It is widely accepted that professional experience or practicum is "a critically important part of teacher education courses and is consistently valued highly by student teachers" (eg Ramsey, 2000; Teaching Australia, 2006; Parliament of Australia, 2007). In Australia and overseas there is a growing emphasis on teacher educators working…

The Preservice Teacher Institute (PTI) is a budding learning community designed to provide mentoring and support for senior elementary education undergraduate candidates. This program is an effective paradigm for mentoring and inducting new teachers into the profession. PTI is a two-semester program. The first semester is restricted to candidates…

Art Partnership Networks enlist college students, majors in every field of art, each of whom "adopts" a gifted elementary school child.

Asserts that, when students know that someone they trust is behind them, they gain the confidence they need to become strategic learners. Describes the mentor program for bright underachievers at Benchmark School in Media, Pennsylvania. (PRA)

Given the strong interest in school-based mentoring programs, Public/Private Ventures visited two exemplary mentoring programs chosen by the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBSA). One program was in Green County, Oklahoma, and the other in Jacksonville, Florida. Researchers talked with parents, teachers, children, and mentors to learn more…

To support first-year teacher development, the Jefferson County (Alabama) School District initiated an innovative mentoring program called Teaching Excellence Can Actually Happen (TEACH). The program provides full-time mentoring by highly qualified colleagues, a free two-year master's degree program, technology training and laptop computers,…

The Thomas J. Pappas Regional Education Center in Phoenix, Arizona, is a magnet school for homeless students from unorganized territories, military installations, Indian reservations, and national forest lands. This "accommodation" school, supported by federal grants, in-kind business donations, and committed volunteer mentors from the…

The Ambassador Program, a partnership between Ferron Elementary School and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, pairs university students with at-risk elementary students once a week to serve as role models. (TE)

Describes a classroom-based teacher education program that helps men and women move from other occupations through a period of "risky imbalance" to meaningful new role of rural school teacher. A survivor of the 1960s, the Upper Valley Teacher Training Program is a state-approved, nonprofit, independent program using services of academics…

This report details a case study of the Tutor-Mentor Connection (T/MC), an organization designed to build infrastructures to expand and improve after-school tutoring and mentoring opportunities for inner-city children in Chicago. The case study was conducted over a 3-month period in 1997 and was intended as a limited exploration of one model for…

A peer mentor program was created and implemented to reduce harassment and bullying at a Massachusetts elementary school. With the help of an adjoining district high school, the school counselors selected, trained, and supervised high school students to teach the younger children how to deal with harassment. The mentors were trained to understand…

In Writers in Electronic Residence, published authors mentor and critique writing from students across Canada via the Internet. Motivation and reinforcement are the primary feedback for the youngest writers, and gradually, critiques become more specific as children's writing develops. In addition to hearing from two or three mentors, children…

Describes the experiences and the effective instructional practices of one college student who over a three-year period was a literacy tutor in a university America Reads program. Describes his two distinctive tutoring roles. Examines social interactions, activities he used to scaffold instruction for at-risk emergent readers, and the impact of…

This article examines the value of teacher mentorship schemes for in-service teacher development, focusing on a specific program for primary teachers in Bhutan. It discusses the benefits of such programs in general, as well as the specific strengths and weaknesses of the Bhutan program. (eight references) (MDM)

Molly Stark School in Bennington, Vermont, is a year-round community school that offers a range of education, health and social services benefiting the students, community, and parents. Five successful initiatives (after-school, birth-to-5, mentoring, health and wellness, and parent literacy and involvement programs) are described. (MLH)