How does Indiana’s teacher mentoring program work?
DW: The teacher mentoring program is part of the state’s Rules 2002 licensure. Beginning teachers enroll in the Indiana Mentoring and Assessment Program (IMAP) and are assigned a mentor. We strongly encourage all teacher mentors to complete a state certification program that offers 40 hours of training to mentors in best practices. The mentors learn tools and information about working with adult learners. They also get training in the Indiana State Standards and the standards of the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC). Mentors learn how to assess student work in a meaningful way and how to be more reflective practitioners. They learn how to stop and assess what they have taught, how effective the instruction was and how to look at the measures that show the effectiveness of learning. All of these items help mentors better provide guidance and direction to beginning teachers. The focus of the mentoring program is not about evaluating new teachers, rather it
