Client
Testimonies About Barry
Sweeny's Services
Customer Testimonials:
About
Barry's Expertise and Assistance
"Barry, thanks for what you have done for our district and
our mentor program. We've had the program for 10 years and felt
proud of what we have accomplished. However, your Best Practices
Conference and mentoring materials gave us the jump start we needed
to revitalize us. Our strongest mentors have once again become "mentor
magnets" attracting other veteran teachers into the ranks of
new teacher advocates. (PS. I love that term "mentor magnets"!
It says just what we want it to be.) - Sandy Nobles, Director of
Instructional Initiatives, Richardson ISD, Texas.
- "We found Barry Sweeny right at the point when we were
trying to figure out how to improve our mentoring program to make
it a full induction program. Barry's wonderful advice and materials
were invaluable to us in this challenging transformation. We especially
love his mentoring styles inventory and mentor training ideas!"
- Sharon Mullen, Staff Development Department, Fairfax County
Public Schools, Virginia, December 1999.
-
"As the mentor coordinator for a brand new mentoring program
with over 700 mentors, guides, and proteges, I learned quickly
that you may have only one chance to get it right. Thank goodness
I discovered Barry Sweeny and listened to his advice!
- First, I used Barry Sweeny's advice as my guide for creating
in one year what I believe is a very effective mentoring program.
Everyone in our district is thrilled with the program we created.
The time spent learning from him was the best investment I ever
made.
- Second, Barry taught me several great strategies for evaluating
my program and how to use this data to defend it. He helped me
to plan proactively and to see that accountability is sustainability.
Thanks to Barry's wisdom, insight, and advice the mentoring program
in my district has weathered challenges and restructuring when
every other program was cut back. I am so grateful.
- Finally, Barry is an exceptional role model of what a mentor
should strive to be."
- Mary Hasl, Mentor Coordinator, Poudre School District, Fort Collins,
Colorado
On Target Assistance - "Wow, Barry! You gave me all
that I needed and more! It is like you are reading my mind. This only
goes to prove that you are very experienced and therefore, right on
target. Thanks again, for all the input." - Fern Cohen
"Barry, I want to thank you for the outstanding presentation
you provided at the Houston TX Focus Conference. I heard numerous
positive comments from your audience before we headed back to Austin
and also excitement about your ideas and strategies. We were very
pleased. During the presentation, it was easy to see that the participants
were engaged in your topics. Thank you ever so much for all the effort
and thought you put into it to adapt to our special educators. I'm
really glad that I now know about all the resources you provide. You
WILL be hearing from me again." - Ruth Ann Marsh,
State-Wide Mentor Coordinator, TX School for the Blind and Visually
Impaired, Austin, TX
(PS - Barry was invited back and did another training at their
state-wide conference the next year too.)
Training, Consulting & Program Evaluation
for 2 years! - "When our ESC was awarded
one of eleven of the TxBESS Pilot Grants, we had to start the program
from scratch. We immediately decided not to hire additional staff
persons who would need over a year to become expert in mentoring
and induction. Further, I was not a mentoring expert and I needed
BIG help right away! I discovered Barry Sweeny, had several email
and phone conversations with him, interviewed him face-to-face while
he attended a nearby conference, and hired him on the spot.
Barry worked for us as a trainer and consultant, and as MY personal
mentor, spending over 130 days in our region over two years. His
expertise and professional manner made the experience both highly
productive and a personal joy.
Barry was instrumental in helping us avoid many problems and detours
and in making our first year an immediate success. He was also a
critical aid to me in so many ways, including development and use
of needs assessments, the year-end reports, and proposals for funding
of the next phase of the three year state pilot.
The second year, after realizing his value to the project, we
dropped our original program evaluator, and we expanded his responsibilites
even further to include development and conduct of our external
program evaluation. You should see the excellent process he used
and the clear data patterns he displayed! Ask him also to see a
copy of the final product he produced! We were more than satisfied
with everything he did for us!
Even though we paid him quite a bit for this work, we always
got back much greater value than what we felt we bought! Our
staff and the participants in our program were very pleased with
Barry's work and support. Hiring Barry was one of my smartest decisions
and I continually recommend him to others I meet."
- Ms. Zoe Windley, TxBESS Program Coordinator, ESC Region XI,
Fort Worth, Texas.
"I cannot thank you enough for your great advice to my
questions about mentoring. You have given me many ideas that I want
to explore more. I really appreciate your caring enough to respond
and share with me some of your expert knowledge. As I continue to
work in mentoring I will use your advice and hopefully can continue
to correspond with you. Thanks again for the wonderful advice!"
- Jeanna Weldon, Athens Georgia
Projects
on Which Barry Has Worked:
Goals 2000 Program Evaluation - Hired
as external evaluator, designed and conducted a year-long evaluation
of a complex staff development program. The program coordinator, Adrianne
Roggenbuck, of the Professional Development Alliance, Joliet Illinois
stated, "Barry, the evaluation looks great! Marge, Beth and I
are impressed and pleased with the work you have done on the evaluation
design. I am finally sure that we will be able to gather the relevant
data we need to help us with improving our impact and our planning
for next year."
-
Grant Writing - "Barry recently worked with us to
develop the most difficult part of our recent FY 2000 Illinois
Secretary of State Literacy Volunteers Grant. His part of the
grant was the program goals, outcomes, activities, and evaluation
components. We were so pleased with his work and the quality of
his writing because these parts are the core of the proposal,
around which we had to build all the rest of the project, and
his work made ours go so well. Also, Barry was prompt in meeting
our short time line for completion and was a pleasure to work
with. We certainly feel we got our money worth and more, and will
definately be using Barry again on other projects". - Ms.
Pamela Meadows, Director of Education Services, World Relief DuPage.
- About
Barry's Training and Consulting Materials
"Barry, Thanks so much for sharing your excellent induction
information with others. You must be a super person!"
- Dr. Doris Henderson, Director , Department of Profesional Induction
& Success, Guilford Public Schools, Greensboro, NC
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! The mentoring
materials you sent me were great. I can't wait to share them,
as they were just what we needed. I sure appreciate your support."
- Nyana Sims, teacher leader, Lake Havasu, Arizona.
-
"Wow! You are truly the GURU of mentoring and yours is by
far the best of all the mentoring information available.
What a resource you are for mentors and mentoring programs! That
was why I choose to incorporate so much of your great information
into our new 'Inductiona and Mentoring Source Book' that we distributed
to every district in our state. We also sold many copies to schools
across the country. It has been a pleasure working with you."
-Rita Stringfellow, Assistant Director, South Carolina Center
for Teacher Recruitment, Rock Hill, SC.
- "Your materials and information have been really
helpful to me as we began our mentor program for new teachers
in our district. We so, wanted to be sure it would be successful.
Thanks for helping us reach that goal!"
- -Sharon Morgan, Bargaining Chair, NEA -Los Lunas, New Mexico
-
- "I have found your materials and information to
be a virtual GOLD MINE! Thank you for providing this terrific
information. That is why I now want to invite you to do a training
for mentors in our region. I KNOW it will help them off to a great
start!" - Carol Pulsfus, Staff Development Coordinator, CESA
#5, Portage Wisconsin
"While doing some searching, I ran across
a link to your work on mentoring. I was excited by what I found
available for sale and for free! I want to buy a large amount of
your materials, as they are exactly addressing what I need for my
own work on new teacher mentorships. Thank you!"
- John Morrow, Abbottsford School District, British Columbia, Canada
|
