Quality of Principal Mentoring Uneven, Report Says

Roughly half the states now require mentoring for new principals during their first few years on the job, but a report suggests that many school leaders may be getting the equivalent of “mentoring light.”

“Many, if not most, existing mentoring programs are falling well short of their potential,” says the report by the New York City-based Wallace Foundation. Too often, it asserts, state and district programs result in “buddy systems” or “check-list exercises,” rather than on helping new principals improve teaching and learning in their schools.

The report, “Getting Principal Mentoring Right: Lessons From the Field,” released this month, is based on a review of existing research, interviews with leading experts, and site visits to mentoring programs in New York City and the Jefferson County, Ky., public schools. The two sites, both of which are Wallace grantees, have made on-the-job coaching and training a core component of their efforts to prepare school leaders. (The foundation also underwrites Education Week ’s...