NEA Grant Focus

Grant Project Title ~ New, Early Career Educators Embark on a Professional Journey with Mentorship: Educational Excellence, Equity, Equality, and Social Justice for Learners Across Cultures in Alaska

Why is this work important?

The challenges new, early career educators face in an isolated classroom coupled with the ongoing learning challenges and the social justice inequities that impact student learning in high needs schools, result in a continuous cycle of low achievement and teacher burnout. In 2020 - 2021 school year, MSEA began a local affiliate mentorship program for veteran members/mentors to support new, early career educators/members. Based upon the data collected from mentorship program participants, the current grant work has been successful for new, early career educators and veteran members/mentors. Building upon the current grant work with this NEA GPS grant provides an extended timeframe to provide new, early career educators/members with veteran members/mentors support to improve upon excellence in public education and build a sustainable mentorship program within the local affiliate and school district.

NEA Grant Focus

This National Education Association GPS grant proposal focuses on supporting new, early career educators and social justice in education in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District.

Early Career Educators ~ Mentoring to provide focused support, training, and collaboration to meet the diverse demands new educators face while educating students in today’s classroom of high needs schools.

Social Justice in Education ~ Educators learn and implement specific strategies and skills to support students in culturally diverse classrooms and schools where poverty and cultural differences impact education.

Proposed Grant Work

The proposed grant work is to increase retention of new, early career educators by 20% per year:

1. providing mentors for approximately 275 new, early career educators/members (in a three year period) as they work in classrooms that represent cultural diversity and poverty challenges;

2. training and supporting veteran members/mentors to further develop leadership skills;

3. increasing local affiliate membership by requiring mentors and mentees to be due paying members.

Potential Outcomes

The potential outcomes of this grant will be:

1. an increase in new, early career educator instructional skill and strategy development focusing on learning opportunities and achievement for culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged students;

2. an increase in new, early career educator retention in high needs schools where achievement has declined due to lack of teacher retention and instructional challenges meeting culturally diverse and economically disadvantaged students’ needs.