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Full-Text Articles in Education

Teachers' Sense Of Professional Practices As A Result Of Mentoring, Leadriane L. Roby Apr 2012

Teachers' Sense Of Professional Practices As A Result Of Mentoring, Leadriane L. Roby

Dissertations

Formal mentoring programs focus on the probationary period of new teachers. Providing teachers with mentoring support during the initial years of teaching requires significant commitment and investment from school districts, mentors, and new teachers. Numerous studies argue the merits of mentoring programs, yet the research has been less clear about what happens once mentoring support has ended. The purpose of this study was to explore how mentored teachers, those beyond the formal mentoring experience, created sense and meaning of their teaching roles and developed professional practices after participation in a mentoring program.

There is an assumption that there is a …


The Development Of And Relationship Between Elgin U-46'S Teacher Appraisal System And Mentor Program: 1998-2010, Joseph William Schumacher Jan 2010

The Development Of And Relationship Between Elgin U-46'S Teacher Appraisal System And Mentor Program: 1998-2010, Joseph William Schumacher

Dissertations

This study investigated the historical development of Elgin School District U-46's teacher appraisal system and teacher mentor program during the years of 1998-2010. In 1998 a formal mentor program was implemented for the first time in district history. Shortly thereafter, district and union leadership agreed to revamp the twenty-five-year-old appraisal system. The study aimed to explore how district and union leadership prepared for, adopted, and implemented appraisal and mentoring during this time period through the framework of Thomas Sergiovanni's (1992) sources of authority for leadership.

The research questions of this study focused on five topics: the historical development of the …


The Principal's Role In Teacher Retention, Sametra Danyal Chisolm Dec 2008

The Principal's Role In Teacher Retention, Sametra Danyal Chisolm

Dissertations

As efforts are made to identify factors contributing to teachers leaving or staying in the teaching profession, teacher retention continues to pose a challenge for school administrators. Factors such as principal behaviors, principal leadership, school climate/teacher morale, professional development opportunities, and teacher mentoring programs seem to positively impact teachers' decisions to remain in the profession.

The purpose of this study was to gather data to determine whether principal behaviors, principal leadership, school climate/teacher morale, professional development opportunities, and teacher mentoring programs affect teacher retention. A questionnaire, adapted from the Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education (formally Charlotte Advocates for Education) research …


Induction And Peer Coaching Programs In A Middle School Setting, Shanti Ladawn Howard Aug 2008

Induction And Peer Coaching Programs In A Middle School Setting, Shanti Ladawn Howard

Dissertations

While almost half of new teachers engage in some type of induction program, many programs only offer superficial types of assistance including district-wide orientations, periodic workshops, or instruction in classroom management (Gold, 1996). Some induction programs sponsored by the state institute an evaluation process that applies formulaic criteria for defining teaching behaviors to assess new teacher performances (Darling-Hammond et al., 1999). In the continued search for school improvement, there was a need to propose another option in staff development, e.g., peer coaching.

Peer coaching was examined because induction programs did not attend to the individual needs of alternatively certified teachers. …


Adult Education Principles In A Teacher Mentoring Program: A Grounded Theory, Debra Jean Winans May 2008

Adult Education Principles In A Teacher Mentoring Program: A Grounded Theory, Debra Jean Winans

Dissertations

A qualitative study using grounded theory was conducted to determine the use of adult education principles in a school mentoring program. The study was conducted in a middle school in rural South Georgia during the 2006-2007 school year. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews with 25 participants: 11 proteges, nine mentors, and 5 mentor program coordinators. Insights into the dynamics of mentoring relationships and administration of the mentoring program were illustrated by stories of selected participants.

In this study, adult education principles were identified as (a) respect, (b) participation, (c) collaboration, (d) dialogue, (e) problem posing as a catalyst toward …