Giving Compass' Take:

• Linda Jacobson reports that an analysis conducted by the New Teacher Center found that mentoring programs for new teachers can save districts up to $1 million over five years. 

• How can funders help districts implement effective mentoring programs for new teachers? 

• Learn about the challenges of new teachers. 

Mentoring programs for new teachers can save districts as much as $1 million over a five-year period because they increase teacher retention rates, according to a return-on-investment analysis of the New Teacher Center’s work in Chicago Public Schools.

Conducted by Metis Associates, a New York City-based research and consulting firm, the calculations also show such support for novice teachers results in additional learning gains for students compared to a control group and could lead to as much as $38,000 in greater lifetime earnings for those students.

The authors also predict long-term returns for school districts as former students pay more in taxes to fund public education. Additional research, they write, is needed on “the value of the changes in school culture and teacher satisfaction, without which, the returns shown here would probably not be possible.”

Read the full article about the ROI for mentoring new teachers by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive.