This fall the task force charged with designing the new Mentor Assistance Program (MAP) begins its work.  This group, representing CEA, AFT-CT, higher education, school administrators, school superintendents, mentors, new teachers, and others, will answer key questions that will determine how support and assistance will be given to new teachers as they enter the profession.  Among those questions are:

• What criteria should mentors meet in order to serve as mentors?
• What should be included in training for mentors and beginning teachers?
• What topics should the mentoring modules, required as part of the program under the legislation, cover?
• What requirements should beginning teachers meet in order to successfully complete the Mentor Assistance Program?
• How will beginning teachers, mentors, school districts, RESCs, and the State Department of Education keep records to show they have met the requirements of the program?

The legislation that paved the way for the MAP eliminated the video component of the BEST portfolio for the 2008-09 year, which will be the last year BEST will be in place.  The task force will develop, as part of its plan, recommendations concerning the transition between BEST and the MAP, including what part evaluation will play in BEST, and what will happen when a beginning teacher has not passed the BEST portfolio.  

The task force will also consider whether or not legislative changes should be made that would require a reduced classroom teaching work load for mentors, a 2-year mentoring program, and that the state fully fund the Mentor Assistance Program.

To prepare to advocate most effectively for mentors and beginning teachers, CEA held a series of meetings in June to speak with groups of beginning teachers and mentors about the proposed MAP and what they believe it should contain.  Their suggestions and ideas will be brought to the task force for discussion, as will the extensive research CEA has been doing about best mentoring practices in other states.  If you have ideas you would like shared with the task force, please send them to Linette Branham, CEA Education Issues Specialist: linetteb@cea.org.