Education Commons^™

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. …

Teacher Mentorship Program’S Influence On Novice Teachers’ Decision To Stay: A Case Study, Joan Evans Otten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Public schools are faced with dealing with high teacher turnover and low job satisfaction indicators, particularly from novice teachers in their first 5 years of service. To combat the problem, schools have designed and developed a variety of mentorship programs aimed at providing support for the novice teachers and thereby increasing job satisfaction. The purpose of this qualitative case study program evaluation was to examine a specific school district’s current mentorship program in order to determine how participation in the program influences new teachers’ decision to leave the school district. Using the narratives from interviews and surveys, the researcher examined …

Collegiate Equity Mentoring Matrix: A Culturally Relevant Framework For The Meaningful Mentoring Of Black Male Students, Norris Allen Edney

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reports on a qualitative analysis of the mentoring experiences of 22 successful Black males at the University of Mississippi. Several theories were used to frame the analysis. Bozeman and Feeney’s (2007) mentoring conceptualization helps to exact an operational definition for mentoring for the analysis. Theories describing the competition between the political interests which shape educational environments (Labaree, 1997) and student motivations to persist to graduation (Tinto, 2016) help to contextualize the barriers to success students encounter in college. Crisp and Cruz’s (2009) college mentoring theory helps to consider the potential for mentoring to support student success in college. …

Examining The Collegiate Experiences Of African American Males With Same Race Mentors, Crystal L. Locke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

African American males have a more meaningful college experience when they are mentored with people with whom they can culturally relate (Brown, 2013; Moore & Tolliver, 2010). Although studies indicate African American males who had same race mentors display higher self-efficacy (Stefon, 2011), improved graduation rates (U.S. Department of Education, 2017), and a more positive college experience (Chen, Ingram & Davis, 2014), additional research in this area is needed.

Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study sought to determine the impact having a same race mentor had on the collegiate experiences of five African American males who successfully graduated from …

The Relationship Of Participation In A Summer Transition Program For At-Risk Ninth Grade Students And Their Performance In Algebra I, Jose Sanchez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the Summer Transition Program in a large suburban school district. One of the common concerns of education leaders is the number of students who choose to dropout of high school. The eighth to ninth grade Summer Transition Program has been implemented to address the high school dropout issue and was the focus of this study. The researcher examined if participation in the Summer Transition Program could be predicted by student subgroup, to what extent, if any, participation in the Summer Transition Program had on the academic success in Algebra I, and if there is a relationship with …

Internship Experiences For Aspiring Principals: Student Perceptions And Effectiveness., Ginger R. Christian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate East Tennessee State University graduate student perceptions on the effectiveness of internship experiences as students explored the implementation of ISLLC Standards and the role of mentor support as they prepared for the principalship. The participating university for this study is located in Johnson City, Tennessee. Participants obtained their administrative license from 2005-2010 and worked in one of 19 northeast Tennessee, North Carolina, and southwest Virginia school districts. Specifically, this research assessed the perceived value of the 540 hour internship experience, implementation of ISLLC Standards, and the perceived value of the site …

The Effectiveness Of Principal Training And Formal Principal Mentoring Programs., Robert B. Dodson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine principals' perceptions of how effective mentoring programs and university-based principal preparation programs are in developing the skills necessary to carry out the 13 critical success factors identified by the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). A review of the literature addressed what it means to be an effective principal and what an effective mentoring program should look like.

The quantitative study was conducted using a survey developed from the SREB's 13 critical success factors that have been developed to determine what makes a successful, effective principal. Each factor was developed into a question …

A Comparison Of Mentored And Non-Mentored Novice Elementary Principals In Respect To Job Satisfaction, Colleen Skinner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if mentoring programs had an impact on job satisfaction for beginning elementary principals in the state of Florida. It also examined if the following factors impacted job satisfaction: (a) length of the mentoring program, (b) frequency of meetings, (c) selection process for the mentor, (d) the position of the mentor, or (e) age and gender of the beginning principal. The population for the study consisted of 108 elementary principals with more than six months and less than fours years of experience in the state of Florida. Twenty-four districts participated in the study, …

Retention And Motivation Of Veteran Teachers., Edith Anderson Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The workforce in the United States is aging. Teachers, like all other workers in the country, are also aging. The veteran teachers in our nation's public schools possess wisdom gained through their on-the-job experience. With looming teacher shortages in our public schools, it is imperative that we retain this wisdom. Administrators, school boards, and the community have an obligation to tap this wisdom for the benefit of children. This study was conducted, therefore, with the purpose of learning how to do that.

The data were collected through the process of one-on-one interviews with 21 veteran teachers in Knox County, Tennessee. …

Ideal And Actual Mentor Teacher Characteristics As Perceived By Second-Year And Non-Returning First-Year Public School North Carolina Teachers, Barbara D. Tipton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The researcher examined non-returning first-year teachers and second year teachers who taught during the 1994-95 school year. The research design included five research questions with six null hypotheses testing for differences among second year teachers' perceptions and non-returning teachers' perceptions of their mentor teachers. After calculating ratings on desired and demonstrated scales by 464 subjects, criteria were ranked on mentor characteristics on 12 tasks. The extent to which each task was demonstrated during their first year's teaching experience was also calculated. Participants indicated that the ideal mentor would advocate for the novice and would demonstrate a sensitive approach in assisting. …