| Beginning teachers in most states are provided with a mentor as part of an induction process. Mentors are assigned in a variety of ways and given varying responsibilities. Many of these relationships are productive and helpful. Some are not. The purpose of this action research study was to determine the degree to which a modified pairing procedure would improve the perception of the mentoring relationship by beginning teachers. The participants included new hires, teachers recently completing induction, mentors, and administrators in a Prek-12 school district. The teachers recently completing induction served as the control group and the newly hired teachers participated as part of the intervention group. The intervention involved the creation of a data base of mentor specialties, schedules, communication preferences, and their willingness to mentor outside their content area, grade level, or school. New hires completed a questionnaire providing similar information during orientation. Information from these two sources was used to pair teachers and mentors prior to the start of the school year. The study relied primarily on qualitative data obtained from surveys, interviews, observations, and meetings. The information obtained from these sources provided baseline data, process data, and evidence to determine the success of the intervention. Data from file reviews, administrator meetings, and transcript coding was analyzed. Basic findings showed that all participants paired with a mentor using a modified pairing procedure reported positive relationships with their mentors. Emerging themes from the literature review and participants' reports included a need for the consideration of modifications to the existing induction program and a concerted effort to keep administrators involved in all stages of the process. |
