E-Mentoring
Induction Support for New Teachers
The New Teacher Support Initiative (NTSI) is a program sponsored by CHAPTER, Chicago's High-Need Partnership for Teacher Education Recruitment. In fall 2000, the New Teacher Induction Program was initiated at Loyola University Chicago. The e-mentoring program began as a partnership with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which adopted Loyola as its initial expansion site in fall 2003. The Novice Teacher Support Project at UIUC is in its 11th year of providing professional development and support to novice teachers in Central Illinois and first began its electronic mentoring program in 2000-2001.
The goal of NTSI is to create and promote an online professional community of novice, experienced and mentor teachers. On-campus workshops are provided to support the online community in a variety of areas of professional development, following the guidelines of the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards. The electronic mentoring software is intended to offer an additional source of support to novice teachers, allowing teachers to discuss classroom experiences within a password-protected forum.
In addition to Loyola's efforts to support new teachers through CHAPTER, NTSI at Loyola is a full participant in the Illinois New Teacher Collaborative, a statewide effort to join forces in the mentoring and retention of new teachers.