Education Commons^™

Mentors’ Perspective On Mentoring Practices For New Teachers: A Qualitative Study, Rosa Smith-Norman

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological research study explores the lived experiences of mentors as they share their perceptions of mentoring practices to better understand how participatory experiences affect the professional growth of new teachers. Using a phenomenological research design helps to better understand the participants’ perceptions and personal meaning making processes that emerge from their first-person lived experiences of their professional practice. This study explores how ongoing participatory experiences have served to shape one’s perceptions about teaching and learning though the use of best mentoring practice strategies. To this end, this study triangulates the data by conducting an initial email interview questionnaire …

Wha Up Bruh, You Good: A Critical Analysis Of Mentoring Programs For African American Males In Community College, Taran Landell Mczee

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

This qualitative case study used a phenomenological research approach to explore the lived experiences of African American male community college students who participate in mentoring programs. Mentoring programs for African American males in higher education have been implemented to help improve retention, academic performance in the classroom, sense of self, intention to complete, and graduation rates (LaVant et al., 1997). Critical race theory (CRT) informed the use of qualitative interview methods to represent the lived experiences of the participants and to elevate the knowledge of young African American men in research on higher education mentoring programs. Research participants were 8 …

Perceptions Of Classroom Management Coaching At District A Independent School District, Ashley L. Brittain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed teacher retention and research-to-practice gaps in the literature related to classroom management coaching and what types of teacher support are the best and why. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches regarding District A Independent School District’s campus intervention coach model. This study attempted to understand better the perceptions of how the campus intervention coach model influences teachers’ decisions to remain in the profession; how teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches perceive the campus intervention coach model’s effectiveness in reducing the percentage of …

A Case Study In The Use Of Mentorships In Academic Instructional Coach Development., Matt Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Academic instructional coaches have long been used to support teacher development and student learning. As a recent position in the education field, there is little information regarding the development of staff in this role. This study sought to better understand how academic instructional coaches are mentored and developed within challenging school contexts. The theoretical framework for this research is guided by the social constructivism epistemology. In alignment with this framework, a collective case study was utilized to better understand the relationship between the principal and the academic instructional coach. Exploring this relationship emphasized how principals support academic instructional coach growth. …

Mentoring As A Pathway To Addressing Chronic Absenteeism In Urban High School Academies, Tyeshia A. Hilbert

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Chronic absenteeism is a rising concern for schools across the country. There are a host of reasons why students miss school: internal factors that can push students out of school and external factors that can pull students out of school. Districts have been mandated to implement strategies and supports that will combat this issue by increasing student attendance and decreasing chronic absenteeism.

The concept of mentoring has been around for centuries and recently has been associated with improvement in the attendance of chronically absent students. This dissertation intended to examine attendance and chronic absenteeism rates of students in two urban …

Text Messaging Between School Counselors And Students: An Exploratory Study, Nicholas R. Gilly

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

This exploratory case study examines the impact of text messaging on mentoring relationships when used as an outreach between school counselors and high school students, where established relationships are lacking. An SMS gateway was used to mediate communication between school counselors (N=2) and students (N=5) over a three-month timeframe. The SMS gateway converted email, sent from counselors, to text messages, which were received on mobile devices of students and allowed students to respond back to counselors. Findings indicate that the use of text messaging may ease scheduling of face-to-face meetings between counselors and students, but evidence does not support any …

Tennessee Promise Mentoring And Its Impact On Social Capital Of Disadvantaged Students, Tara Laroy

Ed.D. Dissertations

Disadvantaged students (i.e., students characterized by first generation status, low socio-economic status, or racial minority) in the United States enrolled in college at higher rates but still faced a significant college graduation gap. Research has shown that a close, personal relationship with a mentor can increase the social capital of disadvantaged students in post-secondary education. The Tennessee Promise Program was a scholarship program for high school students, designed to remove the financial barriers while also supplying them with an adult mentor to guide them through the college process. In this qualitative study, the researcher aimed to investigate the experiences of …

Teachers As Leaders: An Autoethnographic Account Into The Way That Personal Spirituality Influenced One Teacher's Leadership In A South Louisiana High School, Scott Mckneely Blanchard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this autoethnographic study is to better understand the role spiritual leaders have in both educational settings and in the motivation of students. An overarching question guides this autoethnographic study: Is spiritual leadership, influenced by Christianity, an appropriate form of mentoring-leadership relationships in public secondary schools? The specific research sub-questions for this study address the following: 1. How do servant leadership and spiritual leadership help create this autonomous learning environment identified by Deci and therefore reduce the number of amotivated students? 2. How can understanding the student as an individual help a teacher confront the issues with motivation …

The Effect Of Varying Compensation On Teacher Satisfaction Across Three Louisiana School Districts, Glen E. Gleason

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research endeavor was to explore possible statistical relationships between school districts with varying pay scales in regard to teacher job satisfaction within the district. An on-line satisfaction survey was set up, utilizing the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). Letters were distributed to teachers in three districts eliciting participation in the study. A total of 115 responses was recorded with the greatest participation occurring in the district with the highest teacher compensation. To explore possible differences in areas of job satisfaction between the districts, teachers were asked questions dealing with (a) working conditions, (b) supervisory support, (c) co-worker …

Efficacy Of A Secondary School Mentoring Program: Connecting Academic Achievement With Mentoring, Kimberly Olson

Theses and Graduate Projects

This study was created to determine if students at the middle school level would exhibit an increase in quarter grades in the areas of reading and mathematics throughout the year if they received mentoring from school personnel. In addition to student grades, attendance and behavior referrals throughout the year were also examined. This study involved fifty-two students in the study group and sixty-six students in the control group, all of whom attended the same public middle school in southeast Minnesota. Data were collected by school office personnel and was analyzed using the t-tests (to compare average means for analyzing academic …