A great start

NEA Today, Oct 2003 by Ross, Cheryl

THE HEMPFIELD AREA INDUCTION AND MENTOR PROGRAM must be doing something right, because in the last six years, only one new hire has left the local school district, located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Under the program, which has evolved since it began in 1983, all new hires spend three years with their mentors, attending full-day workshops, conferences, and sessions on the legal aspects of teaching. It's been so successful that it received national recognition this summer by winning a 2003 NEA-Saturn/UAW Partnership Award. The annual awards recognize local Associations and school administrations that have developed effective new teacher programs.

The day-to-day, practical advice mentors give new teachers is crucial to their success, says social studies teacher Rich Redmerski, one of the district's mentors. But good mentoring is not just providing information, he says. "It's making sure that person becomes part of the community of educators," says Redmerski, vice president of the Hempfield Area Education Association.

Good mentoring also takes time-and money. Hempfield spends more than $3,000 per new teacher to pay for substitutes on workshop days and provide $600 annual stipends for the mentors. The result is a highly skilled staff with dramatically low turnover. "Our new hires are the best we can get," says NEA member Sue Bosley, Hempfield's staff development leader, "and we want to keep them."

-CHERYL ROSS