A Research On The Mentoring Program For Primary And Secondary School Beginning Teachers In Texas,USA

Induction education is not only the continuation and expansion of pre-service education,but also connects with the actual work of teachers.It is a particularly important and crucial part of teachers’ career development,and has a profound and lasting influence.China has always been actively innovating the onboarding education for primary and secondary school beginning teachers,exploring various forms such as centralized training and decentralized training,and continuously enriching their forms,mainly through mentorship.The development of the society has put forward higher requirements for the quality of teachers,and the previous mentoring model has gradually revealed many areas that need to be improved.Texas in the United States has always been committed to the construction of the teaching staff,constantly exploring the induction of new teachers.It not only incorporates it into policies and regulations,but also establishes specialized committees to optimize and improve the regulations.In addition,special funds are also established to support it.At the same time,Texas in the United States is also one of the states with a large rural base,which is similar to China,Therefore,there are lessons to be learned from the experience of establishing mentoring programs for beginning teachers.This research takes the mentoring programs for beginning teachers in primary and secondary schools in Texas as the research object,and clarifies its historical evolution.On this basis,the composition of the mentoring program is clarified according to the classification of macro system,meso system and micro system in the Ecological systems theory;And combining the theory of teacher career,the theory of subject object interaction in constructionist,and the reciprocity model in social interaction theory,analyze the internal ecological construction of its design;Through extensive research on relevant materials,using literature review,comparative analysis,and case studies,this study further explores the implementation effectiveness of specific cases of the mentoring program,and make reflection on the mentoring of beginning teachers in primary and secondary schools in China.And then come up with suggestions for improving and developing the mentoring program for beginning teachers in primary and secondary schools in China.The research follows the approach of "historical retrospection-content composition-plan design-implementation cases-characteristic analysis-comparative examination-summary suggestions",presenting a study of the Texas beginning teacher mentoring program in the United States.The main viewpoints of each section are summarized as follows:Regarding the evolution of the initial teacher guidance program for primary and secondary schools in Texas,this study found that it went through three stages of emergence,formation,and development from three aspects: background,process,and form.The first embodiment of mentoring program in Texas education regulations in1999 signified its official emergence.In 2006,the legislative body approved the beginning teacher induction and mentoring program,marking its formation.Subsequently,in the face of the increasingly severe teacher turnover rate,the 2012 Education Act proposed the establishment of a First Mentoring Advisory Committee,followed by a review of guidance regulations and safeguard measures.Relevant suggestions were improved in the new relevant regulations,and the mentoring program was further developed.After explaining the basic content of the Texas mentoring program from three levels:policy provisions,plan ontology,and safeguard measures,it was found that Texas has made relevant provisions for plan design and delivery in policy provisions,laying the foundation for ensuring the smooth implementation of the plan.And it includes specific content in the plan ontology,including the target for guidance,the theme of guidance,mentors and the responsibilities of the school district,which are the basic standards followed by the school district.In terms of security measures,it includes financial guidance funds and teacher incentive funds,the use of network resources to provide reference for optimizing mentoring for teachers and designing mentoring program for school districts,as well as research based guidance training provided in cooperation with professional institutions.After further analyzing the design of the new teacher mentoring program from the aspects of micro system,meso system,macro system and dimensions by using the Ecological systems theory,the research found that the program focuses on the goal of improving the teacher retention rate in the macro system’s policy and regulation level,strictly guarantee the quality of the plan,implements the plan requirements with the strength of the school district in the design of the meso system and speeds up the adaptation of new teachers,At the micro system level,it focuses on the direct role of guidance teachers to solve practical problems for novice teachers,and ensures the feasibility of guidance through reasonable pairing.The close connection between various systems forms a good ecosystem for the guidance plan for beginning teachers.Summarize the general implementation process of the Texas Primary and Secondary School Initial Teacher Guidance Program,and further analyze the specific implementation situation using the Hern and Dallas school districts as examples.It is found that the school district follows the standard requirements of the Texas Initial Teacher Guidance Program,designs an initial teacher guidance program that meets the characteristics of the school district,and provides training courses for guidance teachers,utilizing network resources and third-party agency training support for guidance teachers,Successfully implemented the initial teacher guidance plan and achieved good results in improving teacher retention rates.After summarizing the characteristics of the Texas initial teacher guidance program for primary and secondary schools,this study believes that it can be summarized as follows: the guidance is issued in the form of regulations to give it scientific significance;The guidance teacher has been selected and trained with professionalism;Focusing on rural areas to ensure comprehensive coverage of the plan;The participation of personnel related to school district leaders reflects the diversity of guidance personnel;The allocation of funds and the supervision of their flow make the guarantee more reasonable.Based on the above characteristics,this article explores the uniqueness of the Texas mentoring program,and concludes that it has reference value in rigorous policy formulation,feasible program content,and comprehensive resource utilization.Finally,based on the existing analysis results,this study reflects on the current guidance for beginning teachers in primary and secondary schools in China.The following suggestions are proposed for the actual situation of the guidance plan for beginning teachers in primary and secondary schools in China,including: to improve mentoring related policies and regulations,making the mentoring implementation more standardized,and have a law to follow;Improve the relevant safeguard measures,make good use of third-party institutions,network resources to provide inexhaustible motivation for the guidance of primary and secondary school teachers;Strengthen the participation and interaction of relevant guidance personnel,enhance the understanding and support for the guidance of beginning teachers,and help them adapt to it faster;Optimize the team of guidance teachers,with more professional mentoring skills.