MENTORING HELPS BEGINNER TEACHERS STAY THE COURSE.

Byline: Cecilia Chan Daily News Staff Writer

Helping new teachers make the grade, in a profession where more than one-third of those without guidance drop out after five years, is the hope behind a mentoring program a school district wants to put in place for its new teachers in the fall.

The Conejo Valley Unified School District board on Tuesday will consider the district's participation in a statewide program that has had proven success in retaining young teachers, who often burn out under the pressure of educating future generations.

``Anything that will help new teachers to get acclimatized to a new school district is always worthwhile,'' said Jody Dunlap, district assistant superintendent of personnel services. ``It affords them an opportunity to work with veteran teachers to get to know the different things that are going on in the school site and school district.''

Dunlap said the district is in the process of working with the county Board of Education on laying the groundwork for the program, called the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Program, and expects details to be ready by summer.

She was unsure at this stage how many of the district's more than 900 teachers would benefit from the program, which is open to first- and second-year instructors.

``A lot of young teachers get burned out quickly,'' said Doug Stone, spokesman for the California Department of Education in Sacramento. ``What we've discovered is teachers in their first and second years who go through a (mentor) program are likely to remain in the teaching profession.''

Stone said 90 percent of the teachers who are afforded an opportunity of a mentor stay in the profession after five years. That compares with only 60 percent to 65 percent who don't have access to a support program.

``What BTSA provides is a manner for teachers to gain experience and feedback that will carry them on for the rest of their teaching career,'' he said.

With state class-size reduction for kindergarten through third grade, a high number of teachers retiring and a growing student population each year, the need is to attract and retain qualified teachers, he said.

Funding for the program is split between the state and the districts. For Conejo Valley Unified, the state would provide $3,000 for each new teacher and the district would kick in $2,000 per teacher for the program.

Stone said the state in the past two fiscal years been able to pump millions of dollars into the program, making it available for all 1,200 school districts to participate.

Each district can tailor the program to its own needs, and Conejo Valley Unified will be working out the details of its mentoring in coming months.

In other districts that have used mentoring programs, schools have enlisted veteran teachers to help young instructors learn the ropes of running a classroom - from setting up discipline procedures to creating grading systems, officials said.

The Simi Valley Unified School District started the program last year, but officials there were not available to comment.

The BTSA program started in 1988 after a previous pilot program was implemented, said Lorna Winter, a consultant with the state Education Department.

``It has a wonderful success record,'' she said. ``Districts are strongly encouraged to have it.''