Education Commons^™

Women Leading Women: Reinforcing The Glass Ceiling?, Marian A. Suarez

Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative narrative study explored the experiences of 10 women who worked in Corporate America and reported to female supervisors, and the perceptions they attached to those relationships with regard to their professional growth and career advancement. The main goal of the study was to understand how these women felt their female leaders either helped or hindered their climb up the corporate ladder. The Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and the narrative inquiry framework were used to shed light on the experiences reported by the female employees and how their gender and the gender of their supervisors may have …

The R Factor: Centering Race In The Mentoring Of African American College Students, Bridgette Coble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring provides personal support, academic assistance and career guidance to college students of color whose experiences have been documented to be very different from those of their White counterparts. Achievement inequity, problems of persistence, experiences of racism and student reports of feeling marginalized and misunderstood threaten the ability of students of color to succeed in college. While it may be assumed that race plays a central role in the mentoring relationships of students of color, this assumption may be misguided. The existence of formal mentoring programs and informal mentoring relationships that support students of color does not necessarily ensure that …

Balancing Support And Challenge Within The Mentoring Relationship, Tiffanie Joy Miley

Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring is a common element of new teacher induction aimed at easing beginning teachers' entry into the profession and assisting beginning teacher growth and development. Previous research has shown that mentors are comfortable supporting beginning teachers but are reluctant to provide challenge-activities that will help beginning teachers improve their practice. For optimal growth to occur, mentors should balance support and challenge in their work with beginning teachers. This descriptive study employed multiple cases to examine the relationship of two junior high school mentors with their mentees. The mentors in this study work in a school district with an established and …

University Health Center Employee Perceptions Of Their New Hire Experience: Implications For A New Employee Orientation, Diane Mummau Smith

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The purpose of this study is to conduct a needs assessment based on employee perceptions of the existing new employee orientation at a University Health Center (UHC) in a medium-sized, Mid-Atlantic public university. This research consisted of both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. The researcher surveyed 66 employees to examine their perceptions of their new hire experience, to investigate the possible gaps in the existing new employee orientation program, with the implication for implementing a comprehensive new employee orientation. The UHC Director also was interviewed to discuss current structure, possible new employee orientation gaps and her vision for …

Components Of Effective Teacher Induction Programs And The Impact Of Experienced Mentors, Craig P. Mcbride

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Based on data from the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), 2008-09 Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS) and 2009-10 Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study (BTLS) datasets, this study examined a prediction model for new teacher retention that combined variables from both the presence of induction program components and mentoring traits. New teacher retention was selected as an important criterion because attrition causes a large financial burden on already budget-limited districts, and teacher turnover impacts teacher effectiveness and student learning. Results of a logistic regression analysis indicated that the presence of an induction program (W1T0220), the presence of a mentor (W2MNTYN), the use …

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 …

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 Effect Of A Dropout Prevention Program For Black High School Males In The Cleveland Metropolitan School District, RenéE T. Willis

ETD Archive

There is a new endangered species in this country - the black male. The education of the black male in the United States has recently garnered much-needed national attention. Two national reports in 2010 have heightened the awareness of the fact that the black male student is not successfully navigating our public school systems, often dropping out. Unfortunately, it now appears that this chorus of pessimism has entrenched itself in the minds of black boys, teachers, and even parents. At the very least, there are economic and moral reasons as to why we must help our black male students graduate …

A Comparative Investigation Of Career Readiness And Decidedness In First Year Stem Majoring Students Participating In A Stem Mentoring Program Imbedded In A Living-Learning Community With Focused Data On Female Stem Students, Nirmala Ramlakhan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Female mentoring success was investigated as an undergraduate intervention utilizing career development practices to reduce dysfunctional career thinking and STEM major retention in first year freshmen females within a living-learning community. Repeated measures MANOVAs and canonical correlations in the causal comparative research design evaluated mentoring’s influence on first year females. Male voluntary participants (n = 126) formulated the comparison group, and female voluntary participants (n = 75) filled the treatment group. Repeated measure multivariate analyses of variances compared differences between the interaction of mentoring and gender over time on dysfunctional career thinking using two assessments: Career Thoughts Inventory (CTI) and …

What Constitutes A Mentoring Mindset In Doctoral Students? A Phenomenological Study Of Graduate Faculty Experiences At A Research I University In The Southern United States, Kellie René Carter

All ETDs from UAB

The complex graduate student-faculty mentor relationship mentoring plays a substantial role in the academic and professional success of graduate students within the diverse settings of higher education institutions. An understanding of the mentee's level of preparedness for the mentoring relationship, or mentoring mindset, is needed in order to better inform graduate faculty mentors and graduate students about factors that contribute to a successful mentoring relationship. Existing research tends to concentrate on valued mentor characteristics from the mentee's perspective. However, there is little research on the mentee's preparedness for the doctoral student-faculty member mentoring relationship in a higher education setting. This …

Student Teacher Perceptions Of The Impact Of Mentoring On Student Teaching, Lori Kay Bird

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Mentoring is an essential component of the student teaching experience. The support provided by highly prepared and effective mentors contributes to the success of student teachers during this high stakes period of professional development. Findings from this mixed-methods study support five mentoring factors as valid and a useful framework for measuring the impact of the mentoring received by student teachers in the student teaching experience. The five factors are: personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback (Hudson, 2007). The Mentee Perceptions of Student Teaching survey was given to student teachers upon the conclusion of their student teaching experience …