Teachers who become Mentors receive stipends for the mentoring they provide. Mentors enjoy an increase in status, which, combined with increased income, makes it more likely that they will stay on the job and enjoy their work. Their "career ladder" is expanded as "Mentor/Master Teacher" designation becomes a reality in California.

Student teachers who work with Mentors have greater choice of time, location and type of field experience. Mentors and student teachers work on a one-to-one basis, allowing for intensive guidance and feedback. mentors may also provide continuing support for employed students following the practicum.

Mentors improve their skills and their abitlity to communicate their knowledge to others, while other staff will gain greater access to college training through on-site field experience options.

Young children and their families benefit from improved child care resulting from reduced staff turnover, increased teacher satisfaction and more and better trained new teachers.

Child care jobs are plagued by low salaries, poor working conditions and little professional status. These factors often cause good teachers to leave their jobs resulting in unusually high staff turnover in the childcare field. Many centers lose more than half their staff each year. Centers paying the lowest wages lose the greatest number of teahcers. In programs with so much inconsistency children suffer. They spend less time using learning materials and build language and social skills more slowly than other children their age.

Frequent staff turnover places the added burden on remaining staff of providing program continuity and training to new staff. Those who remain in the field are seldom rewarded for additional responsibilities by commensurate pay or status. With increasing demands for more trained teachers, training options are also limited by college restrictions on location. schedule and sequence of required courses, the Mentor Program was developed as an answer to these critical concerns.