BlueRibbon SchoolZone™
Education Best Practices
Texas Beginning Educator
Support System
TxBESS
Detailed Overview
• The Texas Beginning Educator Support System (TxBESS) is an induction
program for teaching staff that pairs each new teacher with a mentor.
Teachers new to the profession work with their mentors for their first two
years at Northwest High School while experienced teachers new to the
campus have a mentor for their first year only.
• New teachers meet monthly as a group with the TxBESS coordinator to
discuss areas of concern. Mentors also meet monthly with the TxBESS
coordinator to get general feedback and provide the same. Mentors meet
at least weekly with their protégés to enact aspects of the program and
give the new teachers a touchstone as they transition into campus and/or
professional life.The mentor teacher also serves as an informal liaison with
administration as well as other teachers in their respective departments
and with the support staff.
TxBESS
Detailed Overview
• Each new teacher is teamed with an experienced teacher to provide
ongoing professional support. Focused support for experienced teachers
principally addresses school culture and professional issues related to the
student population, staff acclimatization, procedural details, and general
team building.
• Teachers new to the profession receive encouragement in classroom
management techniques, lesson preparation and assessment,
identification of student needs, and establishment of an attitude of
professional growth. Mentors assist through direct observation of new
teacher classroom preparation and instruction, provide observation
opportunities for the new teachers in their own and other teachers’
classrooms and regularly debrief with the new teachers providing moral
support throughout their transition into the education profession.
TxBESS
Detailed Overview (cont’d)
• The most important tool that mentors utilize with new teachers is the
TxBESS Activity Profile (TAP). This document is designed to help teachers
self-appraise their instructional preparation and delivery. The TAP provides
evidence for the new teacher in how effective their instruction is for
students in a non-threatening, yet comprehensive fashion.
• The principal role of the mentor is to help the new teachers determine at
which levels of proficiency they are accomplishing performance standards
within the framework of Instructional Planning, Classroom Environment,
Instructional Experience, and Educational Professionalism. This personal
appraisal process lays the groundwork for the new teacher to gauge future
improvements in teaching behaviors by establishing a baseline of teacher
competencies. The mentor helps the teacher develop strategies to
improve in each of these critical areas of the teaching profession.
TxBESS
Benefits
1. Improve the skills and abilities of both new and experienced
teachers
2. Increase retention rates of teachers new to the campus
3. Improve overall staff quality
4. Build instructional leadership within the teaching ranks
5. Increase opportunities for new teachers to witness and receive
feedback on best practices in action
6. Provide a safe haven for new teachers to express concerns
7. Provide an informal method for supervisors to receive input on
new staff performance
8. Reduce the financial and personnel losses associated with high
rates of teacher turnover
TxBESS
How to Implement
1. Define needs of your new teachers using recent teachers hired to the campus.
2. Form a campus committee, composed of new and veteran teachers, as well as
campus administrators, to begin examination of existing mentoring programs.
3. Choose the purpose of the mentoring program desired.
4. Review programs and develop synthesis, based upon desired purpose.
5. Choose a Teacher Mentor Coordinator and provide release time for training and
development/adoption of materials.
6. Recruit Mentors from Staff (These individuals need not be in the specific content
area of the protégés.)
7. Provide Stipends for Mentors.
8. Designate training dates for beginning of school year and ongoing training during
the year.
For more information about TxBESS see:
9. Implement Program. Home Page for Website
http://www.region10.org/txbess/
TxBESS Framework
http://www.region10.org/TxBESS/documents/TxBESSFramework.pdf
TxBESS Program Standards
http://www.region10.org/TxBESS/documents/TxBESSProgramStandards.pdf
TxBESS Activity Profile
http://www.region10.org/TxBESS/documents/TxBESSActivityProfile.doc
TxBESS
Effectiveness
• Track return rates of new staff: Since the fall of 2000 NHS has
hired 84 teachers. Of that total, 76 (or 90%) are still teaching
at Northwest, and 6 of the remainder are teaching elsewhere.
Thus, 98% of the total are still in the teaching profession.
– Statewide the numbers are shockingly different. Only 75% of new
teachers hired who received no support during their induction year
remain after the first year and 60% stay at their first school. Within
five years 50% have left the profession.
– Among those teachers receiving TxBESS support statewide, 88%
remain in teaching while 80% are retained by their district.
TxBESS
Effectiveness
• One informational survey of first year teachers served by the TxBESS
program indicated that 82% of those teachers were satisfied or very
satisfied with their experience using TxBESS structure to support their first
year in the classroom.
– A statewide follow-up interviewed 170 principals in schools using TxBESS and asked
them to compare their beginning teachers who received program support to those that
had not. The principals rated the teachers’ performance in four key areas: instructional
effectiveness, faculty integration, student discipline, and teacher attitude.
– Principals agreed that teachers receiving TxBESS support were performing better in all
areas compared to those that had not received mentor support.
• The most success was seen in the area of instructional effectiveness. 65% of principals
surveyed gave positive feedback regarding better instructional effectiveness from mentored
teachers.
• The survey indicated the lowest success was in teacher attitude toward teaching at the end of
the year. Even though it was the least supported area, 52% of principals agreed that mentored
teachers had a better attitude than non-mentored teachers had.
TxBESS
Effectiveness
• Track participation rates of former protégés as new mentors. At NHS 15 of
the 24 teachers who currently serve as mentors were mentored
themselves under the TxBESS program.
– With the tremendous growth being experienced in staff due to enrollment
increases, this program has been critical in ensuring a coherent staff in
addition to a coherent instructional program.
– Existing staff members increase leadership capabilities through both formal
TxBESS mentor training and ongoing work as mentors.
– Mentors also more efficiently identify leadership traits in new teachers as well
as the general skill level of new teachers.
– Many of the most successful and enthusiastic mentors were themselves
protégés of our earliest TxBESS mentors.
TxBESS
Success
• The TxBESS mentoring program has been an incredibly
powerful tool in building instructional leadership within
the school for both new teachers and veterans of
Northwest High School.
• TxBESS has saved the school district thousands of dollars
in hiring, training, and support costs associated with high
turnover rates. By ensuring that teachers remain at the
school once hired, NHS is investing in its own future with
better stewardship of both human and financial
resources.
TxBESS
Contact Info
Bart Teal, CEO/Founder
Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence, Inc
Bart@BlueRibbonSchools.com
803-345-5415 (Office)
TxBESS