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theses

Problem: Novice high school teachers have to navigate a minefield of new challenges including classroom management, school politics, and implementation of pedagogy, all too often without the support of school administrators or more experienced fellow teachers. This difficult situation is often systemic. One approach for retaining teachers is to improve the quality of teacher induction and mentoring programs. High quality mentoring interactions are characterized by purposeful, guided, and sustained collaboration between novice teachers and the veteran staff, is ongoing and features support from administration and supervisors, as well as professional development. This study explored the experiences of those involved in an induction and mentoring program and focused on these questions: How is a research-based new teacher induction and mentoring program implemented at Linwood High School? Sub questions included: How do mentors, novice teachers, and administrators feel about the induction and mentoring process at Linwood High School at the beginning of the study? What implementation challenges does a research-based new teacher induction and mentoring program encounter in Linwood High School? How do mentors and novices differ in their perceptions of induction and mentoring at Linwood High School? What challenges do new teachers face, and how can induction and mentoring support them? Method: This research was viewed through the theories of transformational, socio-cultural, and adult cognitive/development learning theory. Samples of administrators, mentors, and novice teachers were identified using purposeful and convenience samples, where participation is based on particular criteria. Qualitative data collection procedures included interviews of administrators, mentors and novice teachers. Professional development was also held at Linwood High School, for approximately one hour, once a month, over a five-month period. Findings: This research demonstrated several technical and contextual challenges in building an induction and mentoring program. There was a disconnect between what mentors assumed novices needed and what the novices assumed the mentors would provide. The results of this study have implications for the Linwood district, and for other districts wishing to build a research-based induction and mentoring program.

ETD_5339

Ed.D.

Includes bibliographical references

by Patricia Tartivita

doi:10.7282/T3C24TPM

ETD doctoral

The author owns the copyright to this work.