The research draws on the experience of the Teacher Development Component (TDC) of the USAID funded Secondary Education Activity (SEA) in Macedonia and addresses the benefits and issues of teachers’ participation in the mentoring program activities and their focus on using critical reflection as a learning tool. The TDC is developed and administered by the International Reading Association (IRA) and American Institutes for Researches (AIR). After completion of the interactive teaching methodology training for 2800 teachers, the project is focusing on teachers’ reflection practices in order to provide high quality instruction and improvement of student learning outcomes. Having in mind that changes in teaching practice take time to become embedded in ongoing practice, the SEA mentoring approach requires reflective journal writing from teachers as an opportunity to think critically about what they do and why during the teaching their students in order to have impact to students achievements. It provides: a record of events and result and teachers’ reaction to them; data on which to base reflective discussion; impetus to take action that is informed and planned. Mentors are also encouraged to teach their students to be critically reflective. The research is designed to inquire effects of the mentoring program and to identify issues for further improvement of teaching practice. The goal of this research is to assess the progress of developing mentors’ teaching skills as a result of reflective journaling and engaging in open and collaborative discussion about teaching with colleagues. The research indented to answer the following questions: 1. What kind of positive effects do mentors notice in the teaching practice as a result of the mentoring program? 2. In what ways did the reflective practice help mentors improve teaching practice and student learning? 3. How much reflective journaling influences the development of competence and skills for critical reflection?

The research instrument is a questionnaire that consist reflective questions referring to learning about improving teachers’ teaching Guidelines will be developed for creating a framework and tools to assess critical reflection. Through quality analysis of answers in which mentors documented their experiences, thoughts, questions and ideas, the research will identify the development of skills.

We believe that encouraging critical reflection and reflecting deeply on teaching experiences generates opportunity for personal growth and development and positive changes in teaching practice and student learning. This will enable the project to identify principles and strategies that can assist in the development of teachers of future mentoring programs.