Mentoring: Participant perceptions of a program's effectiveness

Abstract

This dissertation examined a mentoring program developed in a unified public school in Arizona. The Arizona State Department of Education has established certification requirements to include a performance-based assessment of pedagogical skills. The enactment of these requirements coincided with a national movement supporting performance-based standards. To date, program requirements have not been established by the Department of Education, and school districts are responsible for verifying each teacher's acquisition of the professional teaching standards. The studied school district established a pilot mentoring program to help induct, support, and retain new teacher employees. The focus of the mentoring experience was to support the professional teaching standards. The purpose of this study was to record, document, and compare the perceptions of 26 new teachers and 35 mentor teachers participating in this program. Responses from participant surveys were analyzed using descriptive analyses, t-tests, and correlations. Additionally, participant interviews and a document analyses provided insight and clarification of the quantitative data. The findings indicated that new teachers perceive an increase in their preparedness to teach over the course of the year. Emotional support was perceived as the most beneficial mentoring activity. A negative correlation was found between the time spent engaged in mentoring and the overall perceived level of support/assistance. A significant difference in the perceived value of the program was found between mentor teachers and new teachers. Descriptive data suggested that mentoring activities were related to the professional teaching standards. Mentoring appears to have supported the induction of new teachers into the district. The recommendations implied from this study are that future research is necessary for a better understanding of mentoring. The findings indicated the variable of time spent mentoring was unstable and specific to the dyad. The study was limited by the small sample size and points to the need of annual data gathering.