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This review has been accessed times since June 21, 2007

Achinstein, Betty & Athanases, Steven Z. (Eds.) (2006) Mentors in the Making: Developing New Leaders for New Teachers. New York: Teachers College Press. Pp. 196     $27.95 (paperback)     ISBN 0-8077-4635-5

Reviewed by Jessica Kim
University of Pennsylvania

June 21, 2007

Retaining highly competent teachers in urban public schools continues to be a great challenge in the United States. Addressing the “revolving door” of new teacher attrition is a more critical matter (Ingersoll, 2001), as the data from Schools and Staffing Survey and Teacher Followup Survey indicate that between 40 and 50 percent of all beginning teachers leave their profession just after five years (Ingersoll & Smith, 2003). Apart from insufficient salary, beginning teachers identified several reasons associated with working conditions that affected their decision to leave teaching: lack of administrative support, poor student discipline and student motivation, and lack of participation in decision making (Ingersoll, 2003). For these beginning teachers, several of these conditions can be improved with the help of veteran teachers serving as mentors on campuses. The authors of Mentors in the Making: Developing New Leaders for New Teachers address the need to be explicit in preparing mentors for these beginning teachers. As former teachers who have personally struggled in their navigating processes through school systems as novices, Betty Achinstein and Steven Z. Athanases understand that “quality mentoring and induction support system [can] guide [beginning teachers] in moving from being students of teaching to quality teachers of students” (p. 2). They draw on well-developed induction programs, case studies of mentoring, and the expertise of educators and researchers to illustrate the multitude of possibilities in developing new conceptions of mentoring and addressing challenges existing in current practices.

Achinstein and Athanases operate under three main assumptions in regards to mentors and mentoring, all of which are accentuated in the title of the book. First, they recognize that mentors are not born but rather “made” through conscious, deliberate, ongoing learning. Second, they acknowledge the need for mentors to strive for new understandings, knowledge, and visions as “new leaders.” Lastly, they recognize the potential that mentor leadership has on new teachers in developing into strong, effective, and enduring teachers during the most difficult period of their profession. In an effort to systematically guide both veteran and beginning teachers through their individual roles in mentor relationships and to further the growth of teaching and learning process of teachers, the authors set out to accomplish three goals: 1) to articulate a complex base knowledge of mentoring needed to cultivate quality teaching, one that focuses new teachers on reform-minded conceptions of teaching and learning, students, and the profession; 2) to examine a curriculum for mentor professional development in order to explore ways in which mentor’s knowledge, skills, and dispositions can be developed effectively; and 3) to illustrate challenges and promising practices of mentoring in action (pp. 2-3).

The book is divided into three parts. Several sections of these parts are written by Achinstein or Athanases or both, while the rest are contributed by individuals who are actively serving administrative, coordinator, or instructor roles in various institutions of education. After the introduction, Part I addresses the challenge of focusing novice teachers on the needs of diverse learners; Part II identifies challenges in developing and enacting a knowledge base of curriculum and teaching for mentors; and Part III discusses what mentors need to know in regards to organizational contexts and purposes.

Achinstein and Athanases first attempt to flatten the commonly regarded notion that “new teachers focus on self-image, resources, and procedures” (p. 23) by examining how mentors can help new teachers move beyond the survival mode to focus on individual student learning. They turn to various case studies of mentors and their novice teachers to illustrate the types of dialogue and interaction that may occur to promote effective teaching and learning in the classrooms. To illustrate the power and complexity of a mentor’s knowledge of multiple domains of assessment, for instance, they highlight a couple one-on-one conversations between mentor teachers and their novice teachers. These conversations are referred to as “planning conferences” that provide “opportunity to examine observational data and student work, to reflect on successes and challenges, and to plan next steps” (p. 28). In the few case studies mentioned, this type of interaction allowed novice teachers to understand how assessment could inform instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners. With the overemphasis on standards and standardized testing in urban public schools, Achinstein and Athanases address the entanglement that novice teachers often find themselves in attempting to make sense of state mandates and measurement of student success.

In Part II, the need to be innovative in urban public schools where prescribed texts and curriculum are prevalent is addressed. Drawing on four cases of induction leadership from the Leadership Network for Teacher Induction (LNTI), the authors illustrate the need to adopt entire programs, to adapt materials to local needs, and to invent programs for particular contexts. Their suggestions breathe creativity and life into teaching that once was believed about the profession. Of course, many educationalists before them have addressed the need to personalize education according to its learners. Ladson-Billings (1995) equates good teaching with the ability to simultaneously consider academic success, cultural competence, and critical consciousness in the teaching practice. In discussing the needs of her African-American students, Lisa Delpit (1996) asserts that educators must explicitly teach what their students specifically need to learn.

The organizational contexts of teachers’ professional work are explored in the last part of the book. In discussing what mentors need to know and be able to act upon in relation to the organizational contexts and purposes of induction, the authors state that “the role of mentors is to introduce and help novices read their new school contexts, and teach them how to advocate to transform those contexts when they fail to meet the needs of students, teachers, and families” (p. 123). What makes this book so important and essential is the authors’ ability to explicate the specific roles that both novice teachers and mentors have in the responsibility to teach children with integrity and purpose. Several educationalists have addressed the need to close the achievement gap of marginalized groups of students; however, very few have attempted to explicitly address the need to mentor incoming teachers who are teaching these children and are also in much need of support.

Retaining qualified teachers often seems a daunting task with no clear place to begin. Achinstein and Athanases provides a much needed critical perspective into not only what needs to be done to support new teachers in the vital stages of their career, but they also share how those who are more experienced in teaching can help make a crucial difference in the transformation of American urban public schools. Their collection of valuable data from both practicing and veteran teachers inform their decisions in designing programs and situations that are geared toward educating teachers as leaders in the classroom, in schools, and in the education community. Not only do they offer research-based suggestions for good practice, but their work alone with teachers and in the teaching profession serve as visible evidence of what needs to be done toward educational reform. By clearly defining the challenges faced by new teachers in beginning their careers and by veteran teachers who struggle to assist these teachers in their development, they open up a much needed dialogue about how to face these challenges and to identify operational solutions toward transforming school cultures that are currently doing a disservice to incoming novice teachers and eventually most affecting the students.

References

Delpit, L. (1996). Other people's children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.

Ingersoll, R. M. & Smith, T. M. (2003). The wrong solution to the teacher shortage. Educational Leadership, 60(8), 30-33.

Ingersoll, R. M. (2003). Who controls teachers’ work? Power and accountability in America’s schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Ingersoll, R. M. (2001). A different approach to solving the teacher shortage problem (Teacher Quality Policy Brief Number 3). Seattle, WA: Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy, University of Washington.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). But that’s just good teaching! The case for culturally relevant pedagogy. Theory into Practice, 34 (3), 159-165.

About the Reviewer

Jessica Kim is a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania in the Teaching, Learning, and Curriculum program. She taught elementary school students and mentored beginning teachers for several years in Los Angeles. Her research interests include preparation and support of new teachers in urban public schools, diversity in education, and Asian Americans in higher education.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.

Editors: Gene V Glass, Kate Corby, Gustavo Fischman

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