An Open Letter to Our School Districts, Administrators and Teachers

December 20, 2022

"Every student in Alaska will have the benefit of a great teacher."
— ASMP mission.

A message from the Program Manager:

As we begin our 19th year mentoring early career teachers across Alaska and ASMP has much to celebrate. We reached a milestone this year, having mentored in each of Alaska’s 54 school districts in our tenure.

This year, our cadre of 15 full-release mentors is serving 140 teachers who live and teach across the state of Alaska. We are thrilled to be partnering with eleven districts who were able to cost-share with us. Our mentors excel at providing embedded, year- long, individualized instructional coaching for those in their first and second year of teaching. We facilitate weekly conversations with early career teacher as they plan, teach and assess for positive student outcomes.

Mentors are dedicated to supporting teachers in providing optimal learning environments in their classrooms. We place a continual emphasis on integrating Alaska’s Cultural Standards into Alaska Content standards so that students are centered, honored, engaged and successful. We use a framework of teaching and coaching cycles and tools to dig into lesson planning and to analyze student learning.

This collaborative, non-evaluative support leads to a quality teacher in front of every student. It leads to improved student achievement and also teacher retention. ASMP is constantly adapting to our ever-changing educational landscape. When we are not on site, we use powerful and sustainable methods to collaborate with teachers and be in classrooms via remote, secure means. Innovation, flexibility, resilience, and growth mindsets are the hallmark of mentors as they support teachers to provide instruction in culturally responsive ways. Our high-leverage tools facilitate teacher growth, reflection, and persistence.

If you see any of the ASMP mentors (look for the bright blue vest!) in your schools, airports or in your communities, say hi…we would love talk with you and share more about
our work!

Sincerely,

Sue McIntosh