Not understanding how to operate the grade reporting system? Go to your marigolds. Confused by something the principal said at the faculty meeting? Marigolds. They may be on the other side of the building, out of your grade or subject area, or otherwise less convenient to reach than others. If your school is especially toxic, you might have to find your marigolds in another school, or even online. Make the effort. It's worth the trouble.

While seeking out your marigolds, you'll need to take note of the walnut trees. Successful gardeners avoid planting vegetables anywhere near walnut trees, which give off a toxic substance that can inhibit growth, wilt, and ultimately kill nearby vegetable plants. And sadly, if your school is like most, walnut trees will be abundant. They may not seem dangerous at first. In fact, some may appear to be good teachers - happy, social, well-organized. But here are some signs that you should keep your distance: Their take on the kids is negative. Their take on the administration is negative. Being around them makes you feel insecure, discouraged, overwhelmed, or embarrassed.

WALNUT TREES ARE POISON. Avoid them whenever you can. If you don't, they will start to infect you, and soon you'll hate teaching as much as they do.

Doing this may be a challenge: Your supervisor might be a walnut tree. You may be co-teaching with one. You might work on a whole team of walnut trees, spending hours with them every week. Touching base with your marigolds will help flush out the toxins that build up from contact with the walnut trees. On top of that, simply identifying certain co-workers as walnut trees can help dilute their power over you. If I'd had a label I could mentally place on certain people in the schools where I worked, they would have had far less of an impact on me.

So in the spirit of identification, here are some common walnut tree varieties to look out for:

Kid-Hatin' Kate, who will snort every time you share a positive anecdote about your students. Spend enough time with her and you'll believe every single one of them is a lying, cheating little sneak and you're a fool if you think otherwise.

Retirement Dan, who regularly reports on how many years he has left before he's "outta here." He then adds with a chuckle that you have about thirty, right? Dan will find your enthusiasm about school "cute," but will then tell you to "just wait...it'll wear off."

Twenty-Page Tina, who sets impossibly high standards for her students and brags when kids fail. You had your kids write a five-page paper? Tina assigned twenty. Your mid-term had fifty questions? Tina's had a hundred and fifty, and only a dozen kids passed it. The students say her exams are the only ones they ever have to study for. After talking to Tina, you'll feel the urge to triple your kids' workload and add at least ten trick questions to your assessments, just to get your average down.

Badass Bobby, who overhears you talking about your students acting up in class and says, "They would never try that crap in my room." Whenever you leave a conversation with him, you go and scream at your kids.

Hattie-Who-Hates-the-Principal. Self-explanatory.

Lawsuit Steve, who sees you touch a student's forearm and says you better watch out. He "had to give up hugs years ago" and is always reminding you to "be careful."

My-Time Margaret, who counts the number of minutes she got for lunch, complains about serving one more day of car-rider duty than anyone else, and knows precisely what time she's legally required to be in the building each day (not a minute earlier).

And Good-Old-Days Judy, who hates anything new and never fails to mention how much better things used to be.

Be especially vigilant during PDs, when you'll find yourself in a veritable forest of walnut trees. It will be the worst when the presenter asks you to perform some task - read student work, for example - in groups. The trees will slowly turn toward the center, leaves rustling, snarky comments dropping off their branches like walnuts whacking the table. It won't matter how potentially interesting the activity might be, as soon as they huddle up it will be snark, snark, ugly, ugly, hate, hate. When this happens, recognize that you are surrounded, hold tight to your roots, and remember your marigolds.

Your search for marigolds will yield imperfect results: Not everyone is all-marigold or all-walnut tree. There will be some in the building who just make you happy - go to them for a mood boost. Some who aren't terribly good at the teaching part, but love the kids to death - seek them out when you need to be reminded of how much you love them, too. Others will take care of you - encourage you to rest, slack off a little, not beat yourself up. And some who are intensely into the craft, who always have a great strategy on hand and keep up on current research - they can really help you stretch your abilities. Learn who has what marigold qualities and get what you can from each of them.

Finally, try to find some compassion for the walnut trees. Their toxicity comes from a place of real pain, and they themselves probably fell under the influence of the walnut trees who came before them. Plus, it's not like their complaints have no basis in reality. Teaching is a ridiculously hard job, some say almost impossible.

Before you climb that peak, you'll need to choose a sherpa to escort you through the trek. The first option is Walter Nutt, who starts by asking why in the world you'd want to do something like this. He describes the many others who have died trying to do this climb, how sick you'll get, how people have polluted the trail, all but destroying what was once a pristine and beautiful mountain. The second option, Mary Gold, congratulates you on your courage, sits down with you to map out some important strategies, and finishes off by saying It's a crazy-hard, mammoth task, but you know what? We're going to kick that mountain's ass.

Who do you want leading you up that peak?

Find your marigolds and stick close to them. Grow big and strong. Kick that mountain's ass. ♦

Download a PDF of This Article
You may want a copy for yourself or to give to your Marigold (something from the Marigold Collection in our shop would make a great gift!). To download your own copy, click here to sign up for our mailing list, and the PDF will be on its way to your inbox.

Give a gift to your Marigold

Do you have a Marigold in your life? Show your gratitude with a t-shirt, coffee mug, or other Marigold-inspired gift. Browse our whole Marigold collection here.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

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Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers

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Advice is available everywhere you look, and some of it is very good. But a lot of those tips won't work if you fail to follow this one essential rule.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
You are here

This page provides a central access point for various resources that schools and districts can use to improve local mentor development programs. Resources contained on this page are not expressly recommended by CDE but rather represent a range of options available.

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This page provides a central access point for various resources that schools and districts can use to improve local mentor development programs. Resources contained on this page are not expressly recommended by CDE but rather represent a range of options available.

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Overview of established charter school mentoring program.

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How We Induct - Feb 2023 CDE presentation

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Mentoring Program Development PLC Agenda 5/2

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April 2023 Mentor Program Developers PLC agenda

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Sample Mentor and Novice PL Calendar with Resources (3).docx

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Three-Point Communication and Coaching Relationships – Megan Heineman

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Well, I’ve reached the end of Fall quarter in my Educational Technology Leadership class at Seattle Pacific University. For this last module I’ve gone a different route and am focusing on something a little more specific. We have been talking a lot about coaching, communication skills, and helping t…

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During my first years as an instructional coach, I felt like I faced constant resistance. Teachers walked out of meetings I facilitated, they canceled session after session, and they said things like, "The problem is the kids and their parents. I don't need to do anything different." Others would agree to try a new engagement strategy, for example, and then say they never had time to try it, or the kids were "too wild" that day, or they were too far behind to do something that felt unnecessary. My response was a resolution to fight the resistance with everything I had.

Two years later, I was exhausted, teachers hadn't changed their practices, and I felt like I'd failed in my commitment to children. I resolved to find another way to address resistance. What I've learned has fundamentally changed how I work with educators, provided me energy, and allowed me to positively impact children. Perhaps most significant, I now rarely encounter resistance.

What we perceive as resistance often shows up in behaviors such as arguing, refusing to meet or talk, rejecting support, withdrawing, feigning an everything-is-fine attitude, or insincere compliance. We label these behaviors as resistance when, in truth, they're usually an indicator of fear. When humans are afraid, we fight, flee, freeze, or appease. This is a survival strategy-even when the "threat" comes from an instructional coach who suggests there are ways to manage a classroom that don't involve humiliating students.

If you want to make resistance disappear, see it for what it truly is-fear. Change your perception; change your reality. Someone who appears resistant is probably afraid.

Psychologists widely agree on six categories of core human needs:

When one of these needs feels threatened, fear arises-and can appear as resistance. Recall a time when you felt resistant to something or someone. Can you identify which of these human needs felt in danger?

When encountering someone else's fear, take three preliminary steps. First, turn inward and notice whether you have any fear arising in response to the other person's fear. Do any of your core human needs feel like they're threatened? Perhaps your need to feel competent as a coach or leader? Your fear might also show up as resistance-as resisting someone else who is demonstrating what you perceive as resistance!

The second step is to activate your compassion. Try remembering a time when you felt afraid, thereby activating your empathy. Or try stepping into the other person's shoes, imagining what they might be feeling and thinking.

The third step is to activate your curiosity. What do you think is coming up for the other person? Which of their core human needs might feel threatened? The need for autonomy? The need for connection? Try to think what the other person might need from you in that moment.

These first three steps require reflection time. They can be taken before you sit down with the person in whom you're perceiving resistance, during a conversation with them, or after. Taking these steps allows you to talk to the person experiencing fear in a way that conveys support while exploring whatever they seem to be resisting and what factors are behind their reluctance. In that conversation, it's of greatest importance that you stay in relationship with them by:

Fear is a strong emotion. It's one many of us are uncomfortable with-both our own fear and other people's. Leaders and coaches need to learn how to respond to emotions, something I teach extensively in my programs. I offer educators a three-part framework called ACE, which stands for acknowledge and accept emotions, cultivate compassion for the self and others, and expand the story. This framework is effective in addressing fear (or resistance) as long as the coach or leader has a solid relationship with the other person.

When I became an instructional coach, I had few resources for dealing with other people's emotions (or, to be honest, with my own). Looking back, I'm not surprised that teachers walked out of meetings with me or refused to meet. I had shown up in those meetings intent on wearing them down and defeating their resistance. Now I almost never experience resistance because when I witness someone demonstrating behaviors I previously perceived as resistance, I simply recognize those behaviors as fear. Then my empathy surges, and I get curious about how I can connect with the other person and help them get their core needs met. This isn't always easy, especially when I'm doing work around racial equity. But it provides me with a reliable path of action, one that doesn't leave me drained.

I'll repeat this one more time, because this is actually all you need to understand to never experience resistance again: resistance is fear. Meet fear with compassion, curiosity, and persistence, and it will soften.

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What looks like resistance to change is often actually...fear.

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“Teacher Leaders Face Special Challenges” and Figure 10.1 “Developing Effective Mentoring Programs.

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“Teacher Leaders Face Special Challenges” and Figure 10.1 “Developing Effective Mentoring Programs.

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Teacher Mentoring & Induction- Developing Effective Mentor Programs.pdf

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The version of the browser you are using is no longer supported. Please upgrade to a supported browser. Dismiss

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Modified Success Analysis with Note Catcher

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Modified Success Analysis with Note Catcher

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CSI Success Analysis Protocol & Note Catcher

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CSI:  Mentoring Program Development PLC 2/28

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CSI:  Mentoring Program Development Agenda 1/11

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Skilled research mentors are critical to the training of new investigators. Although studies indicate that effective research mentors exhibit a variety of characteristics and skills, there is limited information about how to determine and measure the competencies that are crucial for mentors in the field of clinical and translational science.

How, then, do we know if someone has the skill set to be an effective research mentor?, What measures can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of mentor training workshops? How can program leaders decide whether to encourage a young investigator to seek the mentorship of a given established investigator?

In this article, we describe how the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Mentor Working Group approached the problem of designing, administering, and evaluating an instrument to assess skills of research mentors in clinical and translational science. The primary aim of the study reported here is to describe the psychometric properties of the new 26-item measure, the Mentoring Competency Assessment (MCA).

We developed the MCA to serve as the primary outcome measure for a national trial of an educational intervention involving more than 200 pairs of mentors and mentees at 16 U.S. universities. A secondary goal of the trial was to determine skills norms for research mentors working in the area of clinical and translational science.

Method

In the CTSA research mentor training trial (hereafter, the trial), 283 mentor-mentee pairs were assigned either to participate in the experimental eight-hour training curriculum designed to improve the skills of research mentors or to receive no training. (The training was limited to the mentors.) The 26-item MCA served as the primary outcome measure for the trial. Before and after the intervention, researchers used the MCA to ask mentors to rate their own skills and mentees to rate the skills of their mentors. In this study, we analyzed the baseline data collected in 2010 to evaluate the psychometric properties of the MCA.

A CTSA administrative supplement awarded to the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison) supported the overall project and facilitated the recruitment of investigators and staff members at 15 additional sites to conduct the trial and to develop and test the MCA, as described below. Each institution involved in the project also contributed resources to participate in the trial and testing of the MCA.

The institutional review board (IRB) at UW-Madison approved the study and served as the primary IRB of record for the multisite trial. Investigators at the other 15 sites received IRB approval from their own institutions.

Project overview and participants

In fall 2009, three groups began to work simultaneously to develop the research methodology for the trial. One of the groups focused on developing the workshop curriculum (educational intervention) and the accompanying training manual, entitled Mentor Training for Clinical and Translational Researchers.

Another group-consisting of the 16 site project investigators, many of whom were members of the CTSA Mentor Working Group-focused on recruiting convenience samples of mentor-mentee pairs at their own institutions. The investigators generally recruited the mentors first, by e-mail or direct contact, and then asked them to identify all of the qualifying mentees with whom they currently worked. (In a few cases, investigators recruited the mentees first and asked them to identify their mentors.) Faculty mentors of trainees who were conducting clinical/translational research at least 50% of the time were eligible. The number of mentor-mentee pairs recruited at each site ranged from 12 to 27. The final sample consisted of 283 mentor-mentee pairs.

The third group was a national measures working group composed of researchers, evaluators, and training leaders and led by the first author (M.F.). As members of this group, we were charged with designing an instrument to assess mentoring competencies and then evaluating the psychometric properties of the instrument. Our work is the focus of this report.

Development of the MCA

First, our group reviewed the literature and examined existing mentoring assessment instruments. We identified three instruments that focused on research mentors and provided sufficient information on the development and testing of the measure.,, One of these was the Mentorship Effectiveness Scale, developed by researchers in the School of Nursing at Johns Hopkins University. We believed that the primary limitations of this instrument were the ceiling effect of its scale and the paucity of information about its psychometric properties. We also assessed two instruments from mentoring programs: the Wisconsin Mentoring Seminar and the Mentor Development Program at the University of California, San Francisco. Although the curriculum working group adopted some of the Wisconsin program's curriculum for the trial, we believed that these two programs' instruments were not adequately aligned with the trial curriculum and were not suited to our more diverse and senior audience of clinical and translational researchers. Therefore, although we used these instruments to provide a framework for our assessment instrument, we built the MCA around the competencies used for the trial.

Second, we participated in numerous conference calls during a six-month period in 2010 as members of our group proposed iterations of skills to be covered in the MCA. We aligned the proposed skills with the learning objectives of each of the six mentor competencies targeted for training during the trial's eight-hour workshop, as described in Mentor Training for Clinical and Translational Researchers. These competencies were maintaining effective communication, aligning expectations, assessing understanding, addressing diversity, fostering independence, and promoting professional development. They were similar to competencies targeted in previous successful mentor training programs., We then developed two to six items to cover skills in each of the competencies, based on the literature and expert opinion of our group. The goal, as noted above, was to use the MCA to assess the level of these competencies in mentors before and after the trial's educational intervention.

Third, before the MCA was used in the trial, it was reviewed by UW Survey Research Center staff with expertise in survey design. We then conducted cognitive interviews, with six mentors and six mentees to better assess the instrument's reliability. In these interviews, we asked participants to "think out loud" about their responses to the items and asked targeted questions to assess consistency of interpretation. After making adjustments based on this feedback, we conducted several traditional pilot interviews, primarily to assess flow and timing, before making final refinements to the MCA. All participants in the cognitive and pilot interviews were excluded from participation in the trial.

Administering the MCA

At the 16 participating sites, 24 researchers were responsible for administering the MCA via face-to-face interviews with trial participants. To ensure consistency and high follow-up rates, the UW-Madison team provided each researcher with extensive training, including reviewing the recruitment and data collection protocols, modeling an interview, practicing interviews, providing feedback on performance, and using conference calls to ensure data integrity.

The final MCA consisted of 26 items designed to evaluate research mentoring competency in six areas (maintaining effective communication, aligning expectations, assessing understanding, addressing diversity, promoting professional development, and fostering independence). When the study researchers administered the MCA, they began by asking each mentor to "please rate how skilled you feel you are in the following areas" and each mentee to "please rate how skilled your mentor is in the following areas." Both the mentors and mentees responded using a seven-point Likert-type scale in which 1 = "not at all skilled," 4 = "moderately skilled," and 7 = "extremely skilled." Mentees could also choose 0 for "not observed." (For the complete mentor and mentee instruments, see https://mentoringresources.ictr.wisc.edu/EvalTemplates.)

The primary data used for this report were collected in summer and fall 2010, prior to the intervention. These baseline data were collected on paper, and hard copies were sent to UW-Madison for coding and analysis.

Statistical analyses

To characterize the study sample, we used descriptive statistics. To characterize mentor competency levels, we determined the mean score and standard deviation (SD) for each of the 26 items as ranked by the mentor and mentee groups.

To assess the reliability (internal consistency) of the instrument used by mentors and the instrument used byd mentees, we calculated the coefficient alpha for each group.

To measure the construct validity of the instruments, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis. In this analysis, we used maximum likelihood (ML) estimation to assess how well the 26 items measured the six domains (i.e., the six latent constructs). ML is desirable for its asymptotic properties and conduciveness to hypothesis testing, given its assumption that all eigenvalues are greater than zero. ML methods generate parameter estimates that are most likely to produce the observed correlation matrix, assuming the sample is from a normal distribution. The reproduced correlation matrix is compared with the actual correlation matrix through an iterative process that ideally concludes with convergence between the two matrices.

In fitting a measurement model, we tested whether each competency ought to be measured together or separately through an additive scale or common factor score. Given that previous mentoring research focused on specific elements underlying the concept of mentoring,, we also searched for commonalities among items grouped by competency. Although there are merits to aggregating the individual items to form additive indices, we found examining the parameter estimates for each item to be a superior analytic strategy. This strategy enabled us to assess the validity of the factor structure for the MCA. We used Mplus to calculate the final standardized model results.

Table 1 summarizes the four goodness-of-fit statistics that we used in the analysis,: chi-square, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), comparative fit index (CFI), and Tucker-Lewis index (TLI). We primarily relied on the RMSEA of < 0.08 as recommended by Browne and Cudeck to assess model fit. In addition, because chi-square is sensitive to sample size we used the relative chi-square test (chi-square divided by degrees of freedom [ df]), with < 5 indicating an acceptable goodness of fit.

Results

Characteristics of the study sample

The sample consisted of 283 mentors and 283 mentees. The mean ages of the mentor and mentee groups were 50.5 and 35.9, respectively ( Table 2). The gender distribution varied; more men participated as mentors (n = 170; 60.1%), whereas more women participated as mentees (n = 165; 58.3%). The racial and ethnic distribution of the groups also varied, with 257 mentors (90.8%) and 208 mentees (73.5%) identifying themselves as white. Hispanic/Latino participants made up the largest minority groups for both mentors (n = 20; 7.1%) and mentees (n = 32; 11.4%). The majority of the mentors (n = 161; 56.9%) had achieved the academic rank of professor. Many mentees held the academic rank of assistant professor (n = 118; 41.7%), although almost half (n = 139; 49.1%) were students or fellows. Of the mentees, 68 (24.0%) had a professional degree (e.g., MD, DVM, PharmD), 75 (26.5%) had a PhD, and 103 (36.4%) had both a professional degree and a PhD or master's degree (e.g., MD/PhD, DVM/MS). Only 59 mentors (20.8%) and 52 mentees (18.4%) had participated in a prior mentor training workshop.

Scores for mentor skills

There was considerable variation in the mean scores for the 26 mentor skills assessed on the MCA, as rated by the mentors themselves and by their mentees ( Table 3).

The mentors' ratings of their own skills were consistently lower than the mentees' ratings of the mentors' skills. For example, mentors' mean self-reported scores were below 5 for eight items; they reported the lowest scores for helping establish a work/life balance (4.41), pursuing strategies to improve communication (4.52), and accounting for biases and prejudices (4.68). In contrast, mentees' mean ratings of mentors' skills did not fall below 5 for any item.

Although mentors' self-reported mean score was over 6 for only one item (acknowledging mentees' professional contributions, 6.05), mentees gave mean scores higher than 6 to six items: accounting for different backgrounds of mentors and mentees (6.32), developing a trusting relationship (6.17), acknowledging mentees' professional contributions (6.16), providing constructive feedback (6.12), setting research goals (6.09), and helping mentees acquire resources (6.01).

Psychometric properties of the MCA

The coefficient alpha scores for completion of the 26 items by the mentor group and the mentee group were 0.91 and 0.95, respectively. The coefficient alpha scores for the six competencies as rated by the mentor group versus the mentee group were as follows:

Maintaining effective communication (6 items), 0.62 versus 0.59

Aligning expectations (5 items), 0.76 versus 0.73

Assessing understanding (3 items), 0.72 versus 0.72

Addressing diversity (2 items), 0.65 versus 0.73

Fostering independence (5 items), 0.91 versus 0.90

Promoting professional development (5 items), 0.80 versus 0.62

Although some of the competency subscales had alpha coefficients < 0.7, this was not unexpected because of the small number of items.

All of the correlation coefficients for the mentor group and mentee group were in the expected direction, with the expected magnitude of relationships among the factors ( Table 4).

We used Mplus to test our factorial model, as illustrated in Figure 1, with the items assigned to the constructs they were intended to measure.

For the mentor instrument, the hypothesized model with the six latent constructs and 26 items resulted in an acceptable fit to the data: chi-square = 663.20; df = 284; P < .001; relative chi-square = 2.34, RMSEA = 0.069 (90% confidence interval [CI], 0.062-0.076); CFI = 0.85; and TLI = 0.83. The correlations among the six competencies were high, ranging from 0.49 to 0.87 ( Table 4). All of the parameter estimates for the individual items were significant, with standardized factor loadings ranging from 0.32 to 0.81 ( Table 5).

For the mentee instrument, the hypothesized model with the six latent constructs and 26 items also resulted in an acceptable fit to the data: chi-square = 840.62; df = 284; P < .001; relative chi-square = 2.96; RMSEA = 0.080 (90% CI, 0.063-0.077); CFI = 0.87; and TLI = 0.85. The correlations among the six competencies were high, ranging from 0.58 to 0.92 ( Table 4). Again, all of the parameter estimates for the individual items were significant, with standardized factor loadings ranging from 0.56 to 0.86 ( Table 5).

Discussion

Our findings support use of the MCA in the evaluation of research mentors who work in the area of clinical and translational science. In addition to demonstrating that the MCA has reliability and validity, our findings provide preliminary norms derived from a large national sample of mentors and mentees-norms that could be useful to program directors and others who wish to assess the mentoring skills of their faculty. Unlike previous instruments that rely on either mentors' self-evaluation or mentees' evaluation of mentors, the MCA can be used to assess mentor performance as perceived by both mentors and mentees. As a dual-purpose measure, it can identify areas in which mentor and mentee assessments diverge, providing information that could help target particular areas for faculty development initiatives.

The MCA was designed and tested for use with a primary mentor. However, most new investigators work with multiple mentors who guide their research and help them build sustainable research programs. Some of these secondary mentors may focus on specific areas with mentees (e.g., science, grant writing, career development, networking). From a competency perspective, though, all research mentors should demonstrate the 26 skills included in the MCA.

Results from both the mentor and mentee groups supported the measurement model ( Figure 1). Our data suggest that the MCA's 26 items are able to assess the skill levels of mentors across six competency domains. Although these domains are highly correlated, the fact that the model showed a good fit with the data suggests that they are nonetheless distinct. Therefore, we recommend using the MCA for both self-evaluation by mentors and evaluation of mentors by mentees. Of note, the MCA's reliability coefficients were quite high; the overall alpha for both the mentor and mentee groups was greater than 0.90.

We believe there are several ways in which the MCA could be used to benefit research mentoring programs in clinical and translational science. First, the MCA could be used to provide direct feedback to mentors about their strengths and the areas in which they need improvement, especially when the instrument is completed by mentees. Second, the MCA could be used to assess the efficacy of mentor training curricula targeting the six competencies covered by the instrument. Third, simultaneous completion of the MCA by a mentor and his or her mentee may identify areas in which these individuals are "not on the same page" and could benefit from further discussion about the reasons for their divergent assessments. Indeed, not all mentees have the same needs with respect to mentoring, so the MCA could be used to initiate a discussion about the mentee's needs.

This study had several limitations, including its use of cross-sectional data, absence of correlation with other measures of mentor skills, and the restriction to six mentor competency domains. Further, our sample focused on individuals working in clinical and translational science and drew heavily from mentors who were at the professor level. Additional research is needed to confirm the applicability and utility of the MCA in samples involving mentors at in different stages in their academic career (e.g., doctoral students, fellows, assistant professors) and from different areas (e.g., basic science) and to assess the generalizability of the MCA to other settings and other mentor training curricula. Further, as illustrated in our mentee data (see Table 3), there is a ceiling effect that limits positive changes in the MCA skills ratings after educational interventions. We had hoped to see lower baseline scores. The mentees' high baseline ratings may reflect the nature of convenience samples and overall quality of the sample's research mentors. Finally, when using the MCA to assess mentor skills, it will be important to consider other mentee outcomes, such as mentee publications, grants, and additional measures of career success., The MCA should be considered only one measure of mentor performance.

This study also had several strengths that deserve mention. These include the successful development of a skills inventory based on six competencies, use of a national expert panel to develop the instrument, pilot-testing and refinement of the MCA, large sample size, participation of senior research mentors at 16 sites with varying research cultures and mentoring expectations, and use of trained interviewers to ensure consistency and understanding of the instructions. In light of these strengths, we believe that the MCA provides department chairs and leaders of career development programs with a validated tool to assess mentor performance to help ensure the success of their young investigators. Additional studies with larger, more diverse samples of mentors that include more assistant professors may provide additional information on the reliability and validity of the MCA.

Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to Stephanie (Schiro) Wilson, Kimberly Spencer, Anne Taylor, and Don Yarbrough for their work on instrument development and implementation. In addition, the authors thank the official collaborators and participating investigators. These include the following CTSA research mentor training trial site leaders: Adriana Báez Bermejo (University of Puerto Rico), Melissa D. Begg (Columbia University), Philip Binkley (The Ohio State University), Barbara F. Brandt (University of Minnesota), Ellen Burnham (University of Colorado, Denver), Paula Carney (Northwestern University), Suzann Campbell DeLapp (University of Illinois, Chicago), Julie Eichenberger-Gilmore (University of Iowa), Janice Gabrilove (Mount Sinai Medical Center), Jane Garbutt (Washington University in St. Louis), Rubén García García (University of Puerto Rico), W. Charles Huskins (Mayo Clinic), Kurt Kroenke (Indiana University), Bruce Rollman (University of Pittsburgh), Gary Rosenthal (University of Iowa), Julie Schweitzer (University of California, Davis), Eugene D. Shapiro (Yale University), and Stephanie Vecchiarelli (The Ohio State University). The authors also thank the following CTSA research mentor training trial site research assistants: Susan Anderson, Joanna M. Barr, Lauren Boyle, Ann Castellano, Antaeus Coe, Fred De Pourcq, Lida Gilbertson, Blair Gonsenhauser, Nancy Hodgkins, LaToya Howard, Jessica Hyink, Nicolas Licht, Melissa Logsdon, Stephanie McCalley, Reid McCamish, Vardhini Mohan, Madrid Poultney, Suyapa Sarmiento, Miyisha Slay, Lauren Thomann, and Tracy Yale.

Funding/Support: This research was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants UL1 RR025011, K24AA015390, UL1 RR02415, and UL1TR000005.

Other disclosures: None.

Ethical approval: The institutional review board (IRB) of the University of Wisconsin at Madison approved the study and served as the primary IRB record for the multisite trial. The other 15 sites received IRB approval at their respective institutions.

Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this report are solely the views of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Research Resources or National Institutes of Health.

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The Mentoring Competency Assessment: Validation of a New... : Academic Medicine

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essing diversity, fostering independence, and promoting professional development. Method In 2010, investigators administered the MCA to 283 mentor-mentee pairs from 16 universities participating in a trial of a mentoring curriculum for clinical and translational research mentors. The authors analyzed baseline MCA data to describe the instrument's psychometric properties.

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Schmidt, R. A., Wang, H., Cassidy, L., & Laguarda, K. (2017). A comprehensive model of teacher induction: Implementation and impact on teachers and students evaluation of the New Teacher Center's i3 validation grant, final report. Menlo Park, CA: SRI International.

Abstract

SRI Education's evaluation of the New Teacher Center's (NTC's) Investing in Innovation (i3) Validation grant examined the impact of the NTC induction model on teacher practice and student achievement. To account for different local contexts and needs, the study used randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in two districts-Broward County Public Schools and Chicago Public Schools-and a quasi-experimental design in Grant Wood Area Education Agency, a consortium of districts in Iowa. In the RCT districts, the study found positive impacts of the induction model on student achievement in English language arts and mathematics. The study found no statistically significant differences between NTC-supported teachers and comparison teachers on teacher practice measures or on teacher retention into their third year of teaching.

However, the high implementation fidelity levels and contrasts in induction experiences between treatment and comparison teachers indicate that the NTC induction model can be implemented well in a range of district contexts.

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A comprehensive model of teacher induction: Implementation and impact on teachers and students evaluation of the New Teacher Center's i3 validation grant, final report - SRI International

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SRI Education's evaluation of the New Teacher Center's (NTC's) Investing in Innovation (i3) Validation grant examined the impact of the NTC induction model on teacher practice and student achievement. To account for different local contexts and needs, the study used randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in two districts-Broward County Public Schools and Chicago Public Schools-and a quasi-experimental design in Grant Wood Area Education Agency, a consortium of districts in Iowa.

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A lot of research has examined teacher attrition and retention, but even still, findings can be inconsistent or narrow. A new federal report out today tries to address shortcomings in teacher retention research.

The Institute for Education Sciences, the U.S. Department of Education's statistical wing, conducted a longitudinal study between 2007 and 2012 to help determine teacher attrition, retention, and mobility.

Studying a cohort of 1,990 first-year public school teachers beginning in the 2007-08 school year, the study found that after five years of teaching, roughly 70 percent of the original cohort remained in their original schools, 10 percent had moved schools, three percent had returned to teaching, and only 17 percent had exited the profession:

What used to be a catch-all statistic based on the work of University of Pennsylvania Professor Richard Ingersoll-that half of all teachers leave within the first five years of entering the profession-has shown to be unreliable, even according to Ingersoll himself.

If the new results sound familiar, it's because they echo findings from a Center for American Progress report, released in January, which used the same data. But unlike that study, IES is also working on delving into why the retention rate has changed so much in the past decade.

There are some threads throughout the data:

Teachers with mentors: Among members of the original cohort, 86 percent with first-year mentors were still teaching, compared with 71 percent without mentors. A survey released in April 2014 by the National Network of State Teachers of the Year and the American Institutes for Research found that mentors provided the most value to new teachers of any form of assistance. Some researchers note, however, that not all mentorship is created equal, and schools that create collaborative environments see the most return on investment.

Teacher salary: Eighty-nine percent of teachers with a starting salary of $40,000 or more were still teaching through five years, compared to 80 percent of teachers with lesser starting salaries. Teacher salaries across the country, mind you, often start low and stay low throughout their careers and end with weak retirement savings.

Teacher education: Retention rates didn't change much based on whether new teachers came in with a bachelor's degree or a master's degree, though teachers with the latter held a slight edge after three years.

Teacher sex: Men drop out of the profession faster than women: 78 percent vs. 84 percent.

Teacher race: This one is just a little weird: Through five years, white teachers have an edge in retention over teachers of other races, but there's a sharp drop for non-white teachers in the fourth year, followed by a small rebound. The slight edge white teachers have may be a cause for concern, though, because the teaching profession is very white.

Teachers who move: Four out of five teachers who changed schools after their first year did so voluntarily; the remainder moved involuntarily or because their contracts were not renewed. Why so many change schools voluntarily is a good question, but they probably can't all be moving just because they want a change of scenery after one year. From a recruitment aspect, it's positive that teachers can move but stay teachers. But teacher mobility is still a form of turnover, and turnover may affect achievement.

Teachers who leave: Ten percent of teachers left the profession in the first year, and of those, 73 percent did so voluntarily. Another way of framing that: Almost eight percent of new teachers left the profession voluntarily after one year.

These data are descriptive, so although teachers who have mentors are more likely to stay, it's not certain that the presence of a mentor is the definitive factor compared to some other, unmeasured factor.

There are lots of other interesting nuggets in the survey, including how community size, certification, student household income level, and grade level are linked to teacher retention.

While the study adds to and perhaps clarifies preexisting data about teacher retention, though, the point is generally the same throughout a lot of research: Teacher turnover is real, and there are some clear differences in which teachers are most affected.
See also:

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Teachers Without Mentors Leave the Profession Much Faster, Study Finds

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A lot of research has examined teacher attrition and retention, but even still, findings can be inconsistent or narrow. A new federal report out today tries to address shortcomings in teacher retention research. The Institute for Education Sciences, the U.S.

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Why New Teacher Mentoring Falls Short, and How to Fix It

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NIET’s report offers concrete strategies and actions to improve mentoring for new teachers, drawn from partnerships in Louisiana and Texas.

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- A MentorcliQ Article -

In 2021, one of the most pressing issues for companies was employee retention. The global pandemic caused many workers to rethink the value of work in their lives. The result? The Great Resignation. Now, companies are seeking any method they can find to reduce employee turnover. Many are starting to turn their eyes toward mentoring. That begs the question: Is mentoring a viable option for employee retention and engagement? A quick look at what the Fortune500 are doing as well as 40+ other mentoring stats for 2022 offers some insights and answers some very important questions about why mentoring is a growing trend.

Looking for something specific? You can jump to stats in each of the following sections:

1. What the Fortune 500 Are Doing

2. Why Is Mentoring in Demand?

3. Mentoring for Career and Skill Development

4. Mentoring for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

5. Mentoring Millennials and Gen Z

Leading by Example - Fortune 500 Mentoring

Effective, high-quality data now plays a central role in every industry, especially talent management. Business leaders rely on strong data for every major decision, including the running cost/benefit analyses on existing engagement strategies, or as they explore the potential ROI of creating new ones. That includes whether or not to launch or expand mentoring programs. In 2009 companies started reporting that, "70% of Fortune 500 companies use mentoring programs". In a recent, in-depth study of the mentoring landscape among US Fortune 500 companies, we've discovered that it is time to expire this heavily-cited data point and replace it with the following key takeaways:

84% of US Fortune 500 companies have mentoring programs

100% of US Fortune 50 companies have mentoring programs

On average, US Fortune 500 companies with mentoring programs had better profits during the 2020 Covid-19 economic downturn

On average, companies with female CEOs suffered the least impact on their profits following the 2020 Covid-19 economic downturn

Companies in the Retail, Automotive, and Food & Beverage industries have the largest percentage of companies on the US Fortune 500 list without mentoring programs, despite having categorically-high employee turnover rates

Interested in downloading the 2022 Mentoring Impact Report: Visualizing the US Fortune 500, in its entirety? Let us know and we will send it to you when it is released May 1.

Request 2022 Mentoring Impact Report: Visualizing the US Fortune 500

Why Is Mentoring in Demand?

Mentoring is no longer a "nice to have". It's essential for businesses that want to thrive within a post-pandemic world. If the Great Resignation taught us anything, it's that workers with in-demand skills are willing to walk away from their current employer if it means finding a job that offers a better quality of life, better work-life balance, higher pay, more upskilling and reskilling opportunities, and deeper and more meaningful workplace connections and interactions.

65% of people (or more) were looking for a new job in 2021. That trend is likely to continue into 2022. (PwC)

US businesses lose close to 1 trillion dollars annually due to employee turnover as the cost to replace an employee can be up to 2x the employees' salary. (Gallup)

Workers at practically every level (individual contributor, manager, senior manager, and vice president) are significantly less likely to consider quitting if they have a mentor. (CNBC/SurveyMonkey)

As a result, companies are looking at mentoring as a way to help meet their talent goals:

In its 2022 L&D Social Sentiment Survey, Donald H. Taylor discovered that mentoring is now the #4 on a list of learning and development strategies L&D teams are looking at. That's an increase from #6 in the 2021 survey and the largest rank increase of any other strategy on the list. (Donald H. Taylor)

The pandemic caused a 30% increase in mentoring initiatives at organizations (LHH)

Between 56% to 71% of organizations (or more) now use mentoring to some degree (DDI, LHH)

Long story short: Workers are growing anxious. The pandemic caused a fundamental shift in how people view their relationship to work. People are reassessing the meaning of work itself, tying it into their greater meaning as it regards what they want out of life, and effectively voting with their feet. Companies are now catching on to the wide employee retention and engagement issues that mentoring can solve.

We've highlighted more examples of mentoring facts and stats below to help paint the picture even further.

Mentoring for Career and Skill Development

Particularly in light of the Great Resignation, workers want the opportunity to grow and learn. In fact, over 66% of workers are willing to retrain and reskill for new jobs. However, the desire to learn alone through digital courses is waning. Many people prefer not to simply learn alone from digital courses but through 1-to-1 or 1-to-many mentoring relationships.

Impact of mentoring on employees career development and advancement:

In addition,

25% of mentees experienced an increase in their salary, compared to 5% of people not involved in mentoring. (Sun Microsystems)

Employees involved in mentoring are promoted 5x more often than those not involved in mentoring. (Sun Microsystems)

Those who serve as a mentor are 6X more likely to be promoted to a higher position. (Sun Microsystems)

Around 60% of both men and women who serve as sponsors are satisfied with their career advancement. (Coqual)

66% of employees who sponsor, coach, or mentor others are satisfied with their ability to deliver on difficult projects. (Coqual)

Mentoring for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The majority of the workforce now wants employers who value diversity, equity, and inclusion. In fact, a CNBC/SurveyMonkey survey discovered that 80% of workers want to work for companies that prioritize DEI. And while the data on the benefits of mentoring and its positive impacts on women in the workplace has become far more robust in the past few years, we've noticed a significant lack of available data on how mentoring benefits employees who identify as BIPOC of LGBTQ+.

As DEI becomes more important to company culture, more research and data will be needed in the near future to highlight the benefits and gaps in mentoring for many workers within historically underrepresented groups.

Mentoring stats on racial and ethnic diversity:

Gender diversity:

69% of women who have a mentor choose one of their same gender, compared to 82% of men. (Olivet Nazarene University)

78% of women in senior roles have served as a formal mentor at least once in their career. (DDI)

63% of women report that they've never had a formal mentor. (DDI)

Only 54% of women report that they've ever been asked to be a mentor in their career. (DDI)

70% of women who mentor other women report that they choose to mentor in order to be supportive of other women. (DDI)

The biggest considerations for women considering becoming mentors include time commitment (75%), subject matter expertise (54%), and their relationship to the mentee (54%). Most other factors, such as the gender of the mentee (2%) and the age of the mentee (4%) tend not to matter. (DDI)

53% of women mentees felt that they didn't have adequate training to be mentors in a formal mentoring relationship. (DDI)

Women are 10% more likely to accept a request to be a mentor if their organization has a formal mentoring program. (DDI)

Mentoring Millennials and Gen Z

The look of the labor market is changing, fast. Alight (formerly NGA Human Resources) predicts that by 2025, 42.5% of the workforce will be Millennials (aged 25-44 during that year) and that 28.2% will be Gen Z (aged 16 to 24). For Millennials, in particular, the coming decade will be critical for future career moves. Consequently, Millennials (and Gen Z) are starting to think more deeply about topics such as skill development, career development, and quality of life.

Did you know?

49% of Millennials are looking at quitting their jobs within the next two years. (Deloitte)

Millennials are more likely to quit because of a lack of career advancement opportunities (35%) and a lack of learning and development opportunities (28%). (Deloitte)

Gen Z strongly believes in learning, as 76% see learning as critical to their career advancement. (Forbes)

How mentoring helps your next-generation employees:

Do you need help using mentoring statistics to build the case for mentoring at your organization? Book a call today to learn more about how mentoring software can increase employee engagement and retention.

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40+ Definitive Mentoring Stats for 2022 | MentorcliQ

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A MentorcliQ Article - In 2021, one of the most pressing issues for companies was employee retention. The global pandemic caused many workers to rethink the value of work in their lives. The result? The Great Resignation. Now, companies are seeking any method they can find to reduce employee turnover.

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Experienced teachers and those new to the profession benefit from collaboration and learning that goes in both directions.

monkeybusinessimages / iStock

Teacher mentoring programs, no matter the locale, tend to provide yearlong, one-to-one guidance to less experienced teachers, with mentors and mentees typically meeting at least once a week. Through those meetings with veteran teachers, plus impromptu classroom visits, lunchtime chats, texts, and phone calls, new teachers gain professional knowledge, skills to reflect on the status quo, and a vision for the future.

But the pandemic school year, as we all know, was extremely taxing for novice and experienced teachers alike. From it emerged new strategies that benefit both the mentor and the mentee.

Create Structures for Collaborative Support

School-based new teacher support groups provide a convenient, safe space for newcomers in their first three years of teaching. When sessions are led by a trained teacher-mentor, novices become comfortable sharing challenges and successes, and the group also finds out about just-in-time topics and helpful instructional strategies. New staff members also have the opportunity to get to know the faces and names of colleagues who are going through similar experiences.

For example, if a high school enrolls a large percentage of second-language learners, an ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) staff member can lead September's monthly support session, providing targeted background information about the building's student population. The presenter can describe unique challenges that ESOL students often experience, then introduce three ways teachers can offset these challenges to promote student success. Because the session happens at the start of the school year, topics can also include cultural information and guidance about upcoming holidays, and a list of interpreters for parent-teacher discussions can be distributed.

In addition to a school's newbie learning and support group, "resource clusters" can form out of a need for help with a certain topic, like online instruction. Teachers of all experience levels, across several elementary grades, and even from different schools can work collaboratively to share understanding and to help each other figure out the best way to design lessons. Because the resource cluster grows from an organic need, its membership expands and shrinks based on teachers' comfort levels and needs.

By creating or joining a resource cluster, teachers are empowered to overcome any challenge they encounter by seeking support and working with like-minded educators.

Cultivate Reciprocal Teaching and Learning

The mentor-mentee relationship is dynamic and fluid, depending on the current topic and each teacher's needs. Many young, novice educators have a lot of technology experience that older teachers might not, providing mentees with opportunities to guide veterans. Mentors, then, model a learning stance by allowing themselves to be vulnerable, highlighting and tackling knowledge gaps and pushing themselves forward professionally. By reversing roles, mentors expand their knowledge while reinforcing relationships with mentees based on mutual respect, encouragement, and collaboration.

All mentor program participants benefit from taking on the roles of both instructor and student because learning often becomes more powerful when it's a two-way street. But taking on reciprocal roles has an additional benefit: Professional duos form strong, affirmative bonds when they interact based on each person's expertise. When colleagues take part in the give-and-take of being both the expert and the amateur, a mutually beneficial, steadfast connection emerges that enhances the mentoring relationship and its outcomes.

Use Live and Recorded Video to Support Visits to Other Classes

Teachers new to their roles benefit from visiting other classrooms, as seeing what takes place when another teacher is in charge can be a robust learning opportunity. Yet during a typical school year, it can be challenging to schedule peer visits because of time conflicts and the expense of hiring substitute teachers. Last year, however, I noticed that teachers' frequent use of video technologies allowed new hires to take part in more than twice the number of peer observations than I saw the previous year, which exposed them to far more instructional strategies and classroom models.

For example, with live video, incoming educators and experienced ones can join a colleague's virtual class for 10 to 15 minutes as a deliberate strategy to learn how to incorporate technology tools. Furthermore, they can spend the same amount of time visiting peers on other grade levels or even at different schools to learn about the same strategy or an entirely different topic. Observing in several classrooms broadens new professionals' experiences and provides them a range of approaches from which they can reflect and choose.

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3 Strategies for Productive Teacher Mentoring

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Experienced teachers and those new to the profession benefit from collaboration and learning that goes in both directions. monkeybusinessimages / iStock Teacher mentoring programs, no matter the locale, tend to provide yearlong, one-to-one guidance to less experienced teachers, with mentors and mentees typically meeting at least once a week.

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What Makes a Great Teacher Mentor? | Elmhurst University Blog

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I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou Poet and Memoirist While mentors have many ways to support protégés, great mentors always seem to act in three critical ways.

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" Back to Articles
Updated for 2022: Having a mentoring relationship is often noted as being one of the most beneficial things you can do for your career and personal development. Whether you want a mentor to progress in your career or are someone who struggles with soft skills, a mentor is there to help you develop on your journey. A vast number of studies have shown that some incredible benefits come with being a mentor or being mentored, from an enhanced network and the higher possibilities of being promoted within your organisation. We're now seeing the number of people looking for a mentor rapidly increase with the number of businesses now implementing mentoring programs to improve the learning, development and skills of their employees. With the demand for mentoring rapidly increasing and a large amount of research available, we've compiled the latest mentoring statistics list, some of which you probably didn't know about:

General Mentoring Statistics

It's imperative that when talking about the advantages of mentoring relationships, we're able to categorise the influence it can have on different factors in our lives. Generally speaking, mentoring has a significant impact on the lives of an individual or business and should be celebrated. Listed below are some of the top statistics about mentoring that will impress you.

87% of mentors and mentees say that their mentoring relationships make them feel empowered and assist them to develop a more prominent sense of confidence in themselves. (Source)

97% of individuals with a mentor feel they are highly impactful and valuable. (Source)

Only 37% of professionals have a mentor. (Source)

89% of individuals mentored will mentor someone in the future. (Source)

Almost one-quarter (24%) of 46-64 claimed they would only return to the office for in person mentorship or coaching

Mentoring Statistics in Career Progression
Mentoring and career progression go hand in hand. Mentoring is now considered one of the top strategies used for career development and progression with a large number of professionals pursuing mentoring relationships to advance in their careers. Mentoring has also proven notably valuable to help assist and guide individuals looking to make career transitions. Whether you're a mentor or mentee, it's equally as beneficial for your career.

Mentees are 5x more likely to be promoted than those without a mentor. (Source)

Mentors are 6x more likely to be promoted compared to their co-workers. (Source)

A recent study showed that 25% of employees who are part of a mentoring program had a salary increase in comparison to the 5% who didn't participate. (Source)

Mentoring Statistics for Employee Retention

The first few days for a new employee are crucial to their long-term success. Yet, many businesses fail to realise the importance of the first few days and the expense correlated with retaining and training employees. The data speaks for itself with over 22% of staff turnover occurring within the first 45 days and the replacement of an employee costing 3x their annual salary. Time and time again having a mentoring program in place has proven advantageous for employee retention, giving new and old employees a feeling of belonging and strong company culture, both things that are highly prominent in motivating employees to stay within your company.

50% of younger professionals say that a workplace mentorship program would make them more likely to stay at a company.

86% of professionals claim that having access to mentoring is a factor in them staying with an organisation.

43% of professionals claim that having access to mentoring is a significant factor for staying with an organisation.

A massive 94% of employees stated they would stay at a company for longer if they were offered opportunities to develop and grow within the company and their careers. (Source)

9 in 10 workers with a mentor say they feel happier within their career. (Source)

4 in 10 workers who don't have a mentor admit that they've considered quitting their job in the past three months. (Source)

Mentoring Statistics for Diversity, Equality and Inclusion
Over the past few years, there is growing evidence that concludes that inclusive working environments lead to better results. When employees feel included, they are more likely to be engaged and perform at a higher standard. Companies are finally recognising that inclusion and diversity within the workplace are required to form a company that truly understands its employees and becomes successful. We recently surveyed our mentors and mentees at PushFar, unsurprisingly, 82% of those surveyed said that they thought mentoring was valuable to tackling diversity and inclusion hurdles head-on. Employees feel motivated and supported when they see senior leaders with whom they can relate and identify with.

63% of women have never had a formal mentor. (Source)

On average mentoring programs boost the representation of underrepresented groups, by 9% to 24%. (Source)

Promotion and retention rates for minorities and women also increased for one organisation from 15% to 38% in comparison to their non-mentored staff members. (Source)

Women are more likely to have a mentor (54%) compared to men in the workforce (48%). (Source)

Mentoring Statistics for Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a small business owner, mentoring will impact your company. To be successful at what you love, it doesn't hurt to have direction and assistance from another individual who has taken a similar path to yourself. More business owners now recognise the significance of mentoring relationships, not only for themselves but for their employees. All businesses will likely seek out a mentor or implement a mentoring program within their organisation in the near future.

71% of Fortune 500 companies have a mentoring program in place. (Source)

56% of organisations have a mentoring program in place. (Source)

70% of small businesses that receive mentoring survive five years or more, twice the rate of those who don't have mentoring relationships. (Source)

93% of small and medium-sized businesses recognise that mentoring can help them succeed. (Source)

Only 25% of small and medium business owners have a mentor. (Source)

92% of small business owners with a mentor agree that it has directly impacted the growth and survival of their business. (Source)

61% of small business owners mentor others. (Source)

58% of business owners will specifically mentor young entrepreneurs. (Source)

A massive 89% of small business owners that don't have a mentor wish they did. (Source)

84% of CEOs stated that mentoring has helped them avoid mistakes within their businesses. (Source)

For businesses, 67% reported an increase in productivity due to mentoring. (Source)

55% of businesses state that mentoring had a positive impact on their profits. (Source)

Mentoring Statistics for Millennials
Millennials are considered as being the most powerful generation, causing endless companies to evaluate how they operate. Studies predict that in just 5 years, millennials will amount to 75% of the global workforce. Millennial professionals have different expectations from their previous generations, for example, millennials seek out training and feedback from the workplace, and meeting these expectations can prove challenging to managers across the globe. Having a mentoring program in place is ideal for this generation, ensuring they get the attention and guidance they seek.

Millennials intending to stay with their organisation for more than five years are twice as likely to have a mentor (68%) than not (32%). (Source)

79% of millennials view mentoring as a crucial aspect of having a successful career. (Source)

After implementing a reverse mentoring program, a company experienced a 96% retention rate amongst millennial employees. (Source)

63% of millennials feel their leadership skills aren't being fully developed within the workplace. (Source)

68% of millennials with a mentor intend to stay with their organisation for over 5 years compared to the 32% than peers who don't. (Source)

Only 29% of millennials feel engaged at work. (Source)

78% of employees are concerned about the level of engagement from seniors within their company. (Source)

61% of millennials in the workforce feel like mentoring is having a positive impact.

There are various reasons for millennials wanting to leave their job, however, the main reasons are 35% of millennials feel as though there aren't enough opportunities to advance and 28% feel their organisation lacks learning and development opportunities. (Source)

Millennials crave feedback, however, only 19% say they are receiving feedback from their managers and 17% stating that the feedback they receive is meaningful. (Source)

Mentoring Statistics for Young Adults
Young adults are those aged between 12-18, research proves that mentoring is greatly useful in young adults lives. Studies have shown it helps individuals improve both academic social and academic prospects. Mentoring allows meaningful relationships to be formed, having a real impression on both the mentor and mentee. It allows them to develop leadership, management, communication, and creative skills. Mentoring for young adults also further empowers them to give back to their community. Mentors for young adults are there to advise, support and guide them about classes, careers, jobs, life choices and future education routes, whilst being a role model for the mentee.

Students with a mentor are 52% less likely to skip a day of school. (Source)

37% of students with a mentor are less likely to skip a class. (Source)

55% of young adults who have a mentor but face an opportunity gap are more likely to get a higher education than peers who did not possess a mentor. (Source)

78% of young adults with a mentor are more likely to volunteer regularly. (Source)

90% of young adults with a mentor are interested in becoming one in the future. (Source)

59% of teens with a mentor get better grades than their peers. (Source)

27% of young adults with a mentor are less likely to use alcohol. (Source)

Final Thoughts
We hope you were able to learn a little more about mentoring, and the impact it can have on both professional and personal development. It doesn't matter if you're an employer, a student looking for their first job or a business owner wanting to grow your business successfully, mentoring is for everyone. If you want to learn more about mentoring and how it can help you or your business, you can find more information at PushFar.

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Mentoring Statistics in 2022: Everything You Need to Know

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" Back to Articles Updated for 2022: Having a mentoring relationship is often noted as being one of the most beneficial things you can do for your career and personal development. Whether you want a mentor to progress in your career or are someone who struggles with soft skills, a mentor is there to help you develop on your journey.

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84% of CEO's in formal mentoring programs said mentors had helped them avoid costly mistakes and become proficient in their roles.

71% of Fortune 500 companies use a mentoring program and 75% of executives credit their mentors.

89% of those who have been mentored go on to mentor others.

Everyone has life skills and experience to share as a mentor. One word, one hour can be all that's needed to effect a positive change in someone.

We all need help in this world. Mentoring gives a sense of purpose to both parties, it's not only good for business but it's also good for the soul!

National Mentoring Day

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Facts and Statistics - National Mentoring Day

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84% of CEO's in formal mentoring programs said mentors had helped them avoid costly mistakes and become proficient in their roles. 71% of Fortune 500 companies use a mentoring program and 75% of executives credit their mentors. 89% of those who have been mentored go on to mentor others.

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A big batch of file folders, mandatory homework that felt like "busy work," and requisite weekly meetings that never seemed to address what she needed to know at that moment-that's what Misti Kemmer recalls about her mentorship experience as a newly minted 23-year-old elementary school teacher.

"It was a horror story," she said.

In spite of the poor support she received as a rookie, Kemmer stuck it out, brushing aside tears and what she swears were her first gray hairs. She remains a classroom teacher 16 years later, and has become a mentor to new teachers herself.

"L.A. Unified has an incredible mentor program," said Kemmer, who now teaches 4th grade at Russell Elementary School in Los Angeles.

First-year teachers have arguably one of the toughest jobs out there. And there's no singular "how-to" playbook to guide them through it. That could explain why so many new teachers leave the profession after only a few years.

While estimates on attrition vary, an analysis of federal data shows that more than 40 percent of new teachers leave the profession within five years. It's an enormous loss to schools, and ultimately, to students.

Mentors can make a difference. One federal study examined the benefits of mentorship programs and found that 92 percent of first-year teachers who had mentors returned to the classroom for a second year. But, as Kemmer's experience demonstrates, not all mentorships are created equal. Nor is there a single system of support that will ensure a new teacher's ultimate success.

Education Week spoke with experienced teachers, former mentees, and current mentors to uncover key components of mentorships that effectively give new teachers a solid foundation in their early careers. They told us what's worked for them and what hasn't.

Keep mentors and mentees in close contact

Pamela Femrite enjoyed a 20-year career in corporate America before making a career change to become a special education teacher. After completing both an accelerated teacher licensure and master's degree program, and a 10-week student teaching experience, Femrite landed a job in the Minneapolis public school system teaching special education. Two decades of experience in the corporate world couldn't have prepared Femrite for the daily demands she faced in this new role. But a mentor did.

"Coming out of traditional college, trying to bridge the gap from theories learned in the classroom to applying them, my mentor teacher was able to really help me," said Femrite, who now works at Franklin Elementary in Minnesota's Mankato Area public schools.

Femrite says it helped that she and her mentor shared the same classroom, although each had their own caseload of students. This arrangement made it convenient for Femrite's mentor to both observe and train her in a number of areas-including, but not limited to, standards, curriculum, lesson planning, school culture, and the unique needs of the students.

Without consistent support from her mentor, said Femrite, "It would have been very hard to stay." Now in her eighth year teaching special education, considered by many to be one of the most challenging K-12 teaching positions, Femrite believes all districts would benefit from creating similar mentoring frameworks for teachers in their first year, a period she describes as "being in a fog."

Mentors should be 'impartial' and 'guide from the side'

Heather Puhl can relate. She began teaching as a 21-year-old straight out of college. Her mentor taught language arts. Puhl taught science in a completely different part of the building.

"I never saw her," she said. "I was there with these kids, I had no one to talk to." Puhl left the classroom after one year, retreating to graduate school where she found comfort in the familiar rhythms of being a student.

But she did return to teaching and, after 13 years as a middle school math teacher, was hired in 2010 by Caldwell County Schools in Hudson, N.C., as one of the district's two full-time mentors to work directly with new teachers. This year, her caseload includes 42 teachers in either their first, second, or third years. When the program started, Puhl mentored closer to 60 new teachers in a given year-proof, she says, that the program is working, as fewer teachers districtwide are leaving and need to be replaced.

Because she's no longer a classroom teacher, Puhl can focus exclusively on supporting new teachers. "My job is to acclimate them to the teaching profession," she said.

Puhl believes her unique position as a non-teacher benefits new teachers.

"I'm not part of the drama. I'm impartial," said Puhl. "I can guide from the side-I have no other objective except to make sure they succeed." Puhl's main approach involves building a confidential and trusting relationship with her mentees, offering non-evaluative feedback through informal observations and, when needed, co-teaching to model instructional strategies.

She also makes herself accessible. Puhl meets with each new teacher one-on-one each week for about 30 minutes. She also hands out her cell phone number to new teachers, responding to their calls and texts during and outside of work hours as needed.

Puhl points to this impartial accessibility, coupled with additional supportive features-including monthly districtwide seminars for new teachers, a dedicated online space for sharing relevant information, and other built-in opportunities for meaningful exchanges with other new and veteran teachers-as the ingredients to the mentorship program's success.

Let new teachers choose their own goals

Relevance is critical to a mentorship's success. But, say some, not every mentorship prioritizes what new teachers want to know.

"I taught some 5th graders who couldn't read. But I was going to meetings about other things," said Kemmer, the Los Angeles teacher, of her experience being mentored.

Now, as a mentor herself, Kemmer supports four mentees-teachers in their first through third years-as they work toward goals they've set for themselves.

"Sometimes we work on their goal, sometimes they just cry on my shoulder," Kemmer said. As important as the goals themselves, says Kemmer, is that mentees identify them. "The program is so teacher-directed. That's the magic key," she said.

Make sure it's a good match

Kemmer points to another effective strategy of her district's mentorship program: Mentees can choose their mentors. She says they base their selection on a variety of factors, including geography, division, and subject area.

When it comes to matching mentors, race can be an important factor, especially for teachers of color.

"We have a unique need, different than our white counterparts," said Femrite, who is Black. "We need to see ourselves in other teachers. We need to pair a teacher of color with another one so we can provide some of that social-emotional support."

Femrite says having a Black teacher as her mentor helped her navigate through school culture, feel accepted, and gain the confidence she needed as a first-year teacher to effectively work alongside a teaching staff dominated by white women.

Across all school environments, mentors set the stage for successful entry into the teaching profession when they can exhibit empathy for new teachers that comes from having walked in their footsteps.

"I know how hard it is to stand on your own two feet, uncomfortable and unsure of what kind of difference you're making with the kids," said Puhl. "Now, I feel like these [new teachers] are my babies."

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Mentors Matter for New Teachers. Advice on What Works and Doesn't

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A big batch of file folders, mandatory homework that felt like "busy work," and requisite weekly meetings that never seemed to address what she needed to know at that moment-that's what Misti Kemmer recalls about her mentorship experience as a newly minted 23-year-old elementary school teacher. "It was a horror story," she said.