ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / October 25, 1999

LAPLACE – The word accountability has been the buzz word in the Louisiana public education system for the past two years. Public schoolsnow have to be accountable to the Legislature, the department of education, school administrators, school boards, parents and voters.

With the advent of the Louisiana Education Assessment Program (LEAP) tests and the Graduate Exit Exam (GEE), the emphasis on accountability seems to be on the student’s performance.

But who is accountable if the student does poorly on the LEAP tests? Who does the Legislature point its fingers at when high school seniors don’t pass the GEE? Most everyone would blame the teachers.

In order to improve the teaching profession, the Louisiana Legislature passed the Louisiana Teacher Assessment Program in 1997. By law, eachnew teacher is assigned a mentor, an experienced teacher who will guide the newcomer through the first hectic year of teaching.

The basic purpose of the mentor is to teach the new teacher how to pass the Teacher Assessment Program that is undertaken during the new teacher’s second semester. The school principal and an outside assessorsit in the teacher’s classroom observing the new teacher and score her on six major components, including planning, management, instruction, professional development, school improvement and a host of miscellaneous subjects such as rules, attendance, appearance, etc. It issort of like a LEAP test for teachers. The teacher has two chances to passthe assessment. If they fail on the second attempt, they are not allowed toteach in a Louisiana public school for two years.

Ann LaBorde, supervisor of Personnel Accountability for the St. JohnParish School System, is in charge of the mentor program for the parish.

“The first year of teaching is very scary,” Laborde said. “A new teacher isalone socially and professionally. A mentor helps to integrate the newteacher into the faculty and helps the new teacher get into the flow of things.”During the first semester, the new teacher watches the mentor teach.

Then the mentor watches the new teacher work in class and offers suggestions, identifies the teacher’s strengths and weaknesses and helps improve their teaching techniques. At the same time the mentor is drillingthe new teacher on the domains that will be scrutinized by the assessment team.

“The new teachers pick my brain,” said mentor and seven-year teaching veteran Patricia Triche, who teaches third-grade special education at LaPlace Elementary. “They need a buddy to share things with, becausethere is so much to do in the first year. You want the new teacher to feelcomfortable with you.”Peggy Hastings, a third-grade teacher for 14 years and mentor at LaPlace Elementary agreed.

“I remember I was so confused when I was a first-year teacher,” said Hastings. “It was hard trying to figure out things for yourself. I wish I had someone to confide in.”But mentoring isn’t just being a sympathetic ear. It is a hard, time-consuming job, and not everybody can be a mentor.

First of all, a teacher has to be nominated by their principal to be a mentor. The nominee must have a minimum of three years teachingexperience and have lived in the parish for two years.

“These are also very dedicated teachers,” said Laborde. “There is no extrapay for being a mentor.”After being selected, the teacher is sent out of the parish to attend a rigorous five-day training seminar run by the state. There, they have toprove that they are reliable as mentors. They are made to watch videos ofa teacher in a classroom. The nominees then grade the teacher. If they donot spot the same mistakes the assessment team did, they wash out of the program.

“This is really hard work,” Laborde said. “You have to write downeverything you observe in the classroom, and I mean everything.””It’s very intense,” Triche stressed.

“Oh, very, very intense,” echoed Allison Mayer, another mentor at LaPlace Elementary. “But it really helped me as a teacher. It reminded me of what Ishould be doing as a teacher.”After passing the state course, the mentors come back to finish up their training with a three-day course with Laborde. She is the mentors’advocate ,and her mission is to show the mentors how to teach the new teachers to pass the assessment program.

The mentors are also shown how to get the new teachers aligned with LEAP benchmarks and classroom management.

The final step is introducing the mentors to the new teachers on the first day of school. The mentors are paired up with the newcomers by grade,course and specialty.

Not only do mentors have to teach their own classes, but they have to be on-call to help their charges, answer questions and handle crises.

“It is time consuming,” admitted Triche. “You have to learn how to manageyour time and meet with the teachers before and after school hours.”Hastings said it takes a lot of overtime to really instruct the new teacher.

“I’ve worked on Saturdays to help the teacher,” Hastings said.

In the end though, the program hopes to bring out the best in all teachers.

“We are not trying to make a perfect teacher,” said Mayer. “Nobody isperfect. We are trying to make competent teachers.”Venus Simms, a brand-new kindergarten teacher and one of Triche’s two proteges, is very supportive of the program despite the pressure of the assessment.

“It should have been here since day one,” said Simms. “It will definitelymake me a better teacher.”Just out of Southeastern Louisiana University, first-year teacher Angelle Ancale is also thankful for Triche’s presence.

“It really helps,” she said. “Whenever I need anything, or have a question, Ican go to Patricia for help. She is really helping me to pass theassessment test.””It is a good, good system,” agreed LaBorde. “It holds all the teachersaccountable to all the components in the assessment program.

“There is no doubt that it helps the teachers. It makes them moreconfident and shows them what to look for and how to ask for what they need.”If there is a downside to the program, it is that LaBorde does not have enough mentors to go around. This year there are 70 new teachers in thesystem and only 48 mentors. The majority of mentors, like Triche, havetaken two new teachers under their wing, which is quite a load.

All the new teachers are the result of older, more experienced teachers leaving the parish for better-paying positions in other school systems.

“This is a big problem,” LaBorde admitted. “We need more money andincentives to keep teachers here.”Triche thinks the mentoring program should be expanded to help out these teachers who are thinking of leaving.

“I think the older, or burned-out teachers should have a mentor, too,” she said. “We must do something to re-start their enthusiasm for teaching.”Despite that, the teachers and the administration are glad the state has instituted the assessment program with the mentoring project.

“It’s a great program,” LaBorde said. “The mentors say they get as much outof the program as the new teachers.”

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