Education Commons^™

Significance Of Mentoring Students In Public Schools: A Literature Review And Naturalistic Observation Of Academic & Socio-Emotional Implications, Brittney A. Easter

Senior Honors Projects

Public schools today are becoming populated with increasingly diverse student bodies. These unique backgrounds include differences in race, ethnicity, culture, and socioeconomic status. While this diversity can lead to positive social outcomes, it creates an issue of achievement gaps. Challenges students may face at home can cause academic difficulties, placing some learners behind others in a classroom. With increasing class size, teachers have less ability to give one-on-one time or even slow down lessons. As a result, only a small number of students finish senior year of high school at a level that makes them prepared to enter college (Bettinger, …

The Effects Of Highly Engaged Field Experiences And Multi-Faceted Mentoring Stategies On Ameliorating Pre-Service Teacher Concerns., Twyla Diane Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mathematics and science teachers leave education more than teachers in other fields (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2008). Job-related stress and burn-out can attribute to early attrition in veteran teachers and pre-service teachers (PSTs) (e.g. Fives, Hamman, & Olivarez, 2007; Gold, 1985). A strategy for addressing attrition is to reduce self-preservation concerns in pre-service education programs. This study used a mixed-methods quasi-experimental research design to examine two STEM teacher education programs, with the long-term goal of improving STEM teacher retention. The first, “SkyTeach”, incorporated instructional experiences and an assortment of mentoring models prior to student teaching. The second program utilized primarily …

Making The Difference: Exploring The Perceptions Of Student Affairs Administrators And Their Mentoring Relationships, Paublo Martinez Jr.

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This qualitative research study explored the perceptions of student affairs administrators at a Midwest institution, and how they perceived their mentoring relationships with undergraduate students. The study investigated the perceptions of six participants as they reflected on past and present mentoring relationships, and the impact the relationships had on them during their time in student affairs. The literature review discusses the history of student affairs and mentoring, as well as the mentoring styles, benefits, and theories closely related to the concept of mentoring.

Through conducting a semi-structured interview with each participant, four themes emerged as they described the participants as …

'My Story Ain’T Got Nothin To Do With You' Or Does It?: Black Female Faculty’S Critical Considerations Of Mentoring White Female Students, Kathleen E. Gillon, Lissa D. Stapleton

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

Previous literature on mentoring, specifically that of cross-cultural mentoring, has provided some insight into the intricacy of race in mentoring. However, much of this literature has focused on the mentoring relationship of a White individual mentoring a person of color. This qualitative inquiry critically explores the experiences of six Black female faculty who have mentored White female students in higher education graduate programs, focusing specifically on how they enter into these cross-cultural mentoring relationships. Using Black feminist thought, our findings suggest that while individual Black faculty may have unique experiences entering into mentoring relationships with White female students, a Black …

Starting Coaching And Mentoring Conversations, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

Establishing the right conditions for coaching and mentoring programs helps ensure these conversations play an important role in a school's improvement agenda.

A Dual Conversation About Mentoring: Undergraduate Student Faculty Perspectives, Belinda Deal, Jennifer Grimes

Faculty Posters

This poster was presented at the Sigma Theta Tau, Beta Chi Regional Research Conference in Shreveport, LA.

Mentoring: Experiences Of Physical Education Teachers With In-Content And Out-Of-Content Mentors, Molly Bosché Sharer

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study investigates teachers' experiences with mentoring programs. An interpretive paradigm was used. Four hour-long interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed to examine mentoring experiences. Participants included one in-content mentoring pair (an early career physical education (PE) teacher and a veteran PE teacher) and one out-of-content pair (an early career PE teacher and a veteran kindergarten teacher). Guiding the research were the questions: What are the experiences of physical educators with mentors inside their content area? What are the experiences of physical educators with mentors outside their content area?

Findings showed that mentoring is an important support to provide …

A Learning Community For New Chairs, Lynn Stallings, Meghan Burke, Ruth A. Goldfine, Dawn L. Kirby, Monica Nandan, Sharon Pearcey, Kandice Porter, Amy Woszczynski

Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings

Key elements of an effective professional learning community will be discussed, including readings, peer mentoring, meeting structure, composition, and timing of topics. Presenters will discuss the challenges of their first years as chairs, particularly finding their individual leadership styles and a balance between professional and personal lives.

Supporting The Needs Of At-Risk Beginning Teachers, Adam Myers Dr.

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This session is designed to provide teachers, teacher leaders, principals, and support staff relevant research and best practices for incorporating induction support to novice teachers who have been placed in low-performing schools. This interactive session will include participant discussion on the characteristics of beginning teachers, and how mentoring and coaching can significantly impact their retention and effectiveness.

Self-Efficacy And Instructional Leadership: Does Mentoring Make A Difference?, Julie Diane Helber

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The responsibility of principals has shifted significantly over the past few decades. During 1960s and 1970s school leaders were expected to be organizers and managers of schools and to serve as buffers to the organization to protect a weak technical core. Standards-based reform, beginning in the 1980s, was in direct conflict with this mindset. Instead of protecting a weak technical core, school leaders had to focus on instruction guided by standards and demonstrate alignment to such standards. Today, there is an increased attention on academic achievement and accountability in schools (Leithwood, Jantzi, & Steinbach, 1999). Principals are being held responsible …

Five School District Mentor Models For Secondary Mathematics And Science Teachers In A Job Embedded University Teacher Preparation Program, Lisa Karcinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring was a component of the Resident Teacher Professional Preparation Program (RTP3), a Race to the Top (RTTT) program funded project. RTTT funded efforts reward states that have demonstrated success in raising student achievement and have the best plans to accelerate learning in the future (U.S. Department of Education, 2014). Five Florida school districts implemented different variations of the RTP3 mentor model and due to the unique needs of each school district, context differences in effectiveness may have emerged. The purpose of the study was to determine the differences among the five mentor models, the extent to which these differences …

Learning To Lead: Exploring How 1st-6th Year Teachers Develop Informal Leadership, Thomas Levine, Patrick Mulcahy, John Bengston, Andrew Didden, Abigail Esposito, Alexander Valacer, Miranda Rich, Dan Seara, Brian Colantonio, Andrew Dombrowski, Justis Lopez, Colin Schlank, Daniel Wilson

NERA Conference Proceedings 2015

Scholars and reformers call for promoting teacher leadership to improve schools, but few address how we can promote teacher leadership among newer teachers. This paper uses extant research to identify five possible positive influences on 1^st-6^th year teachers developing informal leadership skills. Surveys and interviews with staff members at four secondary schools point to professional learning communities as the most promising of these possible means. Participants also identified getting involved with colleagues and with school activities as promising first steps for 1^st through 6^th year teachers to develop the knowledge, reputation, and skills to become …

Why Beginning Teachers Persist In The Profession And The Impact Of Induction And Mentoring, Laurie Catenese, Lee Harper

M.S.Ed. in Educational Leadership Research Projects

With 46% of new teachers leaving the profession within the first five years, many states have mandated induction programs. This study sought to understand what beginning teachers in rural Maine perceive as the greatest factors impacting their persistence in education, and the perceived impact of induction and mentoring on their persistence. A mixed-methods approach yielded findings that indicated the greatest perceived factors are: working with students, collaborating with peers, and administrative support. Induction and mentoring perceptions were both positive and negative. Recommendations are directed at school leaders who must support teachers by providing time for collaboration and networking, and implementing …

A Study Of High School Students' Perceptions Of Mentoring Students With Disabilities, Ashley N. Davis

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed as a phenomenological qualitative study grounded in Contact Theory to investigate Early College high school students’ perceptions of a multi-year mentoring program. The Early College students were paired with elementary students with varying special needs in a self-contained classroom throughout 3 years in various settings, including community-based therapeutic horseback riding and a school-based sensory program. The study attempted to garner how the mentoring experience affected the Early College high school students personally, as well as their attitudes, feelings, and beliefs in relationship to their tolerance toward people with disabilities as reported by the participants through individual …

Outstanding Student Retention And Graduation: The Peer Advisors And Mentors Program At The University Of Richmond, Hope N. Walton, Roger Mancastroppa

University Staff Publications

Today’s colleges and universities continue to face the challenges of retaining and graduating their students. Historically, peer-mentoring programs have helped to successfully meet these challenges. The Peer Advisors and Mentors (PAM) program has assisted in the retention of students, all while giving students opportunities that develop and hone their leadership, academic, and personal skills. Over the course of 22 years, PAM has evolved into a program that touches on significant facets deemed important by experts on the matters of retention and graduation. Such factors include mentoring, advising, integration, and engagement. This article gives an historical perspective on how a peer-mentoring …

Pathways To Success: Aime's Educational Mentoring Model, Amy Priestly, Malcolm Lynch, Carly Wallace, Valerie Harwood

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME) is a structured educational mentoring program provided for Indigenous students to access throughout their high school experience. The program is designed to support students to complete high school and transition into university, further education and training or employment at the same rate as every Australian child, effectively closing the gap on educational outcomes. To better understand the impact of the program, AIME has developed a research partnership with a team of researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW) and the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). Comprising researchers with experience in qualitative and quantitative approaches, …

Enhancing The Quality Of Pre-Service Teachers Learning Through The Conceptualizing Of Mentoring Strategies During The Practicum, Lynn D. Sheridan, Hoa Nguyen

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Professional experience has been described as a cornerstone of teacher preparation that has a "profound impact on student teachers" (Hammerness, Darling-Hammond, & Shulman, 2002, p. 409). There is a wide variation of teacher education programs across the world however, in most countries teacher preparation programs consists of initial university-based course work followed by school-based student teaching practice. Clearly, this program structure has implications for the role of professional experience in creating genuine opportunities for pre-service teachers to develop teaching practice and knowledge about the profession. During the professional experience, mentoring pre-service teachers has been considered critical in ensuring a quality …

Valuing Mentorship: Towards Cultural Humility, Lauren Oswald, John Korsmo

Woodring Scholarship on Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

This article explores the beginnings of an informal faculty-student mentorship developed to support each other's quest to become increasingly competent global citizens. Through discussion of embracing global youth work as a joint objects and with first-person accounts, we attempt to encourage readers to do two things: engage in mentoring relationships, and practice cultural humility.

Professional Learning Of Teachers In Ethiopia: Challenges And Implications For Reform, Fekede Tuli Gemeda, Päivi Tynjälä Professor

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract

Continuous professional development of teachers is of growing interest globally, as it is considered vital to cope effectively with ongoing changes and to improve the quality of education. This qualitative case study explores potential and actual barriers that hinder teachers’ professional development in Ethiopian schools. Data was collected via interviews and focus group discussions from 37 purposively sampled participants. The study reveals three major challenges in teachers’ development: 1) conceptions and conceptual issues related to teaching, professional development and mentoring, 2) management and leadership, and 3) teachers’ work conditions. The need to reconsider educational change management strategies, reform teacher …

Perceptions Of Spiritual Formation Among Nontraditional Seminary Students, Jacob Dunlow

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Theological higher education is going through massive changes as a result of the technological changes in education. Many seminaries have gone from a strictly on campus option for students seeking a master's degree, to a variety of options available to students. Given this recent shift, research is needed to study the impact of these nontraditional means of education on the training of future pastors and church leaders.

This research was conducted with the purpose of studying students who choose to attend seminary through a nontraditional means of online, hybrid, and extension centers. Specifically, exploring the relationship between mentoring and the …

Induction Of The Novice Teacher In Urban Schools, Janice Marie Ridley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

New teachers entering the urban pre-K-12 school setting require an induction program to perform their teaching duties. Despite modifications to improve an existing induction program, novice teachers in a Midwestern urban school district were underperforming in the classroom, leaving administrators to address new teacher turnover and a disrupted learning process for students. Drawing from Knowles's adult learning theory and state guidelines to fulfill federal legislation mandates for proper induction, this qualitative case study was designed to explore beginning teachers' perceptions of the modifications in the district's induction program. A sample of 8 novice teachers was recruited to participate in open-ended, …

Beginning Teachers' Experiences And Use Of Time, Laura Marie Ahles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

New teachers in a southeast Texas school district are having difficulty using their time effectively for instruction while balancing a multitude of tasks. New work responsibilities for teachers are contributing to teacher burnout and early attrition. The purpose of this study was to examine new teachers and administrators perceptions of novice teacher practices and their daily use of time. Apple s theory of intensification was used as the conceptual framework for this study. A case study design was employed to answer research questions regarding how procedures and policies affect teachers time, teacher perceptions about prior experiences with managing multiple responsibilities, …

Strategies Healthcare Leaders Use For Leadership Development, Julie Hunt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Education and training of potential leaders are essential, and chief executive officers (CEOs) need to identify effective leadership development (LD) programs that foster successful leaders within the healthcare industry. The purpose of this multiple, exploratory case study was to explore LD strategies used by CEOs in hospitals in Central Florida, United States. The overarching research question investigated what executable LD strategies healthcare leaders needed to ensure sustainable growth and successful leaders. The human capital theory and the concepts of emotional intelligence and spiritual leadership guided this study. A purposive sample of 8 CEOs participated in semistructured face-to-face interviews to elicit …

Exploring The Benefits Of Embedded And Sustained Field Placements For Pre-Service Teachers And Students Through Research Of The F.A.C.E Collaboration, Marie Corrigan

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Predicting Success In First-Year Associate Degree Nursing Students, Laura J. Hope

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An associate degree of nursing program in the southeastern region of the United States has had significant increases in student attrition over the past few years. Admission requirements did not include an entrance exam, such as the Test of Essential Academic Skills (TEAS), which may be useful in decreasing the deficiencies associated with poor student progression. Guided by the Knowles' theory of adult learning and Bandura's social learning theory, the purpose of this correlation study was to explore the relationship between the TEAS scores and the cumulative grade point average (GPA) of first-year students to determine if success at the …

Exploring The Experiences And Relationships Of First-Year Teachers And Mentors, Melanie Jane Strey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educators have a moral imperative and job-embedded expectation to effectively teach all students, which requires a commitment to continued personal growth. The purpose of this instrumental project study was to explore the lived experiences of first-year teachers and their mentors who teach in a culturally-diverse school district. The conceptual framework was based on supporting adult learning methods through the theories of critical thinking, constructivist perspective, the theory of mentoring, and culturally-instructional teaching. The guiding research questions addressed the perceptions of 5 first-year teachers and 5 mentors regarding individual and shared learning as a result of mentor-mentee relationship. A constant comparison …

Facebook And The Final Practicum: The Impact Of Online Peer Support In The Assistant Teacher Program, Lisa F. Paris, Julie Boston, Julia Morris

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Australian pre-service teachers (PST) frequently report feeling isolated and vulnerable during the high stakes Assistant Teacher Program (ATP) final practicum. Mentoring and online learning communities have been shown to offer effective support during periods in which pre-service and beginning teachers feel challenged. As social media progressively infiltrates all aspects of contemporary life, individuals and organisations are opting to use technology in highly adaptive ways; as a result, they have to navigate both the positive aspects and pitfalls of the medium. In this paper we examine whether university Facebook^© support groups, coupled with professional standards training and moderator involvement by …

Building A Community Of Researchers Using The Research Mentoring Model, Meaghan C. Nolte, Mary Alice Bruce, Kent W. Becker

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The development of a community environment and strong mentoring relationships is integral in helping doctoral students complete their degrees. Of the stages comprising a student’s academic career, effective conceptualization and writing of the dissertation proves the most challenging and may result in failure to complete a doctoral degree. The researchers developed and used their Research Mentoring Model (RMM) to help doctoral students identify research topics, move into a researcher identity, and develop a sense community. This hermeneutic phenomenological sought to understand the experience of the five first year doctoral students participants. All were enrolled in a CACREP accredited Counselor Education …

Learning To See, Seeing To Learn: The Learning Journey Of Three Pre-Service Teachers In A Video Club Setting, Catherine Moore

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study sought to develop a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of professional growth in pre-service teachers during their final practicum. The research was situated in a primary school and involved three pre-service teachers with widely differing backgrounds who brought differing experiences to the practicum. The study identified personal and contextual variables that affected the pre-service teachers’ professional growth and explored how professional discourse within a learning community of peers, informed by multiple perspectives on teaching practice that were facilitated by video, influenced professional growth.

This qualitative research project used a broad phenomenological approach in that the methods used were …

Leaving Home: Investigating Transitioning Challenges Faced By Boarding Students And Their Families, Kate Margaret Hadwen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Transitioning to boarding school during the middle years of childhood impacts upon the social, emotional and academic wellbeing of young people (Bramston & Patrick, 2007; Connell & Wellborn, 1991; Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991; Earls & Carlson, 2001). Students who live at school as boarders, may experience greater transitional changes in all three components of wellbeing due to the extent of change experienced during this transition. While research addressing transitioning to school has indicated the importance of connectedness to school, bonding, friendships and a sense of autonomy (Eccles et al., 1993), there is limited research addressing the transitioning experiences …