As part of the District Leadership Fellows program, Dr. Marcy Corley, Director of Professional Learning at Frisco ISD, focused on increasing the retention rate of first-year teachers within her district by 5% through implementation of a comprehensive mentoring program. This goal is important to her as it supports her underlying mission of building capacity in educators so they become as impactful as possible.
As she worked on her project over the course of the year, Dr. Corley took onboard learning from the program, discussion with the cohort and feedback from her team. She then revised her implementation plan to focus on 4 key activities:
- Conduct a thorough evaluation of the current mentoring program to identify strengths and weaknesses.
- Implement a feedback mechanism to gather input from both mentors and mentees to continuously improve the program.
- Offer ongoing support and resources to mentors, such as professional learning opportunities and regular check-ins.
- Provide comprehensive learning for mentors, focusing on effective communication, active listening, and problem-solving skills.
Through this process she recognized she was growing as a leader in:
- Problem solving by identifying issues and developing solutions
- Analytical thinking by breaking down complex problems into manageable parts
- Innovation by thinking creatively to find new approaches
- Strategic implementation by planning and executing effective solutions.
As Dr. Corley approaches the end of the academic year, her project is going well. She is gathering feedback from lead mentors and first-year teachers as she looks for ways to improve the program for next year.
To learn more about Institute for Leadership Impact programs, visit our website, email us at leadershipimpact@smu.edu, engage with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Applications are open for the 2025-2026 cohort.