Teaching is a demanding career, and even the most passionate educators need a strong support system to lean on. Through the Teacher Mentor Program, Dallas ISD ensures that new teachers never have to navigate the profession alone.
By investing in new teachers’ confidence, growth, and long-term success as professionals, Dallas ISD’s mentorship program goes beyond the education code requirement. The program builds nurtured relationships that make a lasting impact.
“It’s exciting to think about the possibilities and the outcomes that will come along with these relationships,” said Beverly Lusk, executive director of Employee Experience. “It’s important to us that our mentor teachers can lead and coach with empathy. It also takes great listening skills to truly be a support system for their novice teacher.”
The Teacher Mentor Program connects novice teachers with more experienced teachers who help them maintain morale, confidence, and effectiveness. Mentors meet with their teachers weekly, and often more frequently as relationships grow, offering guidance on classroom management, workload balance, and navigating the many requirements that come with being an educator.
With 840 mentors supporting nearly 1,000 first- and second-year teachers, the program is one of the largest in the state. According to Kalyse McElveen, director of Employee Experience, great mentors are effective teachers themselves who are emotionally intelligent individuals with the capacity to become a safety net for new educators.
McElveen supports Lusk in teacher retention and professional development, helping design a program that equips mentors with strategies for success based on the direct needs of new teachers.
“Our novice teachers have always expressed feeling supported,” McElveen said. “And mentors have enjoyed giving back and paying it forward, as someone once did for them. They say it’s truly like a friendship, and they often learn just as much from their mentee.”
As National Mentoring Day approaches on Oct. 27, HCM will host its annual mentor-mentee mixer at Dave & Buster’s on Oct. 28. This event will be a time of community and celebration for teachers who have built strong partnerships through the program.
With 30 years of experience in Dallas ISD as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal, Lusk has a deep understanding of what new teachers face.
“When I was in the classroom, my mentor did a lot of modeling for me,” Lusk said. “She observed, gave me feedback, and kept my spirits high through the tough times.”
Even now, as an executive director, Lusk continues to be mentored herself. This full-circle reminder shows how vital these relationships remain at every stage of a career.
“I’ve been where these teachers are,” she said. “I’ve been that novice teacher at the end of the first semester, questioning, ‘Am I cut out for this?’ The person who saw me through was my mentor. She reminded me that I could do this.”
Now, decades later, Lusk’s leadership ensures that the same kind of care and guidance that shaped her journey continues to be seen across classrooms throughout the district.
McElveen added that this year, second-year mentors are receiving more in-depth, skills-based training and coaching from Lusk. This layer of professional development strengthens mentor relationships and reinforces Dallas ISD’s culture of belonging.
“Being in this new role and taking a step back to think about how we can nurture these relationships and support novice teachers through their mentors has been so exciting,” Lusk said. “We’re just getting started.”
