Schools Chief Sees Mentoring as Critical to Education

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein
Photo by Ryan Brenizer

By Janet Sassi

New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein told a group of mentoring supervisors that, if it weren’t for his mentors, he never would have envisioned the achievements he’s accomplished.

Klein delivered the keynote speech at the 10th anniversary of the Mentoring Supervisor Certificate Program, a collaboration between the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) and Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City. Klein credited his high school physics teacher and others with making him who he is today.

“I grew up in Queens public housing,” Klein said. “In my family, our vision was limited—when it came to college, everybody assumed I’d just stay on the course I was on (and not go). But there were a couple of teachers who changed my life by allowing me to stand on their shoulders and see a world that was just not visible to me.”

The renowned certificate program, which is sponsored by J.P. Morgan Chase, offers training in mentoring supervision through a 32-hour course that helps professionals develop youth mentoring within their agencies. The course curriculum was developed in 1998 by the GSS and Big Brothers Big Sisters (BB/BS), and classes are taught jointly by GSS faculty and BB/BS professionals in its Center for Training and Professional Development.

Klein went on to graduate from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and to become a Big Brother mentor himself. He urged the graduating class of 40 students to work on behalf of those students who have no voice in the system in order to achieve greater parity in education.

“I’ve discovered that mentors get more out of the experience than mentees,” he said. “And I’ve been on both sides.”

Elaine Congress, D.S.W., associate dean of GSS and coordinator of the program, said it has graduated approximately 900 mentor supervisors in 600 agencies, offering services to more than 40,000 young people through those agencies’ mentoring programs. The full curriculum is offered three times a year. Courses seek to develop candidates’ skills in interviewing and fund raising and to educate them in adolescent development, diversity and program evaluation. The purpose of the program, Congress said, was to help increase the numbers of skilled mentors available to needy adolescents.

“This is one of the smoothest running collaborative programs in our school,” Congress said. “It’s a wonderful partnership. And when you think of the impact it has on young people, it’s incredible.”

Schools Chief Sees Mentoring as Critical to Education

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein Photo by Ryan Brenizer

Schools Chancellor Joel Klein
Photo by Ryan Brenizer