It’s Official: The ELP Model Works
During ELP’s two-year pilot program, we gathered anecdotal evidence that our professional support model for New Teachers was working. At the same time, our partner, Digital Promise, was collecting quantitative data from participants. This summer, we received their summative assessment, and we are proud to share that the ELP model works.
Digital Promise measured the four key outcomes we were hoping to achieve:
Help early career teachers feel effective sooner
Support their well-being and reduce their stress and isolation
Retain them in the profession
Ensure that their mentors and coaches also felt effective
Participants for the ELP pilot program came from 10 school districts in Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, and Ohio. One third of New Teachers surveyed were in their first year of teaching, and more than half were in their second or third year.
Almost one third of In-Person Mentors (our new term for Building Mentors) had never mentored before. By contrast, nearly half of Virtual Instructional Coaches had prior mentoring experience (of at least three years).
ELP Helped New Teachers Become Effective Faster
According to New Teachers, the top five areas of support they received from mentors and coaches were:
Reflecting on practice (73%)
Building relationships with students (56%)
Handling political challenges (55%)
Receiving guidance on student behavior (50%)
Building anti-racist practices (50%)
ELP Supported New Teacher Well-Being
The support of both an In-Person Mentor and Virtual Instructional Coach helped teachers feel they were not alone.
The fact that ELP is union-led also helped participants feel safe, supported, and valued knowing that their union was leading in a non-evaluative approach.
In addition:
60% of New Teachers felt ELP reduced stress and helped work-life balance
85% felt happy to be a teacher
90% never or rarely felt the stress outweighed the joys
ELP Helped Retain New Teachers
Teachers who participated in the first year of our pilot program (2021-22) were more likely to still be teaching in 2022-23 compared to their in-district counterparts who were not in ELP.
In three states (Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio), every teacher who participated in 2021-22 was still teaching in 2022-23. In Iowa, 6 of the 7 were; in Michigan, 9 of the 10 were; and in Nebraska, 8 of the 9 were.
Mentors and Coaches Felt Effective
Most mentors and coaches felt effective in their roles and said it benefitted their own growth as teachers.
Virtual Instructional Coaches reported feeling generally more effective than In-Person Mentors. In interviews, some coaches and mentors shared that they might have felt more effective with more workshops focused on mentoring and coaching practices. More on how we’re addressing this below.
Almost all In-Person Mentors and Virtual Instructional Coaches felt that mentoring and coaching in ELP had positively influenced their own teaching practice. Some emphasized the reciprocity they felt with their New Teacher, how much they learned, and that working with New Teachers kept their own teaching fresh.
How We’re Integrating Feedback
Because we ask participants to always improve their teaching, mentoring, or coaching practice, we feel it is only fair to do the same. Since day one of the pilot, we have been committed to continual learning and improvement, too.
After each workshop or meeting ended, we conducted a quick review: What did we do well? What could we improve? What was missing?
Combined with the feedback we received in the summative assessment, we have made three substantive changes to ELP.
Shorter, more focused, and peer-led workshops
During the first year of the ELP pilot, participants told us that our two-hour workshops were far too long. We shortened them to 90 minutes max with the goal of finishing them in one hour.
We also got feedback on the content, which was created with support from the Danielson Group. Both New Teachers and Virtual Instructional Coaches told us that New Teachers were familiar with the concepts being presented and had other topics they wanted support on. Meanwhile, our In-Person Mentors told us that our content wasn’t clear and specific enough. We overhauled workshop content for both groups based on this feedback.
During the second year of the pilot, participants told us they preferred to learn how to be an In-Person Mentor or Virtual Instructional Coach from their peers (rather than an expert). We identified In-Person Mentors and Virtual Instructional Coaches who were especially successful in the program and asked them to lead workshops.
A program guide that clarifies the program experience
Numerous surveys have clearly shown that teachers of all experience levels complain loudly and in large numbers that they’re not respected for their professional judgment. No one asks them how to improve teaching; instead, they are told what to do by people who have never taught in a classroom.
Although the program guide wasn't something participants asked for specifically, we decided to provide it to improve the overall program experience for participants. With a guide in hand, they can focus on immediately digging deeper into their mentee/mentor and coach relationships rather than worrying about when and how to establish those relationships.
Initially, we told teachers to use their professional judgment in their role as a mentor or coach. However, we observed what we believe to be top-down culture conditioning. Participants found it challenging to navigate the program without more concrete guidance. “How will I know if I succeeded?” they’d ask us.
Our program guide will continue to evolve as participants share their experiences, stories, and feedback regarding their professional journey within the ELP program.
Portfolio discussion guide for long-term learning and growth
We also realized that even though the model is focused on New Teachers, teachers at every level could benefit from the tools, learnings, and experiences that are part of ELP.
The portfolio discussion guide is a framework teachers can incorporate into their teaching practice throughout their career. This guide is a bit of a mind shift, because it puts teachers in charge of their own professional development. We are excited to see the guide put to use.
ELP’s Biggest Takeaways
A pleasant surprise from the summative assessment was learning just how important and impactful relationships are for New Teachers. We’ve held the premise that much is possible in a relationship, and little is possible without one. It was heartening to see this confirmed.
For us, relationships are intentional, professional, action-oriented, and this was our approach to engaging the In-Person Mentors and Virtual Instructional Coaches. In turn, our mentors and coaches brought the same rigor to their relationships with their New Teachers.
As noted above, the relationships that New Teachers built with their In-Person Mentors and Virtual Instructional Coaches meant the New Teachers didn’t feel alone. This helped accelerate their confidence and quickly improve their teaching practices.
A less pleasant takeaway was that basic humanity is often missing from our teachers’ day-to-day experiences in the classroom, school district, and community. Teachers are not respected or listened to. If they do provide input, it is not acted upon. ELP is revolutionary in this regard, though we wish it wasn’t.
We Support the Next Generation of Favorite Teachers
Think about your favorite teacher - the person who had a big impact on your life. We have learned that everyone has a story to share. And without exception, it is clear that favorite teachers mastered the art of teaching and guided students with the wisdom of their experience.
At a fundamental level, ELP’s work helps ensure we are creating this next generation of favorite teachers.
“I think this program has the possibility to help early career teachers do better because of the relationships and support. I think you can feel very alone in your first year. [Because] everyone in the school already knows each other and you’re figuring yourself out. I think it definitely gives you a community, which makes you feel able to stay around.” – Joanna, New Teacher
To learn more about our work and the impact we’ve had to date, hear directly from pilot participants in this video on our website’s home page.