Wilmington University is part of a new state collaborative that will develop and pilot an approach to recruiting, selecting, training and retaining highly effective mentor teachers who will help to prepare future educators.
Participants include two Delaware school districts—Colonial and Red Clay—and five educator preparation programs: Wilmington University, Delaware State University, University of Delaware, Relay Graduate School of Education, and the Delaware Department of Education.
The collaboration was launched by US PREP, a national coalition of 22 universities who have developed or are developing year-long teacher prep residency programs. Currently, the coalition trains and prepares more than five percent of teachers in the United States.
“The Delaware Mentor Collaborative is important for future educators because we are setting the standards that will ensure that every year-long teacher resident in the state of Delaware is supported and taught by a highly qualified mentor teacher,” says Stacie Zdrojewski, a specialist in novice educator development for the Red Clay School District. “This support will result in a stronger, more professionally satisfied teacher workforce which will decrease attrition and benefit the students of Delaware.”
