Sioux City Community Schools -

Our two-year Mentoring and Induction Program provides guidance and support for beginning teachers. District mentors assist new teachers in adapting to their schools' climate and culture while providing guidance in areas such as curriculum and teaching strategies. We encourage beginning teachers to turn to their mentors for support and advice.

The goals of the program are to:

• Enhance student achievement

• Build a supportive environment for beginning educators

• Increase the retention of promising beginning educators

• Promote the personal and professional well-being of educators

• Support continuous improvement and growth of beginning educators

The two-year sequence of content and activities is designed to support beginning teachers by:

• Developing and enhancing competencies for the Iowa Teaching Standards, and

• Providing research-based instructional strategies, and

• Reflecting the needs of the beginning teacher employed by the district or area education.

Each Journey to Excellence learning project, except the Goals and Hopes LP, focuses on an Iowa Teaching Standard and allows the beginning educator to shape projects to meet his or her own needs. Learning projects for classroom management (ITS #6), professional growth (ITS #7), professional responsibilities and ethics (ITS #8), and setting goals and identifying hopes will be completed in both years one and two. When needed and desired, other learning projects can be completed a second time. The focus of action research on the Iowa Teaching Standards and those formative performance assessments will help develop the competence of the beginning educator. Each learning project also embeds conversation and application directly to the SCCSD curriculum, instruction, assessment, and areas of improvement focus.

In addition to the Journey to Excellence projects and sequence, additional support to beginning educators will be provided through the following structured activities and supports: