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induction program called the CADRE Project. It was the career adnvancement
and support that drew me to the position. I was a fully-licensed first-year
teacher completing a master’s degree. I received a blend of mentoring and
coaching support from a CADRE associate, a veteran teacher assigned to
provide 5 hours of support per week.
Nearly a decade later, I had an opportunity to give back to the program
when I was hired as a CADRE associate. As I trained and learned the inside
elements of the program, it became clear that the program would not be what
it was without the professional learning in both educative mentoring and
various coaching practices. These practices were used in tandem to guide
teachers through instructional, professional, dispositional and emotional
support and growth. I learned how to apply mentoring and coaching strategies
in authentic ways to meet the needs of teachers.
As I moved into the director role afer 17 years in education, I witnessed
how the focus on continuous improvement informed educative mentoring and
various coaching practices within the program. This focus not only increases
the effectiveness of application in the field but also supports associates’
needs, reflection, and leadership development.

Promising Practices to Support Blending Mentoring and Coaching
In addition to building relationships with teachers, mentors and coaches should
build a repertoire of tools and resources to guide their work. Specifically, data
should drive the professional learning that mentors and coaches do with teachers.
Stakeholders expect teachers to “use a variety of sources and types of student,
educator, and system data to plan, assess, and evaluate professional learning”
(Learning Forward, 2017), and this should be no different with mentors/coaches.
Tools such as rubrics, professional standards, artifacts, and annotations are
necessary for data collection, discussion, and goal setting. As in Bell’s and Steiner’s
vignettes above, when educative mentors and coaches conference with teachers and
determine they want to address classroom management, they might utilize classroom
mapping. The artifact showcases the physical characteristics of the classroom that
contribute to or create obstacles for learning (e.g., seating arrangements, proximity
to learning materials, etc.). The observer tracks the movement of the students and/or
teacher within the classroom. Afterward, the mentor/coach and teacher analyze the
information together. The use of these tools can guide conversations in nonthreatening
ways, sustaining trust and authenticity and honoring the relationship needed for both
mentoring and coaching.
Additionally, data should also support how mentors and coaches reflect on their
own practice and develop their coaching and mentoring skill set, as described in
Bell’s and Steiner’s vignettes above. As written in Wilcoxen’s vignette, CADRE
associates also use a variety of tools to reflect on their practice. The following tools
may be adapted for use by other mentors/coaches: video quads, Problems of Practice
(POP), and Sustaining Optimal Support (SOS) teams to support reflective practice.

Video Quads
Video quads are groups of associates (coaches and mentors) who meet to determine
a direction for their coaching in the upcoming weeks. For example, perhaps data
collected reflect that the teacher is working on transitions, so the associate decides

Educators’ Choice 31