Every year, more than 15,000 teachers vie for the chance to become certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Although the process is voluntary, National Board Certification is a widely recognized mark of distinction and is increasingly tied to leadership opportunities for teachers, salary increases, and improved student learning in classrooms. Mentors provide supportive services for teachers during their candidacy, offering strategies for standards-based analysis of practice, constructive criticism, advice, and moral support. These mentor groups have grown from informal groups to organized networks of expert teachers in every region of the country. This is the first book to document the common challenges facing these "support providers," presenting a variety of brief cases of typical mentoring dilemmas in both one-on-one and group settings. After a foreword (Sharon Feiman-Nemser), preface, and introduction entitled Mentoring Practitioners toward Standards of Excellence (Mistilina Sato), this book is divided into three parts. Part One, The Role of the Mentor, contains the following chapters: (1) The Conflicting Roles of a Support Provider--Case (Adrienne Mack-Kirschner), Commentaries (Lynn Gaddis and Rose Vilchez) and Teaching Note; and (2) Facilitating from the Sidelines: Balancing Group Collaboration and Facilitator Expertise--Case (Vicki Baker), Commentaries (Carne Barnett-Clarke and Yvonne Divans-Hutchinson), and Teaching Note. Part Two, Vision of Accomplished Teaching, contains the following chapters: (3) What to Do about Jake--Case (Anne Ifekwunigwe), Commentaries (Myriam Casimir and LaRie Colosimo), and Teaching Note; and (4) Getting a Small Group on Board with the Standards--Case (William Dean), Commentary (Kay Hones), and Teaching Note. Part Three, Complexities of Effective Mentoring, contains the following chapters: (5) What Do You Do when Bias Sneaks in?--Case (Pat Kemeny Macias), Commentary (Joan Peterson), and Teaching Note; (6) The Facilitator, the Candidate, and the Mushy Brains: Working with Biases of a National Board Candidate--Case (Myriam Casimir), Commentary (Anne Ifekwunigwe), and Teaching Note; and (7) Facilitating the Writing Process--Case (Maria Hyler), Commentaries (George Bunch, Jerome Shaw, and Susan Elko), and Teaching Note. Part Four, Structuring Group Process, contains the following chapters: (8) National Board Readiness: Is There a Right Time?--Case (Rose Vilchez), Commentaries (Diane Barone and Rae Jeane Williams), and Teaching Note; and (9) Why Are All the Black Teachers Sitting Together?--Case (Rae Jeane Williams), Commentaries (Vicki Baker and Yvonne Divans-Hutchinson), and Teaching Note. Part Five, Setting Boundaries, contains the following chapters: (10) Managing the Mentoring Relationship--Case (Diane Garfield and Amber Lewis-Francis), Commentaries (Rachel A. Lotan and Wendy Hacke), and Teaching Note; and (11) Mission Impossible: the Exasperating Mentee--Case (Elizabeth Matchett and Dawne Ashton), Commentary (Lee S. Shulman), and Teaching Note. Part Six, Mentoring One's Colleagues, contains the following chapters: (12) A Circle of National Board Certification Friends--Case (Yvonne Divans-Hutchinson), Commentaries (Gloria Ladson-Billings and Sandra Dean), and Teaching Note; (13) Can We Really Teach Like This?--Case (Sandra Dean), Commentaries (Ann-Marie Wiese and Hector Viveros Lee), and Teaching Note; and (14) Conclusion: Making the Most of Case Discussions (Judith H. Shulman). The following is appended: Working with Case Writers: a Methodological Note (Judith H. Shulman and Mistilina Sato). Contains a selected annotated bibliography (Gloria I. Miller) and an Index.