The first full week of May is designated as Licensed Employee Appreciation Week. At Clackamas ESD alone, we have at least 20 types of licensed jobs, with many variations in those positions. These are people who have completed higher education and earned licenses to be certified to teach students, lead continuing education training for staff, serve as social skills specialists, and provide speech, physical and occupational therapy within Clackamas ESD programs and the school districts we serve.
This Licensed Employee Appreciation Week, we’re highlighting a few of our approximately 185 licensed staff members and contractors to provide a peek into the diverse ways this large group of employees lives our mission of service. We appreciate our entire licensed team and the meaningful work they do.
Bianca Espinosa is the lead new educator mentor facilitator and coordinator for Clackamas Education Service District. In this role, she oversees teacher mentoring activities for both Clackamas ESD and the Multnomah-Clackamas Regional Educators Network, a regional partnership of Clackamas ESD and Multnomah Education Service District to improve systems that support educators.
“My job is to basically keep new teachers teaching,” Bianca puts it simply. “I coordinate, design and do everything related to mentoring.”
Teacher mentors observe new teachers’ classrooms and give feedback on instruction, assessments and grading; offer advice on how to build good relationships with students’ families and meet professional goals; and provide social-emotional support during the first three to five years of teaching where research shows the highest attrition rate.
But mentors aren’t born; they’re grown, which is why Bianca’s role is so impactful.
Designing, coordinating and facilitating mentorship programs and professional learning for school districts across Clackamas and Multnomah counties, Bianca serves as a “mentor of mentors,” improving mentorship outcomes and capacity.
“In many ways, working with adults is a lot harder than working with high school students. You’d think that it would be the other way around, but it’s not,” Bianca muses. “We need people who are prepared to give feedback to adults in a way that is loving but also honest.”
Mentorship is not mandatory for new teachers, but it’s one of the most effective ways to build a supply of highly effective and engaging teachers, reduce teacher attrition, and improve the quality of education for students.
“A really great thriving teacher makes a really great thriving class, and it has a direct effect on the outcome and experience for students,” Bianca explains.
Bianca came to teaching after earning her bachelor’s degree in English literature and Spanish language and literature and working in the corporate world for a few years.
“I come from a long line of teachers. My mom was a master teacher in the Woodburn School District for 30 years. She was the National Migrant Teacher of the Year. I felt like I had some big shoes to fill, and because of that, I never wanted to be a teacher. But after college, I found myself working at Wells Fargo Financial and realized I wanted to be in a room with high school kids talking about writing,” shares Bianca. “I’m a people person. I’m not a money person.”
Bianca returned to school to earn a master’s in teaching at Lewis and Clark College. After completing her degree and practicums at Portland Public Schools and Lake Oswego School District — the district she attended as a primary and secondary school student — she took her first teaching position at an alternative high school in Portland. Her experience as a first-year teacher has made her passionate about getting more new teachers interested in being mentored.
“In addition to teaching Language Arts, I also taught all the art classes, which was a big stretch for me,” recalls Bianca. “One of the classes I had to teach was African Drumming, and another one was called the “Art of the Paradox.” I had no idea what those classes meant.
“When I found out years later that there was a mentoring program for new teachers, I was like, ‘What do you mean?!’ New teachers should know mentoring is available the minute they sign the contract. You shouldn’t have to get to know the right person who maybe suggests it to you. So that’s the reason I push so hard; I know what it’s like to feel alone, and I just don’t want people to feel alone anymore.”
After 10 years as a teacher at the alternative high school, Bianca became a full-time mentor before taking on a leadership role mentoring mentors and co-leading Portland Public Schools’s mentor program. She has participated in MCREN on the leadership and mentor alignment teams since 2020 and served as the co-facilitator for mentor learning for the Clackamas ESD teacher mentor program before joining the Clackamas ESD and MCREN teams as lead new educator mentor facilitator and coordinator in September 2022. Her experience mentoring teachers from schools serving many different communities and her experiences as a student and teacher of color have formed her philosophy toward teaching.
“We do know what good teaching is, and good teaching is anti-racist teaching,” Bianca testifies. “It benefits all students. MCREN can’t level funding across different schools and different districts, but we can help people train up. A young person should get the same engaging experience at any public school.
“You need to be willing to step up; otherwise, things won’t change how you want to see them change. Somebody’s got to do it. Why not me?”
