Developing and sustaining an educative mentoring model of STEM teacher professional development through collaborative partnership

Abstract

In this paper, we present details of a partnership undertaken by four universities with field-based, alternative STEM teacher preparation programs and a large urban school district to provide ongoing professional support for teachers serving as mentors for individuals preparing for careers in high-poverty schools. We also present key findings related to our implementation of an educative mentoring professional learning community (PLC) as a professional development (PD) model for these mentors. Our analysis reveals that mentors as well as candidates identified the PD program as addressing their specific interests and concerns, and that they were regularly and deeply engaged with key activities that were part of each session’s agenda. These findings signal how key elements of PD workshops can contribute to creating and sustaining a local but replicable PLC utilizing an educative mentoring model to support mentors and the future teachers whom they support.

Keywords:

• Educative mentoring
• urban teaching
• STEM professional development
• partnership
• clinical practice
• and professional learning communities

Acknowledgments

This work was made possible by grants awarded to Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University from the Woodrow Wilson and W. K. Kellogg Foundations, with additional support provided by these universities and Detroit Public Schools. The views expressed are those of the authors and not of the funding agencies.