10 Mentoring and Induction Challenges in Rural Schools and How to Address Them

Strong mentoring and induction supports have been linked with improvements in teacher retention, instructional practice, teacher working conditions, and even student achievement; however, in rural schools, mentoring and induction programs must be designed and implemented with the unique challenges of the local context in mind. Strong, locally designed mentoring and induction supports can help to address the unique challenges faced by rural schools related to beginning teacher development and retention. This brief outlines 10 common challenges encountered by rural schools when implementing mentoring and induction programs along with strategies to address the challenges and examples from the field.