January-June 2018: Establishing Statewide Mentor Teacher Networks 

- Check out a webinar about this team's work.  

- Download this team's final project, an actionable framework for how to establish a STEM mentor teacher network in your state. 

This Project Team works to uncover promising approaches to establishing statewide STEM mentor teacher networks. Members include Boston University, Great Hearts Academies, National Science Teachers Association, Nevada State Science Teachers Association, Purdue University, University of North Florida, and University of Southern Indiana.

Teacher shortages are present in every state and are especially high in science and mathematics. This team operates under the belief that teacher recruitment is not the root of the problem—retaining new teachers is the problem. Many teachers leave in their first three years. One strategy for increasing teacher retention is ensuring that all teachers have access to mentor teachers as they progress in their careers.

In this Project Team, members explored best practices in creating and sustaining statewide networks of teacher mentors, including (but not limited to) funding, program structures for training and sustaining mentors, collaboration methodology, tactics for virtual vs in-person mentoring, and evaluation methodology. Through the process, members reflected on their own practice in addition to conducting research of other programs and approaches.

January-June 2019: Supporting and Developing Mentor Teachers

Building on last cycle, this Project Team's goal is to develop training modules for mentors, mentees, principals, and administrators. Their members include Purdue University, University of Southern Indiana, Barrington Community School District Unit 220, Great Hearts Schools, Penn State University College of Education, and Public Education & Business Coalition (PEBC).

Last cycle, this team developed an actionable framework and professional development activities based on best practices for how to establish a STEM mentor teacher network in your state -- including identifying, selecting, training, and compensating mentors and mentees.

This year, they gathered voices from others about the framework and activities in their efforts to foster support for mentors and mentees.

January-June 2020: Developing a PD Tool-kit for STEM Mentoring

This team is a continuation of a previous Project Team called "Supporting and Developing Mentor Teachers." They developed PD modules that can be used to train Mentor teachers and used that work to develop PD for mentees and a tool-kit that can be used by districts that are interested in adapting and developing their own STEM mentoring program. 

See their STEM Mentoring Tool-kit.