WEBB — When I arrived at the West Tallahatchie School District for orientation four years ago, I felt I had found my purpose in life.
I made plans to stay at my job teaching English in the Delta for eight, 10, even 20 years. I wouldn’t be like the other first-year teachers I knew. The ones who were exhausted, cynical and overwhelmed. I would thrive.
Three months into the job, after yet another chaotic class I could not manage, I stood alone in a classroom littered with candy wrappers, loose papers smattered on crooked desks and posters peeling off the walls and I considered quitting. I had never worked harder at a job before and been faced with so much failure. I wanted to give up and go back to bartending.
I walked down the hallway to a science teacher’s classroom. Her oldest daughter took one of my classes and I wanted advice on how to manage it. I sat at a tiny desk for an hour and while I talked, she listened.
After the meeting, I came away feeling as though I could breathe, as though the joy for teaching had been pumped back into my lungs. It wasn’t because Ms. Jones gave me a laundry list of strategies. It was because I had found a colleague with whom I could share my challenges and from whom I could learn.
Over the next two years, I worked endlessly to develop meaningful relationships with my co-workers. The history teacher who let me observe his class whenever I had free time. The basketball coach who modeled strong leadership skills and grace under pressure. The math department chair who shared resource after resource. These and other incredible teachers, staff and community leaders helped me grow in my profession and feel rooted in the community.
All teachers, especially new teachers, need a space where they can be mentored, learn and grow.
I also saw other first-year teachers fail to make these same connections. Like many schools in the state, West Tallahatchie has struggled to create a mentorship apparatus that effectively supports new teachers.
Many of the young teachers I worked with didn’t feel they had the time to make connections with veteran educators. I watched them grow more and more isolated, overwhelmed and crestfallen. Many left the school without saying goodbye.
In order for Mississippi to combat the rising attrition rate among young educators, we must require schools to develop a meaningful mentorship program that promotes strong relationships and a positive school culture. Without this, our schools will struggle to retain new teachers, exasperating the teacher shortage in the state.
One federal study found that 92% of teachers who had been assigned a mentor during their first year of teaching returned to the profession the following year.
Mentorship programs promote a positive work environment, provide support for young professionals and offer an opportunity for veteran educators to continue to serve their school and community. The importance of mentorship programs isn’t new, which is evident by the fact that legislators adopted a beginning teacher support program 30 years ago.
More recently, The MS Governor’s Task Force on Education Human Capital also acknowledged the efficacy and need for teacher mentorship programs. In the task force’s final report, teacher mentorship is prioritized as one of the most important tools we have in keeping teachers in the classroom.
So, what’s stopping us?
Much like at West Tallahatchie, school districts across our state lack the resources, time and knowledge to create, implement and sustain a mentorship program. The burden falls on hard-working veteran educators to unofficially mentor young teachers in hopes that the relationship will stick, and the teacher will stay. This rarely works.
State policymakers need to prioritize mentorship programs by requiring, not just recommending, for each district to create and sustain effective mentorship programs for new teachers.
The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) needs to first support districts by assisting with the implementation of the wealth of mentorship resources provided on their website; provide professional development for teachers who want to serve as mentors; and offer mentorship coaches to districts that lack resources.
MDE can also help by building an example mentorship program that districts can adopt, implement and sustain with ease. Once parameters such as these are put in place, districts in the state can move forward in developing a strong mentorship apparatus and begin to address the teacher shortage in Mississippi.
Had West Tallahatchie required first-year teachers to be formally mentored by veteran educators in the building, I am positive that many of the teachers who left our school would have stayed.
West Tallahatchie is my home. I owe my career to my school and to the unofficial mentors who helped me along the way. I want other new teachers to feel the same way.
John Fredericks teaches 11th- and 12th-grade ELA and AP English Literature at West Tallahatchie High School. He is a 2022-2023 Teach Plus Mississippi Policy Fellow.
