Common Standard 1: Institutional Infrastructure to Support Educator Preparation

Our Steering Committee is a foundation for collaboration and program development. Information about the Steering Committee is in the Handbook (p. 12), and on the website. Steering Agendas and Meeting Materials are published and available.

Collaboration is an element of our mentor selection criteria and listed as a requirement in our MOUs with MVLA and LGS.

Collaborating with the broader Induction community, including attending Cluster meetings and the annual Induction conference, is part of the Induction Director's responsibilities (Handbook, p.12).

Supporting Diversity and Excellence

Induction Mentor candidates must show commitment to all aspects of the mentor selection criteria, which outline knowledge, skills and perspectives that are requisite to the position. One of the selection criteria is a knowledge of diversity in society, including diverse abilities, culture, language, ethnicity, and gender identity and sexual orientation.

Mentors participate in monthly professional learning sessions, many of which address topics related to diversity, and are led by mentors with expertise in the topics. These sessions are intended to prioritize diversity as a goal in our program, and to deepen mentor knowledge and skill around these topics to enable mentors to engage Participating Teachers in work related to equity and diversity.

Selected topics from the past two years include:

• ELD Toolkit for Mentors (2020-2021)

• Culturally Responsive Teaching (2019-2020)

• Dyslexia Guidelines: Session 1 and Session 2 (2019-2020)

• Coaching for Equity (2018-19)

• Critical Friends Protocol (2018-19 and 2019-20)

Recruitment

When openings occur, job postings indicate preference to specific types of expertise or credentials to augment the collective group knowledge. For example, our last round of hiring in PAUSD in spring 2019 prioritized hiring mentors from humanities and multiple subject backgrounds to ensure we could match mentors and participating teachers in alignment with our criteria. Our current mentor group composition represents diversity in terms of areas of expertise. Mentors hold credentials in a variety of areas (special education, multiple subjects, and a range of single-subjects). Additionally, mentor areas of expertise include special education, Universal Design for Learning, English language development, reading development, educational technology, and instructional leadership.

Our program has a goal to diversify our mentor group in terms of racial and ethnic backgrounds of the mentor group as openings occur. Currently, our positions are marketed within each partner district and are open to teachers with permanent status. In each partner district, the racial and ethnic backgrounds are similar: the majority of teachers are White (65%-77%), and the second largest group are Asian (12%-15%), followed by Latino (7%-11%). Our mentor group includes 14 mentors from the three districts. Of those, 86% are White and 14% are Asian.

At our November, 2020 the Steering Committee reviewed this data and a desire to increase diversity in our mentor group moving forward, with attention to the racial and ethnic backgrounds of our mentor group as a whole. The committee worked to identify potential strategies to increase diversity, overall, in our applicant pool. The conversation began with a brainstorm of possible obstacles or concerns about applying for the positions. Potential brainstormed reasons include: reluctance to leave the classroom; the need to wear multiple “hats” as a mentor; and uncertainty about the fit of mentoring work. The group also brainstormed possible next steps, including additional outreach efforts such as informational sessions and recruiting efforts; opportunities to “shadow” a mentor; providing assistance with finding additional suitable FTE for those offered part-time positions; and considering opportunities for mentor positions that do not require release from full-time teaching.

Finally, at a broader level, each of the three partner districts is actively working on goals related to diversity in hiring. Below is an overview of efforts in each district.

Palo Alto Unified School District

PAUSD is committed to recruitment, hiring, and retention of a diverse and inclusive workforce. The Human Resources department is currently engaged in a self-study around practices and procedures with a goal of using the outcomes to share best practices across divisions, strengthen and develop partnerships, and revise current practices. Recruiting efforts will include expanded outreach, partnerships and advertising and exploring incentive options to diversify the applicant pool. Interview processes will be examined with an effort to minimize the impact of bias on hiring. Examples might include attention to the composition of interview panels and blind interview processes. Retention strategies include a focus on the sense of community, culture and teamwork across our system, addressed through equity and inclusion professional learning for all staff. Mentoring, leadership pipelines and exit interviews will provide forums for retaining and supporting leadership development for all staff. PAUSD is fortunate to be able to build upon the diversity programs and initiatives that continue to be a district priority.

Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District

Building diverse and dynamic education applicant pools is a high priority for the Los Gatos-Saratoga Union High School District. Recently, the LGSUHSD Human Resources Department has consulted with local equity and inclusion experts to plan future training in bias recognition, support and retain educators from under-represented groups and draft a district goal around building diverse applicant pools.

Mountain View-Los Altos High School District

Ensuring MVLA is a diverse and inclusive educational community is a top priority. In order to continue this most important work, we are focused on continued training regarding bias recognition, inclusive practices and making certain that we recruit and retain staff that represent the diversity of our community and larger society. MVLA is proud to announce that our ongoing Equity Alliance Steering Committee unanimously selected Luis Versalles from Pacific Educational Group to serve as our lead facilitator and trainer for the rest of the school year 2020-21. Our collective work focused on equity and inclusion within MVLA started with Courageous Conversation with Luis and will continue with facilitated meetings and focused next steps/goals.

Evaluation forms for district teachers, including mentors:

• PAUSD

• LGSUHSD Regular and Alternative

• MVLA

Job descriptions:

• PAUSD job description

• LGS job description

• MVLA job description

Qualifications are also published on our website

Update: November 2021:

1. Mentor effectiveness is assessed through PT survey data, program staff review of ILPs, Support Logs & Action plans, and goal setting & reflection processes (see update Program Design section of the Program Review for updated response). Mentors follow the program Important Dates calendar to ensure they are on track with program requirements. Timelines and expectations are also reviewed in the monthly mentor meetings. New mentors work with an experienced mentor to ensure understanding of expectations. The Program Director regularly reviews ILPs, Support Logs and Action Plans to ensure mentors and PTs are on track with program timelines.

2. Formative feedback is provided through the ILP review process, survey outcomes, and goal setting processes. Mentors receive feedback on relationship building through local end-of-year survey and (new for 21-22), a mid-year survey.

Information about reassigning mentor/PT pairs can be found ​​information is in the orientation slides (slide 15), and the Handbook (page 8). Additional information about assessing quality of mentoring services can be found in the Program Summary: Program Design portion of the Program Review.

Participating Teachers' work is tracked across the year in our Master Tracking spreadsheet. The spreadsheet provides a framework for ensuring that each candidate has 1) signed their Letter of Commitment; 2) been assigned a mentor; 3) set goals within the first 60 days; 4) is meeting the mentor hours as documented on the support log; 5) is making adequate progress on the ILP; and has completed any professional learning required by the Induction program. Documents linked in the spreadsheet are peer-reviewed at mentor meetings and are reviewed regularly by the Induction Director and lead mentor (minimally in October and January). At the end of each year, PTs submit a reflection and their ILP. Their submission is reviewed against our program rubric to ensure progress toward mastery of the CSTP.

After the final reflections and ILPs are reviewed and assessed, the Induction Director sends each PT a letter indicating successful completion of the year; any needs for resubmission; or notice of not meeting program standards. For PTs successfully completing their second year of Induction, the Program Director completes the necessary paperwork for the PAUSD Credential Analyst.

The PAUSD Credential Analyst reviews requirements for Clear credentials for each person to ensure that all credentialing requirements have been met before recommending. Renewal requirements reviewed include not only completion of Induction, but all other listed requirements.