There is discouraging evidence that many beginning teachers quickly abandon the practices advocated and modeled in their teacher education programs at colleges and universities and regress to imitate the kind of instruction that they experienced themselves as students, or conform to the dominant model in schools where they feel great pressures to drill students for performance on mandated tests. Many beginning teachers leave their university programs with the idea that they will teach in a more progressive way than they were taught themselves, yet the determination too often yields to pressure to conform to a narrow model of instruction. In this article, the author offers insight into some practices that may help new teachers to sustain their commitment to a progressive approach, relying on less conventional mentor arrangements that can survive times of reduced investment in mentor programs.