What is a REACh Mentor?

REACh mentors are a specially trained group of experts, identified and approved to provide assistance to districts receiving REACh grants. Mentors are expected to provide consistent and ongoing on-site technical assistance at the district, consortium, and participating school levels during project implementation. They are primarily responsible for providing the support necessary to help leadership teams implement the REACh Framework at the system, building, classroom, and individual student levels. REACh mentors do not have direct contact with students.

Mentors working in the REACh Initiative utilize a formal approach to mentoring. The intent of formal mentoring is to provide a working knowledge and to build a base of skills (Sullivan, 2004). Although REACh mentors have expertise in the Framework, they do not take a leadership role in implementing local action plans. Leadership for the REACh Initiative must come from the District and School Leadership Teams. The role of the mentor is to support these teams, promote REACh goals, and offer technical assistance in the four levels of the Framework.

Mentors promote REACh goals and assist leadership teams as they work to achieve expected project related outcomes. Grant awardees must commit to work with a REACh mentor. All mentoring activities take place at the district and school sites. This on-site mentoring model encourages local stakeholders to actively participate in all aspects of framework implementation and prepares district and school communities for sustaining and ultimately institutionalizing their improvement efforts.

Mentors are matched to districts based on mentor skills and district needs together with practical logistics, including geographic location and availability. It is conceivable that a mentor will work at multiple schools within the district and/or with more than one district.

Useful Documents

A Year in the Life of a Mentor (pdf)