Mentoring between schools is increasingly recognized as a powerful mechanism for fostering innovation and systemic improvement in education. Effective school mentoring requires structured processes, well-defined enabling conditions, and tools that support schools in evaluating and refining their mentoring practices. This study presents MentorQ, a self-assessment tool designed from INDIRE to help schools measure the maturity and effectiveness of their mentoring processes by assessing key enabling factors identified through empirical research.

MentorQ was developed within INDIRE’s innovation school networks, Avanguardie Educative and Piccole Scuole, and is inspired by validated self-reflection models such as the SELFIE tool for digital maturity assessment. It enables schools to analyze their mentoring practices across ten critical dimensions, including goal alignment, resource sharing, role clarity, and collaborative learning. The tool provides schools with a Mentoring Index, a structured score reflecting strengths and areas for improvement, allowing them to tailor their mentoring strategies accordingly.

The validation of MentorQ follows a two-phase approach. In the first phase, an exploratory factor analysis was conducted to ensure the tool's internal consistency and to verify that the ten identified dimensions accurately represent distinct but interconnected aspects of effective mentoring. The second phase, currently underway, involves confirmatory factor analysis to validate the robustness of the model across diverse educational contexts. This process includes statistical measures such as factor loadings and goodness-of-fit indices, ensuring the reliability and scalability of the tool.

Preliminary findings suggest that MentorQ is an effective diagnostic and improvement tool for schools engaging in mentoring networks, particularly in non-hierarchical, distributed leadership models such as the hub-and-spoke system. The tool supports schools in self-reflecting on their mentoring strategies, identifying gaps, and implementing targeted actions for improvement. Future research will focus on further refining MentorQ, extending its application in school networks, and developing complementary resources within a comprehensive Mentoring Toolkit.

By providing a structured, evidence-based framework for evaluating mentoring practices, MentorQ contributes to the sustainability and scalability of school-to-school mentoring models, offering a data-driven approach to fostering educational innovation and professional learning communities.

Keywords: School to School mentoring, Mentor-Q, Critical dimension, Self-reflection tool.