Key questions from the perspective of principals and other district instructional leaders:

“One of the things that I think is most critical about the mentoring program is that it needs to provide reinforcement for beginning teachers…[W]e are losing people from the field…We have to provide a safety network and it is not just the psychological piece or the friend, it is [learning to] question your practice…” (Michigan elementary school principal, quoted in Stanulis, Meloche and Ames, 2005).

Why should I be concerned about the induction of new teachers into the teaching profession?

What constitutes effective teacher induction?

What is my role as a principal in providing leadership for effective induction?

What should I expect mentor teachers to be doing?

What should I expect beginning teachers to be learning?

As the leader of an induction program, what should I be learning?