By Michelle Hines, University Relations
With teacher shortfalls at a crisis point in the state, UNCG is acting on UNC system President Erskine Bowles’ directive to recruit and retain more teachers.
According to recent estimates, North Carolina needs 10,000 new teachers each year while the state’s public and private colleges turn out about 3,300. With an eye toward attracting new teachers and building a support system to keep them in the state’s schools, the Wachovia Teacher Mentoring Network – funded by Wachovia and based in the UNCG School of Education – is conducting a summer institute to teach veteran teachers how to be good mentors.
“Passing the Torch: Teacher Mentoring” runs June 19-23 at Magnolia Manor in Colfax. Bestselling educational writer Marilyn Katzenmeyer, author of “Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders,” is the keynote speaker.
The network hopes to spark a positive chain reaction, first training the mentors of the mentors, said Dr. Betty Epanchin, director of UNCG’s Teachers Academy. Professional development programs are rarely directed at expert teachers, Epanchin said, and the network is enlisting the most experienced, most talented educators to train others as mentors.
“It’s a recruitment and retention tool,” Epanchin said. “We want to direct this training at master teachers and to celebrate the work that they are doing. Our assumption is that the more support and training they have, the more support they will have for the mentors they are working with.”
So far, the mentoring network has identified about 75 teaching mentors, Epanchin said. A search is under way for a program administrator, with an appointment expected over the summer.
The Wachovia Foundation has pledged $719,810 over three years for the network to recruit 150 veteran teachers in the Piedmont Triad to mentor novice and student teachers. The School of Education will implement the program before turning it over to area school districts who will take over primary funding and operational responsibilities.
The School of Education is consistently listed among the nation’s top 50 schools of education in the annual U.S. News & World Report survey. The counselor education program within the School of Education is currently ranked second in the nation by USN&WR.
