Supporting Our Own: A Manual for ESP Mentoring Programs

NEA Representative Assembly Resolution D-10:
Mentor Programs

The National Education Association believes that mentor programs are a means of enhancing the professional expertise of employees and retaining quality educators. The Association also believes that the planning, implementation, and evaluation of such programs must be negotiated or cooperatively developed and maintained by the school district and the local affiliate.

The Association further believes that the duties and responsibilities of all parties must be clearly defined and uniformly administered. Mentors must be selected through a defined process with articulated criteria, be properly trained and compensated, and be provided with adequate time to fulfill their responsibilities. The state or local authority has the obligation to provide hold-harmless protection.

The Association further believes that any documentation that results from the mentoring process must be confidential and the sole property of the person mentored and must not be included in the participant’s personnel file. The Association also believes that any verbal conversations that result from the mentoring process must also remain confidential. (1988, 2004)

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