Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Kimberley Fatata-Hall
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
effective instructional strategies, elementary schools, first-year teachers, mentoring, novice teachers, on-site mentors, professional community, teacher evaluation process, teacher portfolios, teacher recruitment, teacher retention, teacher satisfaction, teacher shortage, The Effective Teacher, urban schools, weekly meetings, Wong, H.
Abstract
This applied dissertation was designed to provide an on-site mentor to first-year teachers in an elementary school. This school system was faced with a teacher shortage; in fact, the nation faced a national teacher shortage. Studies proved that both urban and rural areas have the hardest time recruiting and maintaining effective teachers. They usually hired whoever was available because the need was so great. The goal was to support new teachers in this setting so that they would not leave the profession.
The researcher served as an on-site teacher mentor for 6 first-year teachers. The on-site mentor coached and supported new teachers by (a) facilitating weekly small group meetings that read and discussed a variety of related texts and research articles, (b) identifying effective instructional strategies and modeling them, (c) viewing and discussing The Effective Teacher, an 8-part video series created by H. Wong (1998), and (d) held individual meetings with new teachers. This was done in an attempt to nurture a professional community among the new teachers in this setting.
An analysis of the data revealed that half of the expected outcomes were met. The teacher evaluation process (TEP) revealed that 5 of 6 teachers received a satisfactory rating on the teacher evaluation process. The support offered by this on-site mentor allowed novice teachers to become competent in system-related requirements such as formal observations and teacher portfolios. They scored in the positive range on the school system’s teacher satisfaction survey. This data is used to interpret the satisfaction level at this school. Although efforts were put in place to (a) decrease anxiety levels, (b) alleviate feelings of isolation, and (c) support novice teachers in this setting, a few new teachers decided to leave the profession.