Mentors' notes and comments were analyzed to determine their perceptions of roles, activities, and conditions influencing their work with beginning teachers. Mentors had many helping strategies that developed and shaped complex roles. A conceptual framework of eight categories of mentoring activities addressing five domains of beginning teachers'…

Beginning elementary teachers were surveyed four years after their initial, mentored teaching year in a large, collaborative university-school system to determine their attitudes about mentoring and whether they were still teaching. The 96 percent still teaching most valued the emotional support they received from their mentors. (SM)

Reports case studies of 10 partnerships in middle school level professional development schools that either moved apart or reconfigured their relationships over time. Written materials from, interviews with, and observations of partners indicated that though most succeeded, they needed better communication between partners to maximize their…

One of five articles on professional development schools in this theme issue. Naturalistic research methods were used to identify the characteristics that supported changes in professional development initiatives, restructuring, and teaching and learning in Crescentview School (Michigan), a multicultural, multilingual, elementary professional…

A collaborative student teaching team (involving a student teacher, classroom mentor, and university mentor) negotiated the fit between teacher preparation and middle school classroom life. Transcripts of weekly conferences and individual reflections highlighted the benefits of creating respectful environments, developing collegial relationships,…

Identifies issues that need to be addressed in developing effective teacher induction and mentor programs, including providing beginning teachers with reduced teaching loads, multiple opportunities to teach the same content, support from peers and experienced colleagues, and formative evaluation that differs from the summative evaluation of…

Describes a Los Angeles collaborative university-district teacher induction program which focused on retaining alternative certification teachers in difficult urban schools. The collaboration increased teacher retention, providing systematic support and assistance and reducing feelings of isolation through cooperative planning. After three years,…

This paper examines "Teacher's Workplace" and "The Professors of Teaching," two dissimilar books that describe similar issues in teacher education reform. Both imply that to transform low-consensus into high-consensus schools, policymakers must understand which workplace conditions promote consensus and certainty; collaboration must be the norm…

Reports on a study of 128 first-year teachers. The data suggest that beginning teachers are selective in whom they ask for help. Most sought help from experienced teachers they perceived as friendly or caring, whether they were mentors or not. (SM)