Opportunities+&+Challenges


 * Challenges:**
 * Professional development for mentor teachers;
 * Current program serves < 25% of the first year teachers in South Dakota and < 1% of the 2nd year teachers;
 * Establishing professional learning communities in an on-line environment;
 * Technology barriers related to the state/individual district filtering software, such as blocked access to social network sites and other Web 2.0 applications;
 * Administrative recognition of the added value that involvement of their teachers in TTSN brings to their learning community;
 * Research relative to the impact of TTSN on teaching practice and student learning;
 * Sustaining and expanding the TTSN program.

**Opportunities Presented at USD Bush Foundation Initiative Meeting:**
 * TTSN involvement for students in their year four Educational Residency and continued involvement in the online mentoring program for their first three years of teaching;
 * Defining teacher quality through the language of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Core Propositions and possible use of TakeOne! during the initial year of teaching;
 * Compatibility with TTSN focus on 21st Century Skills for Learning;
 * Research relative to the impact of various induction models, including online mentoring, to new teacher quality and retention;
 * During the residency year, involvement in TTSN will provide a collaborative professional environment that is focused on inquiry into best practice, providing multiple perspectives as Residents transition from theory about teaching to the practice of guiding and assessing student learning;
 * TTSN involvement will immerse the Resident in a positive culture of commitment and continuous learning;
 * Development of an online mentor certification program.