New teachers’ experiences of mentoring: The good, the bad, and the inequity

Abstract

Using a sample of 374 randomly selected first-and second-year teachers in three states, this study examines new teachers' experiences of official mentoring during their first year. Descriptive analyses reveal that experienced mentors are generally present in the work lives of new teachers. However, new teachers often have inappropriate mentormatches, and low percentages of new teachers are observed by or have conversations with their mentor about the core activities of teaching. Low proportions of new teachers in lowincome schools and those in math, science, and technology have ideal matches and supports. The findings have implications for policymakers who look to mentoring as a strategy to improve public schools and retain new teachers.

Using the How People Learn Framework to Examine Mentoring Conversations between Special Educators and their Mentors in an Electronic Mentoring Site

“…In the current study, Henri's method was utilized. She developed an instrument to examine the social development of learning in online environments and places a strong emphasis on understanding social interactions of learners within a collaborative community [21]. Henri suggests dividing individual messages into statements corresponding to units of meaning.…”

“…A researcher reported that fewer than half of the 374 first year teachers across three states surveyed reported having a mentor in their same subject area and less than sixty percent of respondents stated they had three or more conversations with their mentor about classroom instruction, curriculum and lesson planning, or behavior and discipline during their mentored year [21]. Additionally, findings from previous research indicated that beginning teachers feel unprepared in curriculum and standards and the implementation of school accountability measures [9] and that early career teachers' value mentoring that supports their planning needs [3] [4].…”

“…Research suggests that online learning happens through active collaboration in online dialogue [21] and the eMSS site proved to be conducive for conversations among mentors and mentees. Additionally, typically in the beginning of mentoring conversations, all mentors asked mentees to describe their classroom makeup in terms of number of students, disabilities represented, cultural background, academic levels, and gender which seemed to focus conversations on the students and the learning environment from the beginning.…”

Making Sense, Making Do: Local District Implementation of a New State Induction Policy

“…They found that teachers leaving their positions in urban schools cited a lack of support and resources as the primary driver for their decision to leave; however, those teachers that chose to stay were more likely to report a supportive induction and mentoring experience than those that left. In addition, Kardos and Johnson (2010) found that teachers in high-poverty schools were less likely to be paired with a mentor in their discipline and that teachers in science, mathematics, and technology education were least likely to be matched with a mentor in their content area.…”

“…The research into teacher induction and mentorships has focused largely on one or more of the following: the effects of induction programs on teacher attrition (Ingersoll, 1997(Ingersoll, , 2001Johnson, 2004;Smith & Ingersoll, 2004), educational equity (Johnson & Birkeland, 2003a, 2003bJohnson, Kardos, Kauffmain, Liu, & Donaldson, 2004;Kardos & Johnson, 2010), student achievement (Fletcher, Strong, & Villar, 2008), and professional learning (Feiman-Nemser, 2001a, 2001b, 2012.…”